Saturday, August 30, 2014

The Viking Canal - Skye

Some sources say that the Viking canal of Rudha an Dunain (Skye), which links Loch na-Airde to the sea, could be 1000 years old. I came across it on a walk to see the nearby promontory fort of Rudha an Dunain. When I was there the canal was mostly dry, and it looked like it would take an extremely high tide to fill it. It may be that the Norse only used it to get their boats into the loch for safekeeping in the winter, and possibly for putting newly built boats into the sea.

A walk to Rudha an Dunain is a must; for in addition to the canal and fort, there is a passage grave and the ruins of a township, once home to the MacAskills, Macleod's watchmen of the coast. See this RCAHMS page for a detailed description of this fascinating site.

Loch na-Airde and the canal
The canal - 1
The canal - 2

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