Duntulm, Isle of Skye, Autumn
At Duntulm one can find the ruins of Duntulm Castle, the 17th century seat of the chiefs of Clan MacDonald of Sleat.
Duntulm (Dùn Thuilm in Scottish Gaelic) was originally a fortress built and inhabited by the Picts, an ancient Gaelic tribe. Then, like much of Great Britain, the Vikings arrived and claimed the site for themselves. Duntulm, and the rest of the Trotternish peninsula, was hotly contested and changed hands frequently until the 16th century when the Lord Of The Isles, Donhall Gorm (“Blue Donald”) seized the area, and started making improvements to the fort.
By 1730, the MacDonalds moved away from Duntulm, setting up a new castle on the Sleat peninsula of Skye. The castle and fortress at Duntulm was left to rot and ruin.
The ruins are perched high on the cliffs of Tulm Bay, affording commanding views back south along the coast and out across the sea towards the islands of Lewis and Harris.
A truly epic place.
All photos shot on my Fujifilm X-T2 using both my Samyang 35mm f/1.2 and Laowa 9mm f/2.8 lenses. I utilised a customised Pro Negative Standard film profile.
Gaining height as we head towards the ruins of Duntulm Castle, this is a shot looking back to the cliffs of Creag Orril and Creagan Iar. I can see why some benches were placed here.
Duntulm Castle, perched on a promontory of basalt rock and easily defendable on all sides.
An ultra-wide angle view of the ruins of Duntulm Castle. The coast around Duntulm heavily features these stepping-stone basalt rock formations.
My lovely Lisabet, getting close to the sea to grab those views. The rock around here puts me strongly in mind of the Giant’s Causeway of Northern Ireland.
Stormy conditions as we clambered around the Duntulm coast for compositions.
Beyond the promontory of Duntulm Castle the coast branches out into a variety of pools, shelves, platforms, clints and grikes called Ru Meanish.
Endless compositions for a weirdo rock formation fan like me.