We are born with an innate desire to know who we are and where we come from. Standing on the soil of your predecessors is a powerful feeling, and taking a trip to discover personal heritage brings new meaning to the travel experience. Setting foot on the Isle of Raasay with two Scottish Canadians is as close as I have come to this type of experience.

Callum’s Road: The Catalyst for our Trip to the Isle of Raasay

My father-in-law, Clarke, has been researching his family tree for years. He is the guy who walks around the family reunion penciling people into the family tree. He regularly pores over online ancestry records, usually with a glass of Scotch in hand.

Once in awhile, Clarke finds a piece of family history that piques his interest. The person he has been fixated on for the past couple of years is Calum MacLeod, who hand built a road on the Isle of Raasay in the 1940s and 1950s, known as Calum’s Road.

The road connected the isolated hamlet of Arnish to the southern parts of the island, and made life a little easier for the island’s hard-working crofters. Clarke has been talking about this road for years. It’s kind of a boring bit of history, to be honest, but I can see how it would be impactful to someone with a personal connection.

As Clarke inched closer and closer to the age at which travel insurance becomes more expensive, Tiffany and I pinched our pennies and saved up so we could take him to the Isle of Raasay to see Calum’s Road. We booked flights in June, and set off in October.

Arriving on the Isle of Raasay

From Glasgow, we spent a few days road tripping the isles and highlands before taking the short ride on a small ferry to Raasay. The one lane road heading north from the ferry worsened with every kilometer. Potholes and undefined shoulders made me wonder if Calum’s Road would be a monumental disappointment. (Check out the street view if you want to fact check me.)

We came across castle ruins just before we reached the beginning of Calum’s Road. Somehow, the novelty of castles hadn’t worn off yet, so we stopped. Castle Brochel is the traditional seat of the Clan MacLeod of Raasay. So, if Clarke’s research is correct, this is their ancestral land.

To call it a fixer upper would be generous, but it was still cool to plant our feet there. We imagined pillaging other ships in the bay and defending ourselves against enemies. The walk down to the rocky beach below the castle was steep enough that Clarke slipped, and covered his entire lower half in sheep feces. The struggle to take him seriously afterwards was so, so real.

For Clarke and Tiffany, there was a certain presence to the moment. Standing on the same earth that their ancestors stood on, admiring the same scenery. The harshness of life on a remote island, evident in thick fog and boggy earth, saturated the land.

Driving Calum’s Road

There was nothing particularly distinguishable about Calum’s section of the road, but Clarke’s eyes misted up as we stopped for a photo by the monument. It was a quiet yet meaningful moment shared by the three of us, and a few meandering sheep.

By the time we reached the end of the road, at a small village called Arnish, I had a sincere appreciation for how much the road must mean to the people who live on the north end of the island. Even in 2017, life is not easy for folks out there.

More Questions than Answers

Being at the end of the road lit up my imagination with thoughts of unknown adventures. Arnish is only three quarters up the length of the island. Beyond Arnish is an even rockier landscape, and another island that can be reached by land at low tide. It’s all just so goddamn rugged.

It was a full day. My head hit the pillow in our hostel with questions about what else we might discover on Raasay about Clarke and Tiffany’s family history. We looked forward to another day of exploring, and trying to track down the Raasay Heritage Society (spoiler alert: the heritage society is basically a couple of ladies with drawers full of old photos and census records).