We awoke to a quiet, moist dawn in Inverie, mainland Britain’s most isolated village. The village thrives on fishing and tourism, the latter mainly independent travellers walking the region’s challenging long distance trails, many of whom we had met the previous evening slaking their thirst in the cozy village pub, The Old Forge Inn. Casting our lines, we spent the rest of the morning exploring the magnificent scenery of this remote area of the western Scottish mainland, sailing out of Loch Nevis and into Loch Hourn before entering the narrows at Kyle Rhea en route to our final berthing of the voyage at Kyle of Lochalsh.
The afternoon had two options: a tour of the local area to include Eilean Donan Castle and the fishing village of Plockton and a more physically challenging hike in the Cuillin hills on the Isle of Skye. Eilean Donan is probably the most photographed castle in Scotland. In its current form it dates from the opening decades of the 20th century and is thus representative of a Scottish Revival style that evolved alongside the Arts and Crafts movement. Originally the site of a sixth-century anchorite’s cell, the castle name means Donan’s Isle. It was rebuilt by a descendant of the McCrae clan whose castle ruin it was and inaugurated in the 1920s. The situation is incomparable with a natural tidal moat and mock mediaeval causeway; a photographer’s heaven. Plockton is a fishing village created at the time of the Highland Clearances to provide alternative employment for families evicted from the land. The fishery eventually flourished with the herring but declined rapidly when the herring were fished out. It retains much Old World charm and proved as attractive to our photographers as the castle.
The Red and Black Cuillins attract visitors from all over the world and some of us were able to sample one of the trails from the Sligachan Inn, a popular hostelry with hill-walkers. The section we walked is owned by The John Muir Trust, named after a famous Scot who was a leading light in the creation of national parks in the United States. After a festive farewell dinner of typical Scottish fare, we were entertained by a local fiddle and concertina duo, a fitting end to a memorable voyage.
