Dùn Garsin lies a couple of hundred metres along the Glen Bracadale side-road that leads off from the main Bracadale - Portree road, where a large parking area will be found. To the left stands an imposing bastion of rock, and the broch lies on its summit. A footpath leads the way, starting up the grassy slopes just to the north of it and, though the broch is a ruin, the views from it across Loch Bracadale are superb. The broch itself is a grassy hollow surrounded by a mound with a sprinkling of the original walling blocks. Piles of rubble lie in several places.
OK, perhaps Dun Garsin is not completely destroyed... but more or less, I guess. Unless my map reading was totally out (not beyond the bounds of possibility, it has to be said.. and if so please correct the error) little but a few masonry footings exist to 'suggest' to the average punter that a broch once stood here in awe of Knock Garsin. However I agree with the splendid OS people and reckon one did, overlooking the Amar River and thus commanding a fine glen. Light rain - the first and only such occurrence during these truly remarkable two weeks in Alba- cannot detract from the sheer beauty of the Skye landscape. Yeah, Mother Wales may be my first... and true love... but Skye is Nicole Kidman asking me back to her place for 'coffee' and bolting the door. Hell, it's never gonna last... but what a ride! Assuming you survive the cerebral onslaught.... amongst other things.
As mentioned, very, very little of the broch survives... as far as I could tell. But a visit here is still worthwhile, if only as part of the Bracadale trinity completed by the mighty Dun Beag and the exquisitely sited Dun Diarmaid (not to mention the two chambered cairns in the vicinity). Hey, what more do you want? Easy parking... but the rest requires a touch of... hell, I don't know how to describe it. To be satisfied with 'apparently not very much', such insubstantiality nevertheless seemingly representing 'everything'. Yeah, is less really.... more... in some respects? Or do we 'fill in the blanks' in accordance with our wishful thinking? Whatever the truth, I reckon it's rewarding to try, you know?
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Posted by LesHamilton
Posted by GLADMAN
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