The cliffs of Ben Chracaig as you approach Battery Point
At the corner of the path you come to Battery Point, so-named because there was a gun emplacement here to protect Loch Portree during the Napoleonic Wars. If you look closely, you can see a vertical cleft in the cliffs near the top – this is MacCoitar’s Cave. Derek Cooper in his book writes: “This Cave of the Cottar’s Son is said to have been where a young man hid to save himself from the press gang. Another legend relates that MacCoitar was a brigand who used the cave, high above the bay, as a base from which to raid ships lying at anchor.” Yet another legend is that the cave runs all through the island and emerges in Loch Bracadale. One of our clan members claims in his youth to have climbed and entered the cave, and survived to tell the tale!
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