
Looking down on Dun Faich from the roadside at Kilmore.
Looking down on Dun Faich from the roadside at Kilmore.
Approaching Dun Faich along the shore.
Dun Faich looks benign from a distance, but it took ages to fight a way up it through unforgiving brambles (blackberries) and bracken.
The best reason to visit Dun Faich is for the fantasic views across the Sound of Sleat towards the mountains of Knoydart.
The uninviting crop of bracken and brambles on the top of Dun Faich,
Visited: September 9, 2015
This promontory at Kilmore once bore an Iron Age fort, Dun Faich. Canmore tells us that an outer face of walling over a metre tall still stands on the landward side, but by the time I gained the fence below the summit, I had lost all inclination to investigate.
Access to the dun was via Kilmore churchyard, which extends a long distance towards the sea, and thence over its rear wall on to a rough path that completes the journey to the rocky shore. Working round to Dun Faich was easy: the difficult part was the ascent of the steep vegetated slopes leading to the dun. What, from a distance, looked easy, proved to be a painful and drawn out battle against thick bracken, laced with abundant concealed thorny brambles. Certainly not a route to recommend in late summer. Do it in spring. After reaching the fence below the summit, I retreated back to the road along the driveway of a large house.
The only saving grace of the adventure was the superb views across the Sound of Sleat towards the mountains of Knoydart. On a very warm day, I was wearing shorts, and bore the scars of battle for a fortnight thereafter!