Introduction
Today, we visited the Black Isle which lies north of Inverness in the Scottish Highlands. The Black Isle is neither black nor an island, it being a peninsula jutting into the North Sea on the east of Scotland.
Whilst the Black Isle has much to offer the visitor, which could easily absorb an entire week, we had just one day available. We based ourselves at Rosemarkie and focused on two targets, namely the Fairy Glen and wildlife.
Fairy Glen at Rosemarkie
This has echoes of our recent visit to Black Rock Gorge. This glen (valley) was probably created at end of the last Ice Age, about 10,000 ago. A burn (stream) has a carved a route to the sea through what appears to be sandstone rock. The result today is a valley populated with lush, green vegatation, trees and numerous waterfalls.
The Fairy Glen was once the scene of a well-dressing ceremony, where the children of the village decorated a pool, next to a spring, with flowers. This was said to ensure that the fairies kept the water supply clean. The locals have placed a number of ‘fairy homes’ at bottom of the valley.
We noticed an unusual feature in the form of hundreds of small coins affixed into various pieces of wood near the waterfalls.Depositing valuables in or near water has been a practice in Britain dating back into pre-history.
Other sites and sights include:
A ‘millpond‘ which is possibly two hundred years old and was used as a source of ice for the fish-houses in the village.
Dippers (bobbing birds) which can sometiumes be seen in the stream looking for food.
Round trip distance was about two miles entailing an ascent of about three hundred feet.
Wildlife
Next, we visited nearby Chanonry Point which is famous as a location for observing cavorting dolphins. Unfortunately, the dolphins failed to appear but we were compensated with:
A resting black-headed gull just a few feet away.
An inquisitive passing seal which popped its head out of the water.
A flight of a small group of Oyster Catchers passing by.
Finally, we returned to our base at Foulis Castle near Evanton at conclusion of a productive and satisfying day.
More information
For more information on the Black Isle and many other aspects of touring Scotland please refer Visitors’ Guide to Scotland, ISBN 978-1-9161332-0-4