Sleat – A Castle on a Sea Rock and Lunch at An Crùbh
A few hours.
The route
On the west side of Sleat, the broken walls of Dunscaith Castle stand on a rock in Loch Eishort, with Blà Bheinn and the Red Cuillin across the water.
In Irish legend it was the fort of Scáthach, the warrior woman who trained the hero Cú Chulainn. Lunch is across the peninsula at An Crùbh, near Isleornsay.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
The day
Sleat
The morning starts with a short walk over salt marsh and rough grass to a castle on a sea rock, with the mountains across the loch. Lunch is by big windows that look out over the Sound of Sleat to the hills of the mainland.
Dunscaith Castle
An attraction
Dunscaith is on the narrow single-track road round the west side of Sleat. Park off the road by Tokavaig Bay, never in a passing place. It's about 2 km there and back on a signed farm track past the salt marsh, then a faint, often boggy path over rough grass to a cobbled beach below the rock. Keep dogs on a lead, as sheep graze here. From the beach, the arch of the old bridge frames the mountains across Loch Eishort; it once led over the gully to a drawbridge. The drawbridge has gone, leaving a sheer drop, and the cliff tops are high and slippery, so look from the beach and the green slope opposite. The castle was later held by the MacDonalds of Sleat.
21 min by car
An Crùbh
Lunch
It's a 21-minute drive on to An Crùbh at Duisdale, beside the main road. The local community built it, and the Post Office is in the same building. The café is known for vegetarian dishes and puddings, with a fire in the inglenook on cold days and windows over the Sound of Sleat to the mountains of the mainland. It opens Wednesday to Sunday, 10am to 4pm, with food until 3pm.
If it rains
On a wet or wild day, keep the castle for another morning and go straight to An Crùbh, to make a longer lunch of it indoors.
On the way
- Ord
Ord is a crofting township on the shore of Loch Eishort, with Blà Bheinn and the Cuillin across the water and room to park on the gravel by the beach.
Duisdale House, a restaurant in Isleornsay.
Make it a weekend
More days out on the Isle of Skye.
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