In the Footsteps of my Ancestors, Camuscross 2nd March

Today was a big adventure into my past and to be honest a bit emotional - to tread in the steps of my ancestors was very special.

It was raining and cold (and stayed that way all day) as we headed off ofter breakfast bound for a two hour drive to Sleat (pronounced Slate) to meet up with Sarah Addison, whom I had been liaising with from the Clan McDonald Centre Library at the Museum of the Isles in Armadale, Sleat.

We arrived at 10.00am for them opening but we stopped in at the AmaZing Restaurant on the grounds for a drink and a biscuit, before heading up towards the museum and Armadale Castle ruins. We met a Kiwi, Darrion working there who was very friendly and we are their first ever customer as they are under new management and just opened today!

NOT MY IMAGE - This Photo from the Clan McDonald Website

We headed up the hill in the rain to the information centre come ticket booth and paid our £9.50 each to get in. I headed up the left fork to the Museum and Library whilst Vince headed right to the castle ruins and garden to take some photos.

I met the lively and very entertaining Sarah (originally from the Yorkshire Dales but been here 5 years.) I had sent her what I had so far about my family from Camuscross in advance and she verified that it was all correct. Although she couldn’t really add anything further to my direct linage in my family tree as I had hoped, she did have some additional information about possible actual grave locations for one relative that I knew was buried in Kilmore Churchyard as well as the location of the actual Croft (35) tenanted by them in Camuscross.

Sarah was a wealth of background information on the area and also filled us in on what life would have been like at the time and also the location of the school they would have attended. She also gave me a contact (Ann) at the Highlands Archive Centre in Inverness who could assist with viewing the Kilmore Kirk records and School records which may give breadth to my research. She also recommended some books for us by M.E.M. Donaldson and Vol 1 of the evidence from the McDonald Estate for the Napier Report which is now online. It was completely fascinating!

After a while Vince came and joined us and we had great “blether”with Sarah - turns out we have a lot in common and she told us she had stalked us out on our 2upadventures web site (www.2upadventures.com). She passed on her contact details in Waterloo and I will arrange a catch up with her socially and she’ll show me how to spin and weave! Don’t you just love the way the Universe works in strange ways to sends you what you need when you need it? Vince spotted a feather on display and took a photo if it for me.

After we left Armadale we stopped in at Eilean Iarmain - Isle Ornsay at the pub for lunch. We both had the Venison burger and I tried the local “Te Bheag” whisky and ginger ale. The pub was very quaint and had a wonderful roaring fire to dry off by and friendly staff.

Then it was just next door to Camuscross armed with my map from Sarah and the name of the person living there now her advice was to “knock the door” and introduce myself. We found the place but no one was home - except a dog that barked from inside. It even had my Grandmother's favourite flowers growing - Daffodils. Vince suggested I leave a note and my contact details - so I did - fingers crossed she takes pity on the cheeky Australian!

Vince did a bit of droning over the area but the weather really wasn’t favourable with high wind and rain. He also took a YaYa Vlog on Croft 35 - where my ancestors farmed for many years.

Back in the car we thought about going to the Kilmore graveyard and also to take photos of the school but the rain was bickering down so we decided to leave that for another day and headed back home.

Along the way we stopped in the Braes - Sarah had told us about The Battle of the Braes (Scottish Gaelic: Blàr a' Chumhaing) - which involved crofters (many of them women) needing to graze their livestock on common land and confrontations with the police from Glasgow.

During the Highland Clearances (1750s to about 1855) people were moved onto smaller less suitable land to make way for sheep but still had to pay rent as tennants to the Clan Chief. Some families were evicted and moved on several times.The Clearances from the saw some families, a number led by women, refuse to leave land on which they had raised free-roaming cattle for generations. Women found themselves on the front line of several protests because men were either working away from home, in military service, or had died.

In 1882 about 100 crofters in Camustianavaig, Braes, had decided enough was enough. Ignoring a ban to graze their own stock withheld rent and released sheep onto a forbidden area on the shores of Ben Lee.Lord MacDonald turned to the law to evict the crofters but when the sheriff’s officer came in April 1882 to issue their eviction notices they forced him to burn the documents.Reinforcements of 50 policemen from Glasgow and the crofters (mostly women and children) greeted them with sticks, stones and whatever other weapons they could lay their hands upon. Several people were injured on both sides in the “Battle of the Braes” and several crofters were arrested and later fined.The resulting publicity led to the Napier Commission and ultimately the 1886 Crofters Act which brought security of tenure and the right to hand a croft on to their heirs.

As we drove down to the shore we met a man, Brian, and his dog, Logan who was totally fixated on his ball. Turns out he knows George (owner) of the Beach house and Vince had a great chat with him. He said there’s about 30 houses in Camustianavaig and about 15 are owner occupied, but only 2 are actually from Skye the others, including himself, are “incomers”! He is from Aberdeen, but people come from all over to live on Skye because they just fall in love with it. We do love it here, but we need to be with family more.

After chatting to Brian, we went down to Camustianavaig to have a look at the Beach House (our dream home) from a distance and I thought I saw “Sammy” the seal I have seen twice before here. Sure enough he appeared and I got out my binoculars seeing him up close - grey and speckled and often lazing on his back! To my surprise a second seal joined him - so I’ve named her Sally!

We had a drive through the rest of the Braes and we saw the monument commemorating the battle. I had to get out in the rain to get a photo on my iPhone and I took a couple of the view, including Ben Tianavaig.

It was getting dark so we headed North, through Portree and up the East Coast road to Duntulm. We stopped just short of Willie McLeods to collect the recycling bin we put out this morning. I trailed it home, in the pouring rain, in the dark and Vince drove behind with the car lights helping me to see where I was going on the farm.

We got inside and I stared a fire. We just had a small dinner (cheese and oatcakes for me - I tried them last night for the first time) as we’d had a big lunch out. We caught up on downloading photos and drone footage and of course my blogs.

Before we knew it, it was time for the land of nod!