The Awesome Rock Fortress of Dunadd

I mentioned in an earlier post that the documentary series we watched on the history of Scotland had given us some ideas of places to visit. One of these places was, as our host Neil Oliver put it (with great exuberance and a most emphatic Scottish accent), “the Awesome Rock Fortress of Dunadd”. Dunadd is a hillfort which was occupied first in the Iron Age, and later by the kings of Dalriada, an ancient kingdom in what is now the west of Scotland. A footprint is carved out of the rock at the top of the fort – during an ancient coronation ceremony, the king would place his foot in the carved stone and so be joined with the land he was destined to rule.

We visited Dunadd on Friday morning, on our way to the Isle of Mull. We were joined on our weekend expedition by Brendan’s classmate Chris, who wanted to see more of Scotland and offered his vehicle for the trip. We left early and made it to Kilmartin Glen, where the hillfort is located, around noon. Before reaching Dunadd, we stopped at a museum about the area called Kilmartin House. It was closed, but the man working there graciously opened the place up for us so we could have a look. He then gave us directions to the “Awesome Rock Fortress,” which was not far from the museum. It was rainy that day and the wind was fierce, especially at the top of the hill. A couple times I felt that it might actually knock me down! But we survived the mighty elements and returned triumphant to the car to eat our salami sandwiches.

The stone footprint

Trying to withstand the wind!

Chris as King of Scotland!

Kilmartin Glen is one of the richest areas of archeological finds in Scotland, perhaps because of its proximity to the heart of the ancient kingdom. After our visit to Dunadd, we came across some standing stones in a field. It was still raining, so we didn’t stay long, but I managed to get a few pictures.

That night we stayed in Tobermory, on Mull. The ferry left at 5pm from Oban (on the mainland), and we made it to our hotel by about 6pm. We had dinner in a small pub, one of the few open on a Friday evening in the off-season. I imagine Tobermory sees much more activity in the summer, when most of the tourists are out. Apparently February is not the most popular month to travel – we were the only guests at the Park Lodge Hotel and seemed to be the only non-locals at the pub!