This very short walk leads to the dramatic remains of Dùn Scaith Castle. The views are quite simply sensational, well justifying the drive along the switchback road to reach the start.
Short walk on a track, then rougher mix of grass and rocks with some boggy ground.
None to start.
Tokavaig bay between Tarskavaig and Ord.
Park off the road at Tokavaig Bay, which has the most sensational views of the Cuillin and Bla Bheinn, with Dùn Scaith castle visible as a foreground. Walk along the road towards Ord. Just past the cattle grid a track branches off to the left. Turn sharp left here.
Follow the track across the head of the bay passing a prominent rock outcrop on your right. The track leads to a whitewashed crofthouse. Pass to the left of the house; the going from here has only faint paths, but it doesn't matter whether you head directly over the low rise or keep closer to the shoreline; either way you'll approach the castle.
The remains of Dùn Scaith castle date back to the 13th century but occupying an older, fortified site. The castle, perched on a rock above Loch Eishort, was a stronghold of the Macleod before it became the principal seat of the MacDonalds of Skye in the 15th century. Among the many legends associated with Dùn Scaith are those recounted in Macpherson's 'Ossian' concerning the adventures of the Irish folk hero Cu Chulainn, who came here when he first landed in Skye. One tradition tells how he came here to learn the marshal arts of war from the warrior queen 'Sgathaich', whose home this was. The castle is reached over a gully bridged by two walls which flanked a drawbridge, whose pivot holes are still visible on the far side. With the drawbridge missing the dangers of entering the castle can be clearly seen. On the far side of the bridge a door would have opened onto a flight of steps leading up between walls to the castle.
Parts of the curtain wall (one of the earliest surviving examples in the district of lime-mortared construction, being random rubble with smaller infill bound with lime) still cling to the cliff edge, but what survives of the internal structures (which probably included a tower) are identifiable only by grassy mounds. In the courtyard is a well, and at the south east angle are remains of a stair within a tower leading to the parapet walkway. To the right of the castle great views of the Cuillins can be seen on a clear day. Immediately across the water are the remains of the cleared villages of Boreraig and Suisnish.
Return to the road along the same outward path and track.
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