At the time of Clan MacDougall’s inception in the late 12th century, they held most of the area of Scotland known as Argyll, plus Mull and most of the southern western isles. Clan Campbell came along about a hundred years later and came into conflict with the MacDougall clan over whose territory Argyll should be. Then came Robert the Bruce, who murdered John Comyn in 1306 because he felt Comyn was too strong of a rival for the Scottish throne. The MacDougalls were kinsmen of Comyn, so they met Bruce at the Brander Pass, were ambushed by him, and lost — badly. Because the Campbells had backed Bruce, he gave them all of Argyll. This was the territory we came into as we left Glasgow and entered the Highlands.
After leaving Glasgow, we passed Dumbarton, which has a castle on Dumbarton Rock where Mary, Queen of Scots once stayed. Our first actual stop was the village of Luss on the western shore of Loch Lomond (a fresh water loch — Scottish for “lake”). It is a picturesque village with cute little cottages and loads of flowers. The loch is considered to be the boundary between the lowlands and the highlands of Scotland and is the largest inland body of water in Great Britain.
The song “The Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond” was supposedly written by a Scotsman who was imprisoned in Carlisle Castle (just across the border into England) on sentence of death after the Battle of Culloden in 1746. The “high road” was for one who was living and the “low road” was for one who was dead.
A very steep climb out of a glen when heading further west from Loch Lomond peaks at a very appropriately named spot called Rest and Be Thankful. The road and the name were created in the 1700s when travel was by foot or horse. Although the tour bus didn’t have quite the strain to get up the mountain as a horse or a person, we did stop and get out just to look at the beautiful views.
Our next stop was the town of Inverary on Loch Fyne, which is a sea loch. The area is heavily engaged in the business of oysters and herring. This was where we had lunch that day.
The town had been rebuilt on its present location in 1770 when the Duke of Argyll (chief of Clan Campbell) decided that where the town was originally located was a perfect place for him to build a new castle. So the Duke had a new town built, moved everyone into it, tore down the old town, and built his castle. Fans of “Downton Abbey” would recognize the castle from the 2012 Christmas episode when the Granthams visited their Scottish cousins. We didn’t have time to tour the castle on this trip (we did a couple years later), but we ran as fast as we could to get as close to it as we could to take a decent photo.
Continuing west, we reached Loch Awe and the ruins of Kilchurn Castle. Loch Awe is a fresh water loch known for trout fishing. It has several ruined castles sitting on islands. The most spectacular is the 15th century Kilchurn Castle. It was a Campbell stronghold which was struck by lightning in 1760. Its setting is also spectacular, so photos of it are gorgeous without much effort on the part of the photographer. It was a short trip through the Pass of Brander from there to Oban, with the remains of two MacDougall castles – Dunollie and Dunstaffnage.
Dunstaffnage is partially ruined and dates to the 13th century. After the Battle of the Pass of Brander (1308 or 1309), it became a crown property, held by the King of Scotland. In the 15th century, the King gave it to the Campbells. Prior to the existence of Dunstaffnage, there was an earlier Dál Riatan castle on the site from about the 7th century. The Dál Riatans were the people known as the Scots (or Scoti) after whom Scotland would eventually be named when one of their kings (Kenneth MacAlpin) became the king of the entire country.
Dunollie Castle, originally called “Dun Ollaigh”, was also an ancient fortress of the Dál Riatan kings. Nobody is certain how old it really is, but it was burned down a few times in the 7th and 8th centuries and could date back as far as the 5th (when the Dál Riatan Scots first arrived in the area) or the 6th century. It was refortified with an earthwork castle in the 12th or 13th century.
After the Battle of the Pass of Brander, the castle was given to the Campbells, but was regained by the MacDougalls later in the 14th century. In the 15th century, it was rebuilt. The ruins that you see today are mostly from that time. But by 1745, the castle was abandoned and Dunollie House was built just downhill from the ruins.
The MacDougalls (from whom I have some ancestry on my father’s side) are the Lords of Lorne (the Dál Riatan Kingdom of Lorn) and are mainly descendents of the Dál Riatan Scots (a Celtic race originally from what is now Northern Ireland) with a fair amount of Norse Orcadian thrown in.
In Oban, we found that our hotel was just down the road from Dunollie Castle. So we walked to the castle. It was too late in the day for a tour, but we got a pretty decent look at the outside.
Just before dinner that night, I was introduced to the Scottish way of drinking Bailey’s Irish Cream – with milk, no ice. I was also introduced to a Scottish version of Bailey’s that had heather in it. Both were pretty tasty. I still have Bailey’s with milk upon occasion at home.
Cullen Skink, Plaice, Neeps & Tatties, and Banoffee Pie were served for dinner. Cullen Skink is a cream soup with smoked haddock, potatoes and onions. Plaice is a type of fish caught in the North Sea. Neeps & Tatties are just turnips and potatoes. In this case they were diced and mixed together. Banoffee Pie is made of bananas and caramel with a whipped cream topping. By the time we were done with that meal, we were beginning to have Scottish accents ourselves.
The next day, we took the Caledonian MacBrayne ferry to the Isle of Mull. This had also once been a MacDougall possession. Our purpose on this trip was to drive the long way across the island to take the ferry to Iona and visit the Abbey there. Mull was where I encountered my first Highland Cow and had my first taste of Irn Bru (a bright orange soft drink that tastes like a cross between an orange Crush and a cream soda). Our tour director told us that we didn’t want to get too close to the “hairy coos” as they could be rather dangerous because of their horns and their weight and that we wanted to stay up wind of them as they could be “a wee wiffy” (rather stinky). They are mighty cute, however, with their short stature and long red fur that tends to spend most of its time in their eyes. They come in black, white or yellow too.
When we got to Iona, we found that we were in the middle of a “rush hour” (although there are no cars on the island). It seemed that everyone else had picked that same time to be there. Mom and I decided to get something to eat and then head for the abbey. Bad idea. The cafeteria was crammed with people. It took forever to get food, find a place to sit and eat it, use the facilities and head out. By that point, we had limited time on the island. The abbey was still crowded with people, was fenced off, charged a fee, and wasn’t letting anyone in at the moment because there were so many people. That left us with exploring the small chapel and cemetery outside of the abbey itself. Supposedly I have some ancestors buried in that cemetery. Once again, though, the grave stones were so old that most of them were barely decipherable, plus many of them have been moved inside of the Abbey Museum to protect them from further erosion. So I couldn’t find anybody specifically. It is a great location with the sea lapping on the shore just below the cemetery. Not at all a bad spot for one’s relations to come and visit one’s grave.
Iona was part of the Dál Riatan kingdom. In roughly 563, St Columba, who is credited with bringing Christianity to Scotland, much in the same way that St Patrick brought it to Ireland, founded a monastery on Iona. The Celtic Cross is considered to have originated on Iona. The Book of Kells was begun on Iona and moved to Kells when the Vikings kept raiding the island and killing off several of the monks. The monastery was finally abandoned in the 9th century.
Somerled (the fella whose sons originated both the MacDougall and MacDonald clans) led a raid of Iona in the late 12th century that freed it from its Norse hold. It became a holy site again. The Abbey was built in 1203 and a convent (led by Somerled’s daughter, Bethoc) was established in 1208. Somerled is thought to have built the small chapel in the cemetery.
In a later trip, when I was able to return to Iona, I grabbed a sandwich at a small shop, which I ate on the way to the abbey, which was no longer fenced off or charging a fee (there were fees to see various parts of it, but no fee just to get inside), plus we were there at a time when there were fewer people. Once again, timing was all.
