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In the footsteps of giants
Tara Holmes travels to an area of Scotland with close geological links to the Giant’s
Causway.
STORIES about the Giant’s Causeway on the coast of County Antrim have been passed down through the generations for hundreds if not thousands of years.
One legend has it that the famous landmark on the tip of Northern Ireland was built by Fionn MacCumhain, the local giant who flew into a fit of rage after he heard that a Scottish rival was ridiculing his fighting abilities.
In another argument with the same Scottish giant, Fionn MacCumhain was said to have hurled a clod of earth at his rival which fell into the sea and became the Isle of Man.
But had Fionn MacCumhain marched down his Causeway into the sea to pursue his opponent, the remote Ardnamurchan peninsula on Scotland’s west coast would have been a good place to stop and towel off. Ardnamurchan is the most westerly point of the British mainland. It is here that the last few hints of the extraordinary hexagonal rock formations that begin at the Giant’s Causeway can be found.
The best example of the basalt formation, a volcanic rock which formed the Giant’s Causeway, is on the isle of Staffa. And the island, best known for Fingal’s Cave, is only a boat trip away from Ardnamurchan. On a clear day, nothing can compare to a trip on the open sea out to Staffa to see these breathtaking formations at their best.
I have visited Ardnamurchan every summer since 1995. Like many regulars, I can’t get enough of the place. There’s always more to see and do. But one of my abiding memories is the thrill of driving at full throttle out of Fingal’s Cave in a speed boat at the height of the summer season.
Ironically, most people visiting Scotland’s Western Highlands never get as far as the sleepy Ardnamurchan peninsula. For centuries the only form of communication between communities living in this remote spot was by boat and by foot. Until 1945 Ardnamurchan, Gaelic for “Point of the High Seas”, was virtually inaccessible to the outside world.
But the advent of the motor car changed all that. The peninsula went from an undiscovered virtual island to a desirable holiday location for those escaping city life. Today, the peninsula remains a walker’s haven with a network of paths taking you through the long abandoned settlements of the Highland clearances.
Arriving from the South, you take the ferry at Corran and are immediately steeped in some of Scotland’s most remarkable history. Across the peninsula lie iron-age forts, standing stones and Megalithic chambered cairns. Legends of Borodil, Muchdragon and Somerled and their far-flung Viking kingdom linger in places names where Gaelic is still very much a living language.
Much of the rugged coastline is reminiscent of County Donegal where I used to stay with Irish relatives every summer as a child. Yet it’s not just my Irish blood and fond memories of happy holidays in Ireland that have made Ardnamurchan one of my favourite destinations.
There is also an ancient link with Ireland dating back to around 550 AD when Saint Columba, the most famous of Celtic saints, first set foot on the British mainland at Ardnamurchan.
The sixth century saint travelled from Ireland to Ardnamurchan via Iona, a small island off Scotland’s west coast, and landed at Camas nan Geall where an ancient Celtic cross marks the bay where Columba first stood.
Legend has it that he plunged his staff into a rock, creating a miraculous spring from where he drew water to baptise a child. Today the spring still runs out of a roadside bank at the top of a hill and many people stop to wash or drink from a cup lodged among the stones.
At the seashore, the ancient burial ground of Saint Ciaran, another saint from the Columba era can be found.
Apart from a single-track road stretching the length of the 50-square mile peninsula, modern man has made little impression on the lonely spot where Columba made his historic landing. In 570AD, Saint Finan, one of at least two other Celtic saints was sent to Ardnamurchan from Iona. The other, Saint Comhghan came here from Leinster in 700AD.
Further west to Swordle, near Kilmory, is Columba’s Cave where local tradition holds that a band of robbers were baptised and converted by the saint using a shallow pool within one of its entrances.
Heading inland towards Dalilea is Saint Finan’s Isle or the Green Isle of Loch Shiel. Saint Finan founded a monastery on the island which later became a burial ground for “the great and the good” for miles around.
At Kilchoan, the most westerly base for visitors to Ardnamurchan, the village sees up to 20 hours daylight on a good summer’s day. And watching sunsets over the Western Isles from the ancient crofting hamlet of Portuairk or the lighthouse at Ardnamurchan Point undoubtedly gives the day a more spectacular end.
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