Allt Caochan

Explorer Tom Eilean Donan Castle has the nerve to look as if it grew straight out of its island rock, bridge and all. I was about to congratulate a medieval mason on keeping it so tidy, then the place handed me a twist: much of the castle you see was rebuilt in the twentieth century. That does not make its older adventures any less wild. A castle stood here by the thirteenth century, guarding Kintail when sea routes mattered more than roads. The Mackenzies held it, with MacRae constables looking after their stronghold. In 1719 Spanish soldiers arrived to support a Jacobite rising. Government ships bombarded the castle, then the soldiers ashore found a gunpowder store and blew up what remained. The ruins sat abandoned for nearly two centuries. John MacRae-Gilstrap bought the island in 1911 and began a twenty-year rebuilding project with architect George Mackie Watson and local clerk of works Farquhar MacRae. The restored castle and its arched bridge opened in 1932. So the silhouette is both an old Highland story and a determined family’s answer to a pile of rubble. I rather admire that sort of stubbornness. The castle is ticketed, with tickets sold on site on the day, not in advance online. Uneven steps and narrow stairs make the interior very difficult for wheelchair users; the island exterior and visitor centre offer other ways to experience it. Check current opening before your journey, then cross the bridge and let the sea have its say.