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Smoo CaveCave / Rock Shelter
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Rare tiny creatures uncovered in Highland caves Rare microscopic crustaceans have been discovered in two caves in the Highlands. More info : https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn03zjql1jro |
Posted by drewbhoy11th August 2022ce |
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Smoo Cave. You know it's going to have something about it, just from the name :) Though it's supposedly one of those daft names like River Avon that means the same thing twice. Perhaps that makes it even better. Although it should be a pretty remote spot, there were a good deal of tourists stopping here, some in massive buses having come all the way from Austria. But somehow, the site's just about escaped being over-domesticated. There are fences to stop you falling to your doom, and some nice interpretation boards next to the car park. But the balance seems alright. Firstly, up on the land, there's Allt Smoo, a babbling stream that disappears suddenly into a hole in the ground in an alarming way (for fans of the mysterious karst feature, that's the origin of part of the caves). That's quite a strange thing to see. And then you can wander down many steps into the curiously long inlet from the sea (Geodha Smoo) and into the massive cave entrance itself to see the golden-brown peaty water emerging back out into the world. You can't help imagining what such a huge interior space would seem like to anyone from countless centuries who'd have never otherwise been in such a place. Today we've been to big halls, shopping centres and so on and rather take it for granted. But this would be something quite novel. Not that you yourself are likely to have been in such a big sea cave before, it's said to be the largest in Britain. So you'll be impressed, but possibly in a different way. Once inside the cave you can pad around on the earth floor looking up at the strange shapes of the rocks above you, but then you can hear the sound of the water pouring in from the stream, and you are drawn to the narrow entrance into the next part of the cave. In this smaller chamber there's some natural light that spills down with the waterfall, and the noise from the water is very loud. It's rather impressive and elemental. Everywhere smells mossy and earthy and damp. The waterfall chamber is completely flooded, and you're only there easily because of a little platform that's been built. It would be quite something else to have had to paddle or wade through to see it in the gloom. You might have felt a little reticent. There are even further chambers, as Carl mentions. They're lit up with amber light in my photo. But I just can't imagine wanting to have ventured in there with a burning torch, ducking under the low rocks. I'm a bit of a coward when it comes to dark, enclosed, water-filled underground places. I don't think that's too unreasonable. If the people who lived here in prehistoric times thought Strange Things about this unusual place, I wouldn't be surprised. They may have just thought it was cool. Which would be fair enough. |
Posted by Rhiannon24th August 2012ce Edited 31st August 2012ce |
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Visited 2.6.12 This is a good place to visit if you are ever this far north. There are parking and toilet facilities and a steep path takes you down to the beach and the cave. After crossing a little wooden foot bridge you can then walk into the entrance of this massive cave and see / hear the waterfall. However, if you wish to see further into the cave you have to pay (£4 adult / £2 children) to be taken across the water via dinghy. We decided not to bother as time was against us (we still had a long drive ahead) and the children were happy throwing stones into the little stream. Many noisy birds flew overhead. It's a bit of a climb back up to the car park - particularly if you are carrying children! |
Posted by CARL 5th July 2012ce |
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Even after he had escaped from the Black School at Padua, as told at CREAG MHOR and CREAG BHEAG, Donald Duibheal MacKay was still pursued by his old master. One day MacKay went to explore the great Smoo Cave, a huge limestone cavern near the north coast, south-east of Durness - but the Devil got news of his intentions and was waiting for him there. Some say MacKay fled, leaving his horse's footmarks by the cave's entrance. In Otta Swire's 1963 account, however, MacKay had reached the second cavern when his dog, who had raced ahead of him into the third and innermost chamber, came back 'howling and hairless' warning MacKay who he could expect to see if he went further. Just at this moment, dawn broke and the sound of cockcrow was heard. The Devil and the three witches who were there with him realised their time on earth was up, blew holes inn the roof, and escaped: this is said to be the origin of the holes through which the Smoo Burn runs into the caverns. The unfortunate dog's expereience that of the piper's hound at CLACH-THOLL (Argyllshire & Islands), whose master set out to explore a subterranean passage and was never seen again. in many such stories the dogs alone escape but with all their hair singed off, a sure sign of a fiery diabolical encounter. It is interesting here the Devil, like the ghost of Hamlet's father is dismissed from the world by: the bird of dawning, the cock announcing the end of the night. Nor is this the only Shakespearean echo sounded: the 'three witches' accompanying the Devil are probably an addition with literary inspiration. The Lore Of Scotland - A Guide To Scottish Legends Westwood & Kingshill |
Posted by drewbhoy 26th January 2024ce |
The legends of Donald-Duival McKay, the Wizard of the Reay country.From The Folk-Lore of Sutherland-Shire, by Miss Dempster, in The Folk-Lore Journal, Vol. 6, No. 3. (1888), pp. 149-189. |
Posted by Rhiannon 30th September 2006ce Edited 30th September 2006ce |
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Smoo CaveA description of all aspects and history of Smoo Cave This post appears as part of the weblog entry The Ambient Rambler's Book of Journey - Durness - May 1999
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Posted by Kozmik_Ken11th September 2003ce |
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