TRIP 11 - AWAY WITH THE FAIRIES IN DORNIE
Day 1 Monday 24th September 2020
Our trip to Dornie on the West Coast with Sandra and Chris had an auspicious start. The weather was beautiful and sunny in Inverness and it was pleasantly warm. Hopefully a sign of good times to come over the next few days.
We were not going to leave for a while and Sandra wanted a shot on the new electric bikes. So, the two sisters set off round the campus for a wee spin.
Sandra was most enthused by her experience and cajoled Chris into having a wee shot as well. They only went top the top of the lane and back and Chris did not fall off.
It was clear that there was a huge exercise benefit in cycling as Chris actually faded away to nothing after only 2 minutes in the saddle.
Before too long we were out on the road and heading into the west. It might still have been August, but the further we went the quieter the roads became. At least, that was true on the good roads, we did run into far too many stupid tourists on the single track sections later on. For now, though we were able to enjoy the freedom of the open highway.
There were hints of the scenery to come and still some blue skies.
Once we had negotiated some of the worst sections of single track road and the incompetent tourists who had no idea how to drive on them, we stopped for tea and cakes at The Carron, on the shores of Loch Carron.
Lemon cake and tea for three of us.
Ice cream and shortbread for Chris, who was determined to undo the goodness of his cycling endeavours earlier in the day.
Blue might be blind, but he clearly saw the chance of some ice cream and seized the moment.
A quick group photo and we were on our way.
This may look idyllic, but it masks the trauma of a 20 minute argument over the kitty money. Sharon and Sandra obviously share the same inability to count without a pen and paper. It was truly tortuous trying to get them to grasp that Chris had paid for our tickets to go to Eilean Donan Castle and, so, he didn't need to contribute as much to the kitty as Sharon and I. After Chris and I had lost the will to live, the penny finally dropped and we were able to pay for our tea and get on our way again. How they have managed to survive this long, handling money is anybody's guess.
We finally made it to Dornie, which derives from the Gaelic meaning a pebbly place. There is a bank of shingle where Loch Long and Loch Duich meet nearby to the village. The village was actually known as Bundalloch in the past. That translates as the foot of two lochs, which is probably a more accurate description of the place.
The village itself, is actually a planned village, being laid out by the
British Fisheries Society in 1794. Whilst it is a bit unusual in that there is no real gridiron plan of streets as in other BFS villages, there is a certain unity in the house design along the main road of Francis Street.
There is little doubt that our holiday house, Tigh Tasgaidh, was one of the most imposing buildings in the village. It turns out that it was The Commercial Bank of Scotland. The Bank was in the left hand side of the building and the remainder of the property was the Bank Manager's house. Our home for the next few days was in the old bank section.
Once we had settled in, it was time to celebrate our arrival with a drink sitting in the sea garden across the narrow street from the house.
It was the perfect spot. Even Blue agreed.
He couldn't see the sea, though.
There were lots of amazing and interesting things about this trip. The first one concerns the house itself. Not only was it the bank, it was also the place where Darren's Grandfather was born! Yes it actually was.
Apparently, Darren's Great Grandfather was shepherding in Patagonia - how amazing is that in itself? His Great Grandmother was pregnant with Darren's Grandfather and decided she wanted to have the baby back home in Dornie and not in Patagonia. The only place they could find when they came back in about 1940 was in the bank and that's where he was born.
Is that not astonishing?
That is not the end of it - keep reading for more amazement.
The next thing is more stupid than amazing. Bob went to get more drinks fro everyone and then pulled the door shut behind him. As he did so, he had a horrible thought that the keys were still in the house. Louise, the owner, had driven off to take her dogs for a walk.
We were trapped outside the house. A couple of beers and the pressure on the bladder could be a matter of significant concern. That didn't actually stop any of us continuing to drink - as you can probably tell. Sandra was already away with the fairies!
The window cleaner turned up, but he didn't have a key either and there was still no sign of Louise. The window cleaner did, however, have proper muscles after all that cleaning. He pushed the door and, sure enough, it opened! It was never locked!
Most people ungraciously complained about Bob's stupidity before stampeding across the road to get to the toilet.
Sandra and Chris were making the dinner so Sharon and Bob went for a stroll in the village in the sunshine.
There were some fishers about.
Not all of them were in boats.
Some of the houses had been painted in different colours. The blue one was, of course, the old police house.
There were even fairies at the bottom of one of the gardens.
And cows at the top of the hill.
Then we spotted a lifeboat. Not that odd in a fishing village, but this was an old lifeboat.
Stand by for some more amazing stuff.
The CANADIAN PACIFIC was built in 1938 as a Watson 46 lifeboat by Alexander Robertson & Sons Ltd of Sandbanks boatyard, Holy Loch and is of double diagonal timber construction with a hull of Honduras Mahogany. She is believed to be one of the first RNLI lifeboats to be fitted with diesel engines as standard.
The lifeboat was financed by the Canadian Pacific Steamship Company, whose owner had been prevailed upon by the King to sponsor a lifeboat. She arrived on station as the Selsey lifeboat in August 1938 and saved many ditched airmen from both sides during the Second World War. On the 11 July 1940, she saved the life of Squadron Leader John Peel, the commanding officer of 145 Squadron based at Tangmere. He was forced to ditch his Hurricane into the sea off Selsey Bill after sustaining damage in a fight with German Bombers. He was in the water with just a Mae West lifejacket, but was pulled from the water only minutes after ditching.
The CANADIAN PACIFIC also saved the royal sailing yacht BLOODHOUND and the crews of two other vessels during a hurricane off Selsey Bill in July 1956. She was removed from Selsey to the RNLI relief fleet in 1969. She was then sold out of service in 1977 to Scrabster Harbour Trust and became the Scrabster Pilot. Also that year she was part of the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Flotilla on the River Thames. This was her last service for the RNLI before she was sold out of service into private ownership.
The boat ended up here in Dornie in the care of a member of the Historic Lifeboat Owners Association. Who would have guessed that such a thing existed?
Beyond the lifeboat we came to Eilean Donan Castle. This is one of the most photographed castles in Scotland and it is easy to see why. It sits on a little island in the loch and looks every inch what you would expect a Scottish Castle to look like.
There were some fine views down Loch Alsh to Skye.
We were getting hungry and headed back to the house. We took a wander round the back garden and Sharon had go on the wee swing.
Diner was a very nice Lamb Guvech, which is a traditional Bulgarian casserole named after the clay pot it is supposed to be cooked in. Sandra did not have the clay pot and just heated it up in a pot and served it with rice and flatbreads. We were supposed to have had sticky toffee pudding, but she had left that in our fridge in Inverness. Luckily, we had taken an apple pie from the bakers to have as pudding the next night, so we had it instead.
It was all very tasty indeed.
Sandra was most upset at leaving the pudding behind that she sat at the window and sobbed gently to herself, while Sharon and Bob went out for another walk, this time heading in the opposite direction.
It was a lovely evening for a walk along the shores of the loch, despite the unwanted attention of a few midges.
A little way along the road from the house is the Catholic church of St Duthac. There is a lamppost outside, with this faded notice attached. MacRa is a variant of MacRae and Huishnish is in the Western Isles. Indeed, Sharon and Bob have been to the glorious white beach at Huishnish. I have been unable to find out who Isabella was, or why she might have had a lamp post presented to Dornie, presumably by her brothers and sisters.
The lamp post sits at the entrance to the church and there was a Nunnery there, but that is long gone. Perhaps the brothers and sisters refer to monks and nuns rather than relatives. There are no records that I can find relating to monks, though.
It was a very still and quiet night, but the silence was broken by the raucous honking of these Greylag Geese. They should be in Iceland or Scandinavia, unless winter has come early.
The sunset was not spectacular, but it did lend a certain light to the view down the loch and a bit of serenity to the scene.
I can't resist a photo of a boat and its reflection.
Then it was back to the house for a nightcap and then bed.
Day 2 Tuesday 25th September 2020
Today was supposed to be the worst day for weather, so we had booked to go round Eilean Donan Castle in the afternoon. In the morning we walked across to the village of Ardelve, which means Height of the Fallow Ground. It was a bit windy and cool, but it did not rain.
On the way, we passed an Ordnance Survey Triangulation Pillar, or Trig Point as they are more commonly known. This is Trig Point S9749.
This one was put in place in 1958 and the height at the top of the Bench Mark (the Flattened Arrow Head) is 6.851 metres above Ordnance Survey Datum, which is the Mean Sea Level at Newlyn in Cornwall.
More amazing facts.
The gin distillery - as befits a fairy distillery, it was quite small.
So, the lunch was bought and the gin tasting booked for the next day.
After all that excitement, we reached our destination - Manuela's Little Bakery. This was in a collection of crooked little houses and consisted of the bakery, a restaurant/cafe, a little cake/sweet shop, a gin distillery and, in the evenings, a pizza parlour! We were here to get something for our lunch and to check out the distillery, which offered tasting tours.
The buildings were all crooked and higgledy piggeldy.
There was also a little pond and a fairy trail.
This was the toilet - which we did not use.
Part of the fairy trail.
It may have been small, but it brought a smile to their faces!
So, the lunch was bought and the gin tasting booked for the next day.
We set off for home and walked by the shore, where we saw the smallest washing line ever. The trees were no more than 4 feet apart!
We also had the chance to see our house from a different viewpoint and you can see how large it is in comparison with most others. Of course, banks were usually built to exude solidity and security so that you would entrust your money to them.
Back at the house we had our snack lunch, which involved a ham and cheese little pizza roll thing and a sun-dried tomato and olive one. They were really very tasty and a lot lighter than they might look. Just the thing before going off to be a tourist at the Castle.
It is no distance from the house to the Castle and you can see it from all around.
Once we had been given our Covid instructions and Chris had been told off for not paying attention, we were able to take up our allocated time slot and get over the bridge to the castle, which is pretty impressive.
The main entrance, which, with the one way system was actually the exit.
So long as there is a MacRae inside, there will not be a Fraser outside.
Notice also the dates of 1912 and 1928.
What you visit now is not all as old as you think.
There are fine views down the loch too, which you can see once I got these three to move to one side to open up the view.
Eilean Donan just means the island of St Donan. He was an early Christian monk who was martyred in 617. He is said to have established a monastic cell on the island, hence the name. It is not entirely clear who killed him, but it seems that he and 50 of his monks were killed at the monastery he established on the island of Eigg.
There is no trace left of any monastic cell, but there was a castle established as early as the 13th Century, although the site may have been fortified before then. The island commands the three sea lochs of Loch Alsh, Loch Duich and Loch Long, making it strategically very important. It commands fine views up the loch.
The castle was destroyed in 1719 by the English following on from the first Jacobite rebellion. It was owned by the MacKenzies, but occupied by the MacRaes as their hired muscle. The castle was bombarded from the sea by the navy. Then a landing party destroyed the castle using the gunpowder stored in the vaults. Oddly the castle was occupied by Spanish troops at the time as Spain had become an ally of the Jacobites.
Between 1919 and 1932, the Castle was rebuilt by Lt-Col John MacRae-Gilstrap and most of what we see now is the reconstruction, including the iconic bridge to the island from the mainland. The photo is of the reconstructed MainKeep of the Castle.
There is a bell hanging in the castle. It is a ship's bell dated 1917 and belonged to HMS Taurus. She was an R Class Destroyer launched in 1917. She served in the First World War and was broken up in 1920.
Unfortunately, photography is not allowed inside the castle, which was really very interesting. So, this is the view looking back to the castle as we left to go back to the house.
The scenery becomes altogether more craggy and mountainous the further up the loch you go. The weather also closed in a little bit.
It is all very picturesque, which might explain why part of it belongs to Inverinate Estate. The estate is owned by Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum. He is the Vice-President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and the ruler of Dubai. He is thought to be worth $4.5 billion, so he can easily afford a wee bit of paradise in the Highlands.
We did pass by the entrance to part of the estate, but felt underdressed to go in.
Towards the end of the road we were really getting into real teuchter country. The cars were looking a bit tired.
Some of them had not moved in some considerable time.
Unfortunately, it basically went straight into the hills and then up over a ridge that we felt was beyond our capabilities. Maybe another day!
Bitterly disappointed that we couldn't go for a bit of mountain climbing tomorrow, we headed back to the house for dinner. By special request from Sandra and Chris it was sausages in onion gravy and mash. Simple, but delicious. Pudding was from Manuela's bakery and comprised two different crumble cakes - Apple and Cinnamon and Blueberry. They were delicious.
Before we settled down to play cribbage for the evening, we spent a bit of time investigating our hostess. Be prepared for even more amazing stuff!
The house was slightly unusual for a holiday house. The furniture and art had clearly come form a grand house at some time. There were pictures of masters and hounds, stately homes and an unnamed bust of a man on the hearth. We knew Louise's surname was Gordon-Canning. In our bedroom were a couple of illuminated testaments to a Miss Augusta Emily Selina Bailey.
That had been enough to get Sharon investigating.
Google soon found out that she was the sister of Clara, who became the wife of William James Gordon-Canning. They had a son called Robert Cecil. He was famous for a number of reasons.
Firstly, he was a war hero.
He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars in 1906 and promoted to lieutenant in The Prince Of Wales's Own Royal Hussars in 1912. He became Captain in 1915 and was awarded the Military Cross for conspicuous gallantry in 1917, setting a splendid example to his men.
Secondly, he married a famous Australian actress, Mary Maguire. She had played a number of roles in Hollywood and British films. She was 30 years Gordon-Canning's junior when they married in 1939. They had one son, who died in infancy. They divorced in 1944 and she moved back to America and died in California in 1974.
Thirdly, and most infamously, he was a high ranking British fascist.
He met Hitler and greatly admired him, thinking him charming. He felt that if 3 Hitlers had ruled the world in England, Germany and Italy, then the world would not be in the fix it was in. He was so involved in the fascist party that he was the best man to Oswald Mosely, when he married Diana Mitford. He was interned during the war.
All of this is astonishing, because he was also the father of our hostess Louise, through his second marriage.
That was something for us all to think about as Sandra and Bob thrashed Sharon and Chris at cribbage before we went to bed!
Day 3 Wednesday 26th August 2020
Our Wedding Anniversary. 42 years of absolute bliss.
After a leisurely breakfast, Sandra and Chris presented us with a wonderful present of padded cycling shorts in recognition of our new joint hobby of electrified cycling!
Very stylish, indeed.
After recovering from that surprise, we went west and stopped at Balmacara Square, a very pleasant little conservation village off the main road to Kyle.
It is an unexpected sort of place, not at all like a typical Highland village.
We had a look round the exhibition in the art gallery. One or two pieces attracted our interest, but we did not buy anything.
Then, while Chris and I wandered about looking at old buildings and the like, Sharon and Sandra went into a shop! In fact, this shop.
Eventually, they came out, looking as if they had robbed the till, but in fact, Sandra had just bought a present for a friend.
Our next stop was the little deli, which Sharon and Bob had visited before. We arranged a tray of goodies to pick up the next day for our dinner. We were going to be out for lunch and a big dinner was not thought necessary. Little nibbly things would do.
Next stop was Kyle, a hop away from the bridge to Skye.
We decided to have a wee walk about Kyle. We went down to the railway station, where there was a museum.
Here are the girls - they are clearly their father's daughters.
However, the museum was closed due to Covid, as was the whisky tasting!
We kept our chins up and our distance.
There was a plaque on the wall of the station to commemorate the loss of the Steam Yacht Iolaire (meaning Eagle in Gaelic). I had not known that the soldiers returning from the First World War to Lewis had embarked on the ship at Kyle. It does make sense that they would have travelled up from all over the country to Kyle by train. They embarked on the ship on the 31st December 1918 and sailed for Lewis overnight. The ship struck rocks just outside Stornoway harbour in the early hours of the 1st January 1919 and 205 men lost their lives within shouting distance of home after having survived the War. This was a huge tragedy for the Islands, with so many men lost from small communities in such a tragic way.
Amazingly, the plaque was unveiled by Mrs Janet Bowen, the Lord Lieutenant for Ross and Cromarty, Skye and Lochalsh. Bob was, of course, the Clerk to the Lord Lieutenant and knew Janet very well from work days!
On the way from the station back to the Co-op where we were to buy a quick sandwich for lunch, we passed an old torpedo, which had been converted into an RNLI money collection box. It was donated to symbolise the role of BUTEC in setting up the lifeboat station.
BUTEC is the Ministry of Defence British Underwater Test & Evaluation Centre. It deals with surface or underwater testing of torpedoes and other weapons. It operates in association with another shore base on the Applecross peninsula.
That is all very well, but what about the notice where you actually put your money?
It reads - "Warning - If escaping air is heard when unscrewing this cap. STOP. Do not unscrew further until the sound of escaping air ceaces".
That was fine, if a little worrying. Even more worrying was the fact that whatever sailor or technician inscribed the warning could not spell CEASES. Let's hope nobody misread it and carried on unscrewing.
We parked near Plockton International Airport. Actually, it is not quite that important. It was built by the military as part of the aid to communities in 1966. It has never been used to any great extent and is now mainly used by helicopters servicing fish farms and estates. The facilities are limited to a hangar, a self service fuel point and an honesty box to pay for it!
Anyway, we parked up and set off down the path.
It really did not take very long to spy the beach through the trees. It was packed with two small families and 6 young boys camping and fishing!
It looked almost tropical, although it was still a bit cool.
There are a number of such coral beaches on the west coast. However, there is no coral involved. They are formed from dried out Maerl. Maerl is a type of hard seaweed. It is actually purple when alive and the beaches are made of dead maerl, which has been crushed by waves and bleached by the sun.
It looking a bit tropical, meant we had to take some romantic pictures on the beach.
Here am I, looking every inch the casual traveller.
Sharon and Sandra looking slightly less elegant and debonair.
Over the sea to Skye.
What can we see at sea?
Seals is the answer.
Heading back to the car after a while in paradise, Sandra and Chris wait at the gate for the old codgers.
Back at the car, we spy that the local crofter has a wee shop selling produce.
Turns out it includes a burger van. Not Bob's usual culinary habitat. However, this includes locally caught fish and langoustines. He also has some different sausages to take home - chilli and cider and apple ones, so these go in the car.
Back to Dornie and we had a bit of time to kill before we went back to Plockton for our anniversary dinner. Sharon and I went for a walk back up the road to the church for a look about. This merely gave rise to another mystery.
The church is quite a solid Gothic revival building, not unpleasant in style. It was designed by Joseph Alyosius Hansom, who designed a large number of Roman Catholic churches, schools and convents. There had been a convent at this site along with a school and the church. The convent is no longer standing. The school is empty and decaying a bit.
The other, amazing, thing about the architect is that he designed the Hansom Cab!
There is some degree of restoration of the church taking place at the moment. There is evidence of new lead work on the roof and some of the windows have been replaced.
There is a plaque inside the church entrance which gives a bit of a clue to the history of the site. The church was built through the generosity of Louisa Catherine Duchess of Leeds, whose husband Francis Godolphin D'Arcy, the 7th Duke of Leeds died before the building was completed. It seems that the Duchess was a bit of a philanthropist, endowing a number of religious buildings throughout the country. Neither she, nor her husband seem to have had any direct connection with Dornie.
The Convent appears to have been founded in 1870 by Mother Mary Bernard of the Sisters of Mercy. She had a long and varied career with the Sisters, founding a number of convents, including Elgin. Amazing fact - Sharon and Sandra attended the Convent primary school in Elgin run by the Sisters of Mercy. They were schooled there when their father was posted nearby with the Navy.
Mother Mary Bernard had founded the House at Dornie at the request of her father and uncle. The family was from Aberdeen. The upkeep of Dornie appears to have been financed by Mother Mary's relatives. Her uncle was a priest in Aberdeenshire. Mother Mary went on to found Elgin, Fort Augustus, Keith and Tomintoul after Dornie, as well as other houses in Wales and England. A prolific and energetic woman it would seem.
The Aberdeenshire link is interesting.
In the churchyard there is only one marked grave. The stone is fairly new, but it remembers a nun who died in 1879 - very curious
Even more curious was the fact that, what appears to be the original grave marker, was propped against the nearby wall of the church.
So, who was Sister Mary Gonzaga, born as Lorna Fraser? After a bit of misdirecting myself, I was lucky, and thankful, to be contacted by Jenny Smith. She is the archivist for the Union of the Sisters of Mercy GB. She was able to provide an illuminating amount of information.
Louisa Fraser was born in 1857 in Braemar, which is, of course, in Aberdeenshire. She was the first postulant to enter the convent at Elgin, where she went in 1876, when she was 19. (A postulant is basically a pre-novice nun). Jenny was unable to say why Louisa went to Dornie from Elgin, but she died in May 1879, less than 6 months after being professed, essentially, she had taken her vows.
As an aside, she took the name Sister Gonzaga. I assume this is after Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, who lived and died in the 1500's in Italy. He was a contemporary of Francesco de'Medici. It is a bit of a coincidence that the architect of the church and the name in religion chosen by Louisa Fraser coincided with an Italian Saint. He is the patron saint of young people and poor Louisa was only 22 when she died.
Jenny also provided me with a bit of information about the complex of buildings here. The Duchess of Leeds had been seeking a religious group to operate the convent. In the meantime, the school had been using a lay teacher. Like all Highland schools, they had real issues with attendance when the peats needed cutting, the tatties needed lifting or the herring fishing was in full swing. It was not until fairly recently that this stopped as children attended school rather than carrying out work on the croft at peak times. I remember in my time at primary school in the 60's some children would disappear with their families as they travelled round the country looking for work at different seasons. These tinker families would be back in a month or two, or sometimes longer.
Eventually, the Sisters took over the running of the school and there were 4 Sisters there in 1879 when Louisa was there. By 1898, there were only 18 children being taught and the school closed. The sisters left for Elgin when the convent closed down on the 23rd August of that year - almost 122 years to the day when we were in the churchyard!
Amazing, really, but not as amazing as the time it can take some people to get ready to go out for dinner!
As it was our Anniversary, Sandra drove us over to Plockton, where we were booked in to have dinner at The Inn.
As usual, I took photos of my food, so that I can send it to other foodie people, like my brother, son and niece's husband to make them jealous.
I started with a very fresh crab salad.
Our children had contacted the Inn and arranged to pay for all of our drinks. Here we are with a bottle of Picpoul, which was very delicious. Had we all known in advance, we might have been even more extravagant.
The sun was almost gone by the time we had finished and we wandered down to the shore, where we caught the dying light over the bay. Plockton is rightly famed for its setting, which you can see even in this light.
There were a few midges about, so we got on the car and set off home with Sandra gallantly at the wheel. We were soon back at Dornie, where the Castle was lit up beautifully, so we had to stop to take some more photos.
We even got the moon behind the castle for added romance.
Then the sun truly did go down on a great day.
Day 4 Thursday 27th August 2020
Another day, another adventure. Unfortunately a bit of a damp day, but it didn't put us off heading into the wilds of Glenelg - notable for being a palindromic place name. To get there you have to drive over the Mam Ratagan pass, which rises to 1100 feet. It also means driving past the Glen Shiel chocolate shop, which we resisted visiting. That may have been a mistake, because the chocolates are fab. Maybe next time, we won't be so abstemious.
It was a really still day, which gives rise to some nice reflections on Loch Duich. Another wee amazing fact - Duich derives from the Gaelic Dubhthaich meaning of Duthac. The Loch is named after St Duthac, who gave his name to the church in Dornie as well.
We were soon getting up high and closer to the clouds.
Chris and two of the sisters of Kintail. Not sure where the other three sisters went to, or is that them in the background. The 5 sisters of Kintail are the mountains to the north west of Kintail. Kintail just translates as the head of the sea water, which is perfectly descriptive of the place.
The 5 sisters come from legend. It seems that the five sisters were the oldest of seven. The two youngest sisters fell in love with two Irish princes who were washed ashore in Kintail. However, their father would not allow the two youngest sisters to marry until his 5 older daughters were married. the Irish princes agreed to send over their 5 brothers once they returned to Ireland with their soon to be new wives. Of course, the promised brothers never appeared and the five sisters waited, eventually turning to mountains, so that their vigil lasted for all of time. Sharon and Sandra are not that old and have, of course, found their princes.
Soon we reached Glenelg and here is the amazing sign to prove it.
The earthly Glenelg is twinned with an area of Mars with the same name. Actually areas of Mars are named after places in the North West Territories of Canada, which share similar geological features. The Glenelg there is, however, named after this, the original Glenelg.
Glenelg has an amazing war memorial. It is a bit bigger and more ornate than your everyday war memorial for a start. That may be because it was designed by Sir Robert Lorimer. He was a very famous architect and designed the Scottish National War Memorial which sits at Edinburgh Castle. He also designed the simple, but effective gravestone used for all Commonwealth War Graves.
It was also controversial at the time as Sir Robert did not open up the sculpture of the design to competition as was the norm. He employed L R Deuchars to do the final design and then sculpt it, paying for the work himself. Sculptors in the Royal Scottish Academy were unhappy.
Much to our delight there were some Red Throated Divers on the water. You don't see them every day. Beautiful birds.
Next stop - The Glenelg Inn.Luckily they served beer from the wee brewery opposite the broch, so we were able to support the local economy.
It is a pretty impressive memorial.
Amazingly, the list of the fallen is headed by one Major Valentine Fleming DSO MP of the Oxford Yeomanry. He had just completed the building of the family home at Arnisdale nearby when he was killed in action. His son is probably better known - he was Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond!
There are some nice views over the Sound of Sleat towards Skye from here and we spent a bit of time taking them in. It was astonishingly quiet and peaceful
Much to our delight there were some Red Throated Divers on the water. You don't see them every day. Beautiful birds.
There were also some sheep on the beach. They were either eating the stones or licking the salt, because there was no sign of any sustenance there.
We had some time before we were booked for lunch, so we carried on out to see the famous Glenelg Brochs. The first of these that you come to is Dun Telve and is the best example of an Iron Age broch in mainland Scotland. It stands over 10 metres high and dates from about 2200 years ago.Nobody knows their true function, but they are thought to be defensive structures, although they could have been lived in by a number of people. There is evidence of some habitation, but it is not known if this was long term or just restricted to periods of unrest.
They are magnificent.
The construction and engineering are wonderful.
Even Sandra was enthralled.
So was Sharon the Pixie.
I was unsure why there was a VR inscribed stone in the grounds of the broch. It turns out that the two brochs in Glenelg were among the first monuments taken into the care of the state in 1885. Victoria would have been on the throne and so these stones mark her being the head of state at the time.
Less than 500 metres away is Dun Troddan another well preserved broch, although it is not as high. The two brochs are unusually close together, but it is not known if they were occupied at the same time.
Dun Troddan is pretty impressive too.
Even more impressive, it is still occupied, although only by sheep.
Just opposite is a much more modern brewery and Inn. Unfortunately, they were closed.
We headed back to the village, going past our lunch destination for a quick look at the ferry crossing point. The ferry is off due to Covid, otherwise we would have made a circuit of the trip by going via Skye.
It was a bit damp by now, but we were treated to the sight of half a dozen seals chasing fish in the Sound.
It was getting on for lunchtime, so we headed back to the Glenelg Inn. There was a danger that we might not make lunch due to blockages on the road.
We got past the sheep without too much trouble and then passed the ruined barracks at Bernera. These are Hanovarian in age, being completed in 1723 and designed to guard the crossing to Skye and to put down any further Jacobite rebellion in the Highlands. They were one of the 4 great barracks and forts built by the English Government to keep peace in the Highlands. They were actually not used much during the later rebellions and ceased to be used by the army in 1797 - one hundred years before the death of Sister Mary Gonzaga!
Next stop - The Glenelg Inn.Luckily they served beer from the wee brewery opposite the broch, so we were able to support the local economy.
The menu was not your usual pub grub.
There was a lovely roaring fire, which was most welcome given the rain was teeming down by now.
The food was excellent.
Sharon and Sandra declared the chocolate brownie to be the best they had ever eaten.
After our splendid lunch we headed back to home via the deli at Balmacara Square. We had ordered a snacky plate, because we knew we would be having a big lunch. We were pleasantly surprised by the feast that had been prepared for us.
Once we had picked that up, we had one more stop before Dornie.
This was the gin distillery. We had been going to have had a tasting. That would have meant walking in the pouring rain and sitting in a covered area outside due to Covid. It was wet, cold and the midges were wild, so we had cancelled. We called in and picked up some bread and some gin, so all was well with the world.
Sharon bought a bottle of the Number 1 and Sandra a bottle of the Number 6. Number 6 had actually won the Double Gold award at this year's World Spirits ceremony.
Another day nearly over. After some more cribbage, which Sharon and Chris somewhat surprisingly won and some nibbles from the deli, it was time for our last sleep in the old bank.
In the morning, it was time to leave and go to our respective homes, but we won't be forgetting this break in a hurry.
Thanks again to Sandra and Chris for coming with us. Thanks also to Sharon for putting up with me taking weeks to write this stuff.
A special thanks to Jenny Smith for her invaluable help with solving the singular coNUNdrum.
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