Scottish Tour Guide's Blog

Broadford Bay, Isle of Skye, Scotland

This evening, I am focusing on the village of Broadford on the Isle of Skye.

From my perspective, Broadford is strategically situated for tours of Skye  being relatively close to both the Skye Bridge, Kyleakin  and the ferry port at Armadale. Other facilities include:

• A wide variety of lodgings.
• Supermarket with cash machine.
• Tourist Information Office.
• A ‘craft enclave’ comprising art gallery, jewellery, textiles and second hand bookshop.
• A few good restaurants.

From a historic perspective, ath is the Gaelic name for ford and Broadford is a literal translation from the Gaelic an Ath Leathan.  In the 18th century, Broadford started life as a cattle market and later became the hub for access to other parts of the islands, much as it is today.

Here is a video clip  of the harbour looking towards Broadford.

Broadford Harbour, Isle of Skye, Scotland

Broadford Landscape, Isle of Skye, Scotland

Sunset at Broadford, Isle of Skye, Scotland

As stated above, I view Broadford as an excellent base for touring Skye.

Eassie Church, Angus, Scotland

 This evening, I am focusing on a somewhat obscure site in East-Central Scotland, namely the village of Eassie which sites close to the A94 road between Glamis and Meigle.

This site is easy to by-pass and few would normally give a ruined church a second thought. However, inside the well maintained ruins can be found a good example of a carved Pictish symbol stone, maybe dating from the 9thcentury AD. An image of the stone is provided below with photography of same hindered by the protective perspex screen.

At nearby Glamis and Meigle can be found collections of carved Pictish era stones  so, clearly, the Eassie stone confirms the existence of  a significant Pictish community in the area until finally subsumed by the Scots.

On an etymological note, the name Eassie usually indicates a Gaelic word for waterfall but there is no such feature in the relatively flat, arable landscape.

Pictish Carved Stone, Eassie, Scotland

When time permits I usually stop by Eassie in course of my tours of the area.

Carving Detail, Pictish Carved Stone, Meigle

 This evening, I am reverting to a Pictish theme and in particular the collection of 33 carved stones at Meigle in Perthshire, Central Scotland.

The Picts were one of the earliest peoples of Scotland living to the north of Forth and Clyde estuaries. They were first recorded by the Romans in AD 297  as Picti or ‘Painted People’. Our knowledge of the Picts is scant because they appear not to have used a written language but they have left a stunning legacy in the form of carved stone monuments a feature of which is the high level of artistic skills which have produced a combination of distinctive abstract symbols ( known variously today as crescent and V-rod, double disc and Z-rod) with more recognisable carved images representing animals, fish and birds. The earliest stones date from around the 6th century AD with Christian iconography becoming prominent from the 8th and 9th centuries.

Presumably, Meigle must have been an important power base and/or religious centre for the Picts due to te high concentration of carved stones found there, all of which were found in the churchyard or fabric of the church.

Here is a rare carving of a cat. The county of Caithness is derived from the feline.

Feline Carving at Meigle Carved Stones, Scotland

 Impressive carved Christian cross.

Pictish Carved Stone, Meigle, Scotland

 Early Christian era cross.

Pictish Carved Stone, Meigle, Scotland

Pictish Carved Stone, Meigle, Scotland

 Z-rod and disk symbols.

Pictish Carved Stone, Meigle, Scotland

I find the Picts to be a fascinating people and endeavour to introduce tour guests to suitable sites in order to ‘connect’ with this distant era in Scotland’s past.