Tokavaig

The Castle and Its Approach

The drawbridge at Dùn Scaith is gone, which is the first practical thing to know before you walk out to it. The castle stands on a precipitous rock at the edge of Tokavaig Bay, thirty or forty feet above Loch Eishort, and the gap where the bridge once crossed is now an obstacle rather than an entrance. What remains rewards the short walk anyway: the pivot holes for the vanished drawbridge, fragments of curtain wall, a stair remnant, and a well long since filled with debris. In Highland tradition this was the stronghold of Scáthach, the warrior-woman who trained the Irish hero Cú Chulainn. It was later a MacLeod fort and then, from the fifteenth century, the principal Skye seat of the Macdonalds of Sleat.

The walk out is about a mile and a quarter there and back, forty minutes or so, starting at the bay and following a track that gives way to faint paths over rough grass, rock and boggy ground. There are twenty metres of ascent and no bus to the start. You come by car, along a single-track switchback road off the main Armadale–Broadford route, where passing places do the work an A-road would.

Loch Views and Gaelic Hospitality

From the castle rock the view runs north across Loch Eishort to the Cuillin and Bla Bheinn. Directly opposite lie the remains of the cleared settlements of Boreraig and Suisnish.

Food and drink draw you to Isleornsay, where Bar Am Pràban at Hotel Eilean Iarmain has a winter fire, regular traditional music from local musicians and singers, and a strong Gaelic presence. The menu includes grilled Highland haggis with Gaelic-whisky cream, Gaelic-gin-cured salmon, battered haddock and an Eilean Iarmain venison burger; Loch Eishort mussels and local langoustines are among the seafood specials. The hotel's Gaelic whiskies have been produced since the late 1970s, and its gin is distilled next door. On fine days, diners can sit on the shorefront lawn by the old pier.

An Inn and Community Provisions

At Ardvasar, the Inn @ Àird a' Bhàsair occupies a building put up in the early 1800s, one of the oldest hotels on Skye. It has two bars, the MacNamara and the Bothan, and the Linne restaurant; dogs are welcome in the Bothan, where there is a menu for them. For everyday needs there is An Crùbh at Duisdale, a community-owned store that is also the café and the post office rolled together.

Distillery, Gardens and Crofting History

At Teangue, Torabhaig is a working distillery with tours and a café. Armadale Castle sets a Clan Donald museum in forty acres of garden and woodland, with an adventure playground and miles of estate paths. Just up the coast at Tarskavaig, Lord Macdonald laid out thirty-one crofts in 1811, made deliberately small so that tenants would fish as well as farm.

Kilmore and the Walk Back

Kilmore's whitewashed parish church, built in 1876, retains its Victorian fittings and a monument to Sir James Macdonald dated 1768. Back at Tokavaig Bay, the castle rock stands against views of the Cuillin and Bla Bheinn.