Morven MacNeil relives her day trip to the Isle of Raasay in the Inner Hebrides, in search of the infamous Calum’s Road.
Ever since I can remember, I’ve heard friends and family talk about Calum MacLeod and his determination to build a road in the north side of the Isle of Raasay, to stop his village of Arnish from becoming uninhabited. Without a road, the people of Arnish were left isolated from the rest of the island, with many feeling like they had to leave their township in order to have a more comfortable life. They had to walk to get to the west side of the island - they could go on a boat over to Portree in the Isle of Skye relatively easy, but were cut off from their fellow islanders.
Calum MacLeod decided to take action and courageously spent 10 years building a road. I decided to read the book ‘Calum’s Road’ by Roger Hutchinson and was completely overwhelmed by what he almost single-handedly achieved. If you ever need an inspirational person to motivate you then Calum’s your man!
During the 1960s and 1970s he constructed the road, exactly two miles past Bochel. In 1982 the Council finally took ownership of the road and covered it with tarmac and the rest they say is history.
During a weekend away in Portree I managed to coerce my friends into heading over to Raasay with me - we’d had a few too many gins the night before so they needed a bit of persuasion!
We got the CalMac ferry from Sconser in Skye over to Raasay which only took 25 minutes. Our first stop was to find somewhere selling strong coffee to set us on the straight and narrow. In our line of vision was Raasay House, so we left the car at the pier and headed straight there. In the 1500s it was the clan house of the MacLeod Chief of Raasay, throughout the centuries it’s been rebuilt and renovated. In 2007 it was purchased by the Raasay House Community Company. The interiors are exquisite – it’s no wonder they won the 2018 Prestige Hotel Awards for Best Historical Hotel. We had our coffees and scones with jam and enjoyed the view from the front of the hotel. I also read a leaflet about all of the activities Raasay House offers – coasteering, archery, rock climbing, sea kayaking – you name it, Raasay House can cater for it.
Around 170 people live on Raasay and it’s the birthplace of renowned Scottish Gaelic poet Sorley MacLean and John McKay – Queen Victoria’s piper, not to mention Calum himself. We decided to walk around Raasay House for a bit to soak up some the island’s history, before heading to our sought-after destination.
We walked through St Moluag’s, North Bay and the Pictish Stone which are all near to the pier and Raasay House. St Moluag was a Scottish Missionary who evangelised the Picts of Scotland in the 6th century.
We were starting to run out of time so we walked back to the car and went on our journey to the north side of the island. The tension was starting to build up – I was about to see for myself the road I’d been hearing about all my life. The drive felt like forever, in each bend and turn I’d hold my breath but there was still no sign of that much anticipated road sign! The views along the way were spectacular, we were so near the cliff edges at parts but that didn’t deter us from stopping the car a couple of times to take in the scenery and some obligatory photographs.
Finally we reached Calum’s Road and it was everything I’d dreamt it would be and more. We stopped the car and walked out and took a stroll through this historic road. It’s all uphill and quite steep, it must have taken Calum all his strength every day to make this road; it’s remarkable. He was a keeper at the Lighthouse on the Isle of Rona and had his croft to run – and he still managed to build a road! We stood at the Commemorative Cairn for a bit where part of the plaque reads: "This former footpath to Arnish - a distance of 1.75 miles - was widened to a single track road with passing places and prepared for surfacing by Malcolm MacLeod MBE”.
I loved standing at the infamous Calum’s Road sign, there was an old rusty wheelbarrow strewn on its side beside the sign, I could just imagine Calum working away with his wheelbarrow every day.
That’s all we had to time to see that day I’m afraid. I’d love to go back to Raasay and stay for a long weekend. The next time I will go and visit Hallaig – it was Raasay’s biggest settlement before the Highland Clearances. There are ruins and a Cairn commemorating Sorley Maclean’s poem of the same name.
There’s also Dun Caan, the highest hill on the Isle of Raasay. The story goes that if you walk past Loch na Man (Lake of the Woman) a Kelpie is meant to live there. Raasay Distillery, that’s also on my list for the next time and it isn’t that far from the pier.
There are regular Calmac ferries from Sconser in the Isle of Skye to Raasay daily.
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