OF MIST & MYTH

WARRIOR QUEENS, LOCH MONSTERS, FAIRIES AND FEUDING CLANS—LEGENDS ABOUND ON THE HEBRIDEAN ISLAND OF SKYE. FOR CENTURIES, COLOURFUL TALES HAVE SHAPED THE LIVES OF THOSE WHO CALL SCOTLAND’S ‘MISTY ISLE’ HOME, AND ARE STILL DEEPLY INTERTWINED WITH ITS SOUL-STIRRING LANDSCAPES

- CONNOR MCGOVERN

I’m standing at the drawbridge to the ‘Fortress of Shadows.’ The forbidding, 12th-century castle clings to the hillside for dear life, its crumbling walls tracing a broken line against the sky.

Across Loch Eishort, the dark peaks of the Cuillin mountains run across the horizon like a row of crumpled witches’ hats, snagging clouds as they pass. There’s barely another soul in sight, the land haunted by little more than the wind ruffling the long, golden grass.

Tucked away from the world, it’s clear to me why Scáthach chose this spot to found her impenetrable college of martial combat. Promising warriors would come from far and wide to train in warfare and sorcery here, I’m told, and to learn in secret from perhaps the greatest warrior the Celtic realms have ever known. At least, that’s how her legend goes.

“It’s difficult to separate mythology and history on Skye,” says guide Ciaran Stormonth, as we squelch our way back inland across the boggy ground. “I’m sure there probably was a woman called Scáthach, but how much is true? We just don’t know.”

Ciaran, from tour operator McKinlay Kidd, tells me about Cú Chulainn, another hero of local lore, who travelled across the water from Ireland to Skye to learn from Scáthach. Historical accounts are scarce; it’s only through centuries of spoken stories that we can muse on what might have happened behind the ramparts.