The Two Churches Walk is a circular route on the outskirts of Dunvegan. Covering approximately two miles it is not a wheelchair friendly walk and you will need a decent amount of mobility as the walk covers moorland and woodland tracks. Although not suitable for everyone with mobility issues, it is a lovely spot so it is worth giving it a try if you are able. A detailed description and full route can be found on Walk Highlands.
About The Two Churches Walk
The Two Churches Walk links the Duirinish Church of Scotland in Dunvegan to the ruined St Mary’s Church. Near the Church of Scotland is a path that leads to the road near to Dunvegan Castle. This walk also grants access to the Millennium stone which was brought from a beach in south Skye and comes in at 5 metres high, weighing 5 tons. Erected by the local community on June 24th 2000 to commemorate the Millennium. They erected the stone using only manpower and ropes. Reproducing the methods that early man was thought to have used to erect stone circles.
Our afternoon on the walk
We decided to start our investigation of this walk at the St Mary’s Church ruin. This is situated on the main road A850 just as you arrive in Dunvegan from Portree. There is a lay-by here for 4-5 vehicles and a very convenient bin for any picnic rubbish. An information board here shows the full circular route on it. Access at the start of this walk is through a kissing gate. Melanie had to fold up Sarah’s wheels and carry them through while she followed using her sticks. There is a farm gate to the left but it was stiff and heavy so rather than wrestle with it we just folded the wheels.
Once through the gate the path is wide with a compact gravel surface. It first leads to a stone enclosure on the left hand side. Inside the enclosure is a picnic bench and four information boards about the church ruins and the Duirinish Millennium Stone. Be careful of the step up and down as you go through the gate into the enclosure.
This walk was accomplished by Sarah using a combination of her wheels and her sticks as the terrain demanded. At best she was able to use the wheels with Melanie’s help to lift them over the lumps and bumps. At worst she managed with two sticks and Melanie’s help. This is not the most challenging path we have encountered but there are plenty of obstacles and in places the rocks have even formed natural steps. We have a short video from our walk here but as you will see we were still very excited by our first lunch out in months thanks to lockdown!
St Mary’s Church Ruins
Upon reaching the picturesque ruin we saw it was definitely worth the effort. The burial ground here is the final resting place of many of the Chiefs of Clan MacLeod. Judging by the ruined church itself it would have once been a beautiful building. The highlight for us was discovering a grave that was completely covered in a blanket of delicate snowdrops. The church sits overlooking Dunvegan village and has views to MacLeod’s Tables and The Cuillins. It is a very peaceful and beautiful place. When we walked up the hill we could see this grave every time we looked back with the stunning view behind it.
The start of the Two Churches Walk
To start the Two Churches walk take the path on the right just before the gate into the church yard. Here the path narrows and starts to cover quite a bumpy grassy area. As the path turns up hill at the corner of the churchyard wall it widens a little. It is a compact gravel path but with a few rocks underfoot. A burn is running to your right and shortly you cross over it. This path was not quite wide enough for Sarah’s rollator so we had to do some jiggling and a bit of stick work. The track slowly meanders uphill above the church ruins and the Millennium Stone stands on the horizon. After a couple of natural rock steps the track levels off onto a grassy track with a gate in the distance.
Through the gate the grassy track changes into a rockier, bumpier path. Much harder for the rollator up here. The path continued like this for a while. We met another walker on our way who informed us that the path levelled off further on. However we felt we had gone far enough for one day so we turned and retraced our steps. We had only walked about half a mile in total but the going was quite tough for Sarah. There is always another day to enjoy a walk.
The next time we are out this way we hope to explore from the other end by the Duirinish Church of Scotland.
Oh and one last important thing! There are some public toilets in the car park in Dunvegan which also have a disabled toilet, accessed with a RADAR key.