Haunted by a fishy tale

He was only 20, but you had to be able in those days and royal wimps or misfits didn't tend to last for long (there's a thought).

The Norsemen were having a prolonged struggle with the Scots and eventually King Malcolm III of the Scots agreed in 1093 that Norway could retain control of the Hebrides on condition that Norse rule was confined to land around which a ship could sail.

King Malcolm's father, Duncan, had been slain by MacBeth in 1040 and Malcolm himself killed MacBeth in battle 17 years later, events which William Shakespeare twisted to form the plot of the play MacBeth, a historic liberty which makes the story line of Braveheart look like an approved text book.

Malcolm was bred in tough times and no stranger to battle and mayhem, and you would think he would be on the alert to Norse double-dealing, but he was caught out.

When he was away on the old ploy of invading England, Magnus took his long ships to the narrow isthmus in the Kintyre peninsula which links West Loch Tarbert with East Loch Tarbert and Loch Fyne, and which separates the lovely area of Knapdale from Kintyre proper.

He got his men to drag his galley across the narrow stretch of land while he sat, presumably chortling, holding the tiller.

The name Tarbert derives from Gaelic words for a boat-drag and it may be, as at the other Tarbert sited near Loch Long and Loch Lomond, that there was already a slipway of greased logs. Anyway, Magnus claimed the good land of Kintyre as per his agreement with King Malcolm. He got away with it for a time, because Malcolm was treacherously killed sometime later.

However, the Norse kings eventually got their comeuppance. Twelve years later the King of Argyll had a son, the great Somerled, and he eventually showed the Norse usurpers where to get off.

The isthmus between the two lochs is crying out for a modern canal and one was indeed surveyed, but it all came to nothing and the Crinan area got the much needed ``cut''.

King Robert the Bruce also had his ships dragged across the isthmus to make the same point and he had Tarbert Castle enlarged (now a ruin) and made it a burgh with a sheriffdom.

Kintyre is like an island and the much-used phrase, the Mull of Kintyre, does not apply to the whole of the long peninsula, but only to its tip. The name derives from the Gaelic, cean and tire, which can be translated as Land's End.

The recent TV serial, A Mug's Game, was heavily sombre with domestic disaster, thieving, love affairs and unemployment, but occasionally there was a glimpse of lovely golden and silver sands.

Kintyre has some of the most enchanting beaches in Scotland and golfers also love it. The main road south runs down the west side of the peninsula with attractive villages like Clachan or Tayinloan and you can easily pop across to the western offshore island of Gigha, the Good Island or God's Island, but if you do decide to do that, go on foot or take a bike. Some folk take cars, but there's not too much room.

As well as the lovely gardens at Achamore, Gigha has some pleasant walking and the view from the wee hill of Creag Bhan, the highest point of a great, long, spine of stone, has wonderful views to the islands of Islay and Jura.

It's not too easy to get through hard-packed scrub hazel, juniper and brambles, but the peak was thought to be sacred long ago and it is worth the effort.

All areas have main strands to their character and although much of Kintyre's hilly high ground of grass and heather moors is now under huge swathes of lavatory brushes (conifer forestry), sometime planted with little thought for scenic beauty, there are long links with the past.

There are vitrified forts and carved stones commemorating warriors and chiefs, legend of Celtic heroes and heroines like the runaway lovers, Diarmid and Grainne, whose escapade involved a wild boar and ended with tragedy, stately homes with magnificent gardens, the relics of saints and murderers and intriguing caves.

For the holidaymaker, there are also golf courses, fishing, walking, beachcombing, yachting and boating and all carried out in an area where the local population have many years of knowledge of the sea and who are still expert fisherfolk to this day.

Kintyre also has a legend of a mermaid. You can read the court account for yourself because a small girl was hauled before a kind of tribunal and had to tell what she saw down at the shore.

A local man also had to appear and he, too, had experienced a puzzling sighting of a ``person'' with long hair and a fishy tail and who sat on a rock. The girl thought it was a boy from a shipwreck and she saw it when she was herding cattle. The man crawled through a field to get a better view and hoped the tide would maroon the ``mermaid''. I once visited the ruins of her house north of Campbeltown on the east coast. Their sighting clearly wasn't otters, driftwood, seals, dolphins, deer, the waves or swimming cattle, so what was it? They were credible witnesses. Well worth a film, I'd say.

The east road down the peninsula is narrower, but more scenic, with fine views across the Kilbrannan Sound to the island of Arran and its blue hills. Both roads meet up at Campbeltown. Skipness Castle is worth a visit: the name derives from old Norse for ship point. Carradale is a lovely place with beaches and a fine salmon river.

The great Somerled died at Renfrew in 1164 and his body was taken to Saddell, on the east coast of Kintyre, and is buried there. There are carved stone slabs of ancient chiefs and warriors, and Saddell Abbey was once one of the most important in Scotland.

Campbeltown is a natural base with good shops and is a royal burgh. To the west lie the huge beaches and dunes at Machrihanish. You are rarely out of the sound and swing of the sea when in Kintyre, and there are always other islands to look at. There is plenty of accommodation in Kintyre with many hotels, guest houses, B & Bs and caravan sites.

In the seventeenth century Scottish Wars of the Covenant, the army of Alasdair Mac Colla, second in command to James Graham, Marquis of Montrose, mainly composed of MacDonalds and Antrim Irish of Clan Donald descent or allegiance, retreated into Kintyre.

Alasdair Mac Colla had kept on fighting after the Royal defeat at Philiphaugh, in the Borders, in 1646, and he tried to win back the ancient Clan Donald lands in Argyll and other areas which had been absorbed by the expansionist Campbells.

Alasdair's men eventually retreated to Gigha and then to Islay - where his father, that old rogue called Colkitto - was captured - and then they retreated to Ireland.

They intended to return to Scotland with fresh troops and left garrisons in several castles. One of these was at Dunaverty, near Southend, on the Mull of Kintyre.

The hills of Antrim, in Northern Ireland, can clearly be seen and are only 17 miles away. The garrison eventually surrendered under terms to the Covenant forces and were then slaughtered and most of the bodies slung over the cliffs.

Kintyre is a quiet place today and it is hard to imagine the clang of sword on shield, the bark of muskets and the shouts of hard-eyed fighting men. There is so much to like and relish. It is a peaceful place, but its pedigree is awesomely lively.

Try it. There is a lot more joy to be found there than was demonstrated in A Mug's Game.