Our day with Mitchell, Skye Ghillie (Wednesday, Sept. 16)

We actually got in bed early last night so we would be ready for our day with Mitchell, Skye Ghillie, today. We prepared our packs last night, anticipating a rainy day today. However, when we awoke and peeked out the window, there was blue sky visible among the clouds!

Mitchell, Skye Ghillie, and Smoky.

By 9 when Mitchell arrived, the sky was clearing even more, so we set off looking forward to a great day. Now that we are back at Canowindra, I can enthusiastically say we definitely had a terrific day. I'll list some of the reasons:

1. Mitchell was driving, so neither Smoky nor I had to worry about it!
2. We knew immediately that we were going to be in good hands with our Skye Ghillie. His warm, engaging manner put us at ease. 
3. Mitchell knows his flora and fauna. He took time to point out many of the roadside wildflowers and tell us about their traditional uses. He identified all the birds we saw and told us about some we hoped to see today but didn't.
4. We had asked to go to places tourists would not normally see. Mitchell took us to three remote locations -- the top of a hill with a direct view of a ridge where golden eagles are often spotted and red deer live, an area with the remnants of stone dwellings from the pre-1700 period, and a sea-cliff area where an old Viking fort once stood. 
5. We learned about the history of Scotland through Mitchell's thoughtful explanations; he put information we had read earlier in context, bringing it to life for us, and he provided lots of new information as well.
6. We came back home knowing we had met a man passionate about his island and his people. And we can now call him a friend.

If you ever have a chance to visit the Isle of Skye, we highly recommend you engage Mitchell for an outing, be it fishing, camping, hiking, most anything outdoors. You can read about what he offers at his website, www.skyeghillie.co.uk. Be sure to contact him as soon as you know your plans, for he books up early. Tell him you heard about him from us!

We learned that in Scotland there is a "right to roam" law, which means anyone can walk anywhere without worrying about trespassing. However, you cannot drive a vehicle on someone else's land without permission. What a reasonable way to ensure that the land is still accessible to its people.

Skylark on fence.

Scottish buzzard.

Now for more details about our day. Our first stop took us to a beautiful glen where we followed a rough road for a bit before stopping the vehicle and walking up the hillside to a place on top with a great view of a distant ridge where golden eagles and white-tailed eagles can be seen. Mitchell told us that the white-tailed eagle (also known as a sea eagle) has a wing span as wide as the road we were driving on (over 7 feet) and is the largest eagle in Scotland. He has seen the golden and white-tailed eagles flying together in this area. We caught some glimpses of bird activity on the ridge, but not enough to say definitively what it was. We did see a skylark on a nearby fence and a beautiful buzzard, brown and mottled, at the barn on our way out.

The view from on top of the hill was lovely. We sat on some rocks near a small stream from which the landowner used a water wheel generator to provide his electrical power. I can't adequately describe the peace and gentleness of this area. So lovely.

Foundation of blackhouse, taken from inside the house
looking out toward the walls.

After hiking down, we drove to another location in the same glen but some distance away. We hiked up on the crest of a hill and enjoyed a terrific view of the glen. Then Mitchell began to explain what we were seeing around us. Where we stood was a circular area that had once been a foundation for a stone-walled house known as a blackhouse. It would have had a thatch roof, no windows, and the opening would be away from the prevailing winds. Mitchell said there would have been a fire pit in the middle of the room with a small hole in the roof above it, but much of the smoke from the fire stayed in the house, causing the stone walls to turn black, thus the name "blackhouse." A family, with sometimes ten or more children, would live in the house, and their livestock frequently came in with them when the weather was rough. 

In the area where we stood, as we looked around we could see quite a few of these rock house foundations along with what remains of rock walls that once marked grazing areas. This was the site of a small village dating back several hundred years. At that time there were around 30,000 people on the Isle of Skye. Life was hard, but it was good! 

Then came the "highland clearances" in the 18th and 19th centuries, where so many people were forcibly evicted from their glens, many times on short notice, and their homes destroyed. The population of the Isle of Skye dropped to near 6000 people. You can read more about the clearances on Wikipedia. Skye's population has increased over the last hundred years and is now around 10,000, still very much lower than before the clearances.

Sea gulls in flight.

Back on the main road, we drove a little further north. Mitchell turned down a narrow road and onto a friend's property, being sure to latch the gates behind us. We drove off-road for a while until we approached a flat-topped ridge on Loch Snizort. We climbed to the top of the ridge, and Mitchell showed us the remaining walls of an old Viking fort known as Dun Santavaig. We saw a low-lying area on top, full of wild iris plants now, that was the well for the fort during the Viking time. Two sides of this ridge drop sharply to the sea; the other sides had protective walls, now fallen down.

Castle Uisdean.

Mitchell making tea!

We hiked out to the end of the ridge overlooking the sea and had lunch. Mitchell made us some hot tea using an interesting piece of camping equipment designed for building a small fire and boiling water. What a treat to enjoy some hot tea, a nice lunch, and the great view over this high ridge down to the beach. We saw some seals on a rock formation a little distant from us, and we watched gulls and gannets flying overhead. The sky was absolutely breathtaking today. In the distance along the shoreline were the remains of an old castle, Castle Uisdean, and an old dwelling where Flora MacDonald lived out her life. She played an important role in helping Bonnie Prince Charlie escape after the Battle of Culloden. You can read more about this interesting woman.

Flora Macdonald.

All in all, we couldn't have asked for a better experience today.

We followed one of Mitchell's recommendations for dinner -- the Granery, a restaurant in the middle of Portree. The menu was quite interesting. Smoky chose a roast lamb dish, served beautifully with asparagus and peas. I had chicken with brie, asparagus, and new potatoes. Both were really delicious. Because our entrees had been so tasty, we couldn't pass up the sticky toffee pudding, just to see how The Granery's version compared with the others we've tried. I have to say, tonight's version is at the top of the list so far!

Smoky's lamb dish.

My chicken and brie.

Tomorrow we head to Ballachulish for a few days in the Glencoe area.

--Shann