Off to Skye, any advice welcome

[Salvianus]

We've met some very assertive sheep ourselves so far, perhaps it had evicted the passenger and he hadn't noticed yet...

Tried out the 'Well Plaid' bar today, one of the several faces of the Royal Hotel on the sea front at Portree. Given the name, I feared an odd theme pub, but this was confined to the tartan painted on the wall outside and a bit of carpet. It's laid out as a cafe at the moment, selling no nonsense fuel for the hills. I believe the name is a pun on the live music.

Dunvegan Castle still has some atmosphere and has a wealth of portraits and artefacts of interest, among the most on-topic of which is the 'swagger portrait' of 'The Wicked Man', now rebranded 'The Red Man': Norman the Jacobite 22nd chief, truly dazzling face to face. While the late 19thC and 20thC chiefs sport the Green MacLeod, Norman wears a shoulder plaid of what I understand has been identified as Murray of Tullibardine, with trews and coat in check. The very nice local guide described this as tweed, which foxed me. She'd never seen a contemporary kilt, let alone one in denim, which foxed her.

The 24th chief is depicted with a panoply of weapons worn for the visit of George IV which are on display elsewhere and the green MacLeod, but holds a box resembling yellow MacLeod. Another guide was non the wiser, but a search suggests it is a snuffbox very similar to the version of the yellow MacLeod in the Vestiarium Scoticum.

I delighted in the various weapons and regimental memorabilia, but I don't know if they would be of interest to most.

[Salvianus]

Well we're back and very mountained. Before I blitz the thread with the rest of the pics, I thought I'd post a separate thread in the pictures section called 'Skye, kilted' or something, so it would be more in the right place.

I did the whole week kilted, not easy as I'm allergic to my wool kilt and while an evening is fine, all day every other day was surprisingly unpleasant. My denim kilt was wonderful to wear: very practical in hot weather and high winds, handy pockets for walking gear, very forgiving of long car journeys, perching on rocks and my shooting stick, picnics etc, but it does raise a few eyebrows, cos it looks more like a skirt. Poly Viscose here I come.

The Clan Donald centre is sure to be of interest. The Norse period and the history of Somerled and the Lords of the Isles is highlighted, there are a few interesting portraits, including one of the 13th chieftain of Glengarry, Alasdair Ruadh MacDonell, who was in the French army and in France during the '45 but arrested afterwards, wearing a great plaid, but attended by a servant in what looks more like a kilt. The label said this was a significant early portrayal of a kilt, but it didn't give the date and I wouldn't have said it was definitive myself, as you can't see the back and the detail, for example of the tartan, isn't great. His coat is proud of the waist like his master's but there are no forward folds displayed under the waistcoat as on the chieftain. They have a Gaelic ode to the plaid on the wall and four 18thC basket hilts and several 19thC regimental pieces. I don't recall any tartan on display except painted up round the cafe.

I finally glimpsed another kilty man on the last night on Skye as he dashed off into some do in a restaurant wearing a Prince Charlie outfit. I saw three kilty men in the mainland Highlands; two kilt sellers and a coach tour guide and another bloke trying one one in a Fort William shop.

Generally I got no more than glance level reactions, a few smiles which were probably kilt inspired and as I say a few surprised or confused. Apart from the Dunvegan Castle guide mentioned above, one chap did ask me what tartan I was wearing in a cafe as he didn't recognise it and I realised later I might have chatted to him a bit more about his interest if I hadn't been concentrating on paying the bill. The only abuse I got was of the usual sort from some blokes in the street in Fort William on Saturday afternoon, which prompted me to change into jeans before I hit Glasgow!

Kilt Rock and the kilt: