There are shelves on the inside of the innerwall going completely around what is left of the brochs we saw (Dun Telve and Dun Troddan Brochs). At the base the space between the walls is six or eight feet wide and the walls on either side as wide or a little wider. We could walk into a number of chambers in the walls and climb stairs to get to the second floor. Both brochs are in ruins, but what is left stands respectively 33 and 25 feet high (though they would have been a few feet higher originally). They come from about the First Century BC and are the most impressive architectural achievements we have seen from the ancient sites book. They are worth the hour drive each way to see them.
On out way to see the two brochs, we passed by a castle that we had not known we would be passing. I took a quick photo or two and we resolved if there was time we would tour this majestic-looking castle. There was time, so we went back about 4 PM.
In fact, this castle had recently been used for a fantasy film and so we had reason to think it looked familiar. The film, incidentally, is called (appropriately enough) HIGHLANDER.
Eilean Donan Castle had a long and violent past. In 1214 the castle was begun on the vitrified remains of a Pictish fort. In 1263 it was given to the Earl of Desmond and Kildare for his services against Norwegian Vikings at the Battle of Largs. That battle won back the Western Isles from the Vikings.
The Earl's family later became the Clan MacKenzie and their constables at the Castle were the MacRaes. In 1539 Donald Gorm of the McDonalds assembled 400 warriors for a rebellion. Having heard that Eilean Donan was weakly guarded, Gorm determined to take the Castle. With several galleys full of warriors, he headed for the Castle on Loch Duich. Duncan MacRae, an ally of the McKenzies, happened to be passing, saw the attack about to happen, and beat Gorm to the gate. He killed a number of warriors on the first galley, then barred the gate. Gorm's men tried to beat down the gate, but were chased away with thrown rocks. There followed an attack with arrows in each direction. The then-current constable was killed and only Duncan and the watchman were left.
The invaders then took down the masts of their galleys to use as battering rams. Duncan held back his final arrow until he could hot Donald Gorm. When he finally could shoot at Gorm, the arrow was inaccurate and only hit Gorm's foot. Gorm pulled out the barbed arrow, but in doing so cut a main artery. The bleeding refused to stop and Gorm retreated to a reef where both he and his rebellion died.
In 1719 the Jacobites in the Castle allowed Spanish allies to use the Castle as a base. Three English frigates were dispatched to attack the Castle, but their cannonballs could do little against the 14-foot-thick walls. They did manage to set off some Spanish gunpowder inside the Castle and that did the trick. The Castle was totally destroyed.
In 1912 a wealthy MacRae decided to rebuild the Castle and an architect, Farquhar MacRae, claimed to have dreamed what the Castle looked like and wanted to do the work. As odd as it sounds, plans for the old Castle were eventually found and MacRae's dream was totally accurate--at least so the story is told.
September 9 (8:03 AM): The guide for the first room in the Castle (there are only two rooms open to the public, but there is a long lecture in each and a fair amount to see around the outside) was one of the best we've seen on this trip. Sort of a Margaret Rutherford type with a real enthusiasm for history.
After we saw the two rooms inside, we walked around on the outside. This is not one of the bigger castles. It might seem almost tiny compared to something like Blair Castle, but it looks considerably more feudal and that counts for a lot somehow. Apparently parts are still lived in at times, though not very much, according to the guard. Having a castle seems to be the ultimate status symbol in Scotland, and rich families want to live in their ancestral homes. Taxation on castles has made this very difficult, so what oftens happens is that a family like the Mansfields of Scone moves up to the second floor and opens the first floor to the public. I don't know if there are tax advantages in letting the public see a castle, but it is possible to charge an admission and make some income that way. At any rate, many of the castles we have seen double as somebody's home even while open to the public.
Scotland was actually something of a travel find, I think. It is a country with the scenery of Norway and the odd feudal past of Japan. At least in some ways, it is similar. You have the same sort of clan heritage fighting for power, with feudal lords massacring each other. Japan's past has been better publicized in films--'romanticized' might be the better word--but Scotland had much the same sort of past until the Battle of Culloden stamped it out.
After the Castle, we drove a relatively short distance into Kyle of Lochalsh, where we found the Tourist Information Centre and had them make arrangements for our next B&B. They said it was too late to get arrangements back, but if we came in in the morning, they would probably have things all arranged. We asked about restaurants and they suggested a 'whole food' restaurant. 'Whole food' is one of those double-think words that really mean the opposite of what they say. 'Whole food' is what we call 'macrobiotic,' and it is a philosophy that says you can make oatmeal and lentils taste almost as satisfying as meat and it is a whole lot healthier and better on the conscience.
Well, the thing was, I had to eat vegetarian food one day this week anyway. So I figured it might be a good evening for it. The restaurant itself is run by four women in their early to midtwenties. It could well have been their first business out of school. The building was new and rather spare. It might have been intended as a house that just had a large living room. Somehow it was very reminiscent of the type of thing you'd have found in Amherst, Massachusetts, back in the days I was there.
I had lentil soup and curried vegetables on a bed of rice. Evelyn, who had a little more courage than I did, ordered the peanut roast. I think she discovered that courage in a whole food restaurant may be misplaced. Curried vegetables are a pretty safe bet. The peanut roast was a poor imitation of meatloaf. I suppose it could have been worse. It could have been a good imitation of meatloaf.
For dessert I had the lemon sorbet. It is much like I used to make at home. You make double-strength lemonade, freeze it, and then scrape it to get a slush.
If you are British I mean lemon squash. Here lemonade is just lemon-flavored soda. It's like here French fries are called 'chips.' What we call chips they call 'crisps.'
From there we went to our B&B. We had the town name, Balmacara. From there, the address was 'The Farm, The Square.' Well, we found The Square and sure enought, there was a farm. At first, all we could see was a barn in not very good shape. We had to drive into the farmyard to see the house. It looked a little better. It was, however, the least comfortable B&B so far. The room was cold, the bed narrow, the bathroom downstairs, and we were given no towels. It was, however, a perfect setting to read Scottish horror stories before sleep.
Today the drive has been eneventful. The drive has not been scenic because it has been so gray and dismal.
(9:08 AM): Well a day that started rather dismally has had an upswing. Stirling, our town for the night, is a very pleasant town. Our real goal here was to see Stirling Castle.
There is, unfortunately, no short description that could do justice to the history of Stirling Castle, which is long and complex. I doubt if I remember enough or know about enough Scottish history to put it into context. I know James III was born there. James IV probably was also. James V and Mary Queen of Scots had their coronations there.
Mary's initials are written in the battlements: 'MR 1561' at a place called Queen Mary's Lookout.
The Castle has been expanded many times, so that seeing all of it is now extremely difficult and time-consuming. I found a number of strange passages that lead to rooms, at least one of which is probably not thought to be open to the public.
One piece of interesting history. When Not-So-Bonnie Prince Charlie was retreating, he tried to take the Castle, which was then in Hanoverian hands. There are still holes in the walls where his cannonballs hit the Castle.
This castle was also a stronghold of Robert the Bruce. I have to do some boning up on Robert, considered Scotland's greatest hero.
The Castle is also the home of a museum of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, with artifacts from the fighters who distinguished themselves as the 'Thin Red Line' at battles like Balaklava.
Well, when we got to the Castle it was still raining and while Evelyn did not see it, it was even snowing at one point. But while we were there the sky cleared and some of the vistas from the walls were very nice in the sunshine. One looked down on a kind of sculptured park called the King's Know. The grounds form a sort of three-dimensional pattern, sort of the land equivalent of a topiary. I did tell Evelyn that I hoped somewhere near it there was a pub called the King's Knot Inn.
Well, following the Castle visit we went to the bookshop and I purchased for myself all the Richard Hannay novels I didn't have. Until this trip I was unaware that John Buchan (who was, as it turns out, a Scottish baron) had written more Richard Hannay novels than THE THIRTY-NINE STEPS. Our book catalog, in fact, says we don't even have that one, though I thought we did. We do have GREENMANTLE, but I bought the three Hannay novels that follow it. I don't know if there are more than the five. In fact, THE THIRTYNINE STEPS is rather skimpy, while the other four are really much more full-sized. I look forward to reading it on the trip home. (I might point out that it is not the pallid story Hitchcock made. I am told the third film version, which for my preference is the best of the three, is also the most accurate to the novel. The first version had Robert Donat, the second had Kenneth More, and the third had Robert Powell.)
Next we found the B&B only a few blocks from the Castle in a very nice part of town. It is the cheapest B&B at 8.50 pounds/night/person, which is odd because it is also the most comfortable. We have basically a private floor of a house with color television, clock-radio, very nice furniture, in-room coffee and tea, and ginger biscuits.
The woman who runs it recommended a restaurant for dinner, Littlejohns. We went there and it was very enjoyable. I got a Tbone and the steaks are quite good here. Evelyn got a Rob Roy. That is a steak rolled in oats in a special sauce made with whisky. I tried some and it was good too. I asked to try their mustard and they brought a tray with ten jars of mustard from different parts of the world. I tried each in turn (but the Grey Poupon and the French's American). There are some made with wine, one with whisky, and a deep-brown French. The best was English and very strong, a lot like my favorite in the United States, a concoction called Mr. Mustard which feels a little like you've been punched in the nose. Good stuff.
The news tonight had a story about British Telecom's chairman resigning. They talked a lot about British Telecom's problems and how much better phone service is in the United States. There was some, but not much, mention of degradation of service after the AT&T breakup. Before and after, the British telephone situation was always worse than the telephone situation in the United States. If AT&T can be profitable and provide such good phone service, why couldn't British Telecom? (At the convention, one of the authors said he was going to return to the United States with new respect for our telephone system. |
