Speed, Bonnie Boat, Like a Bird on the Wing Quiz

Answer: The Inner Hebrides

Covering an area of almost one thousand six hundred square miles, the Inner Hebrides consists of seventy-nine islands of which thirty-five are permanently settled. The Isle of Skye is the largest island with slightly under twice the land area of the second largest in the group, the island of Mull.

The picture shows the Isle of Skye in relation to the other members of the island group at the far north. Skye itself is fifty miles long and twenty-five miles wide.

Answer: Munros

Taking their name from Sir Hugh Munro, 4th Baronet and keen mountaineer, a Munro is any peak with its summit at three thousand feet or higher. There are a total of two hundred and eighty-two Munros in Scotland. In addition to those mountains classified as Munros, any peak with its summit between two thousand five hundred and three thousand feet is referred to as a Corbett and those peaks between two thousand and two thousand five hundred feet are known as Grahams. There are generations of mountaineers who have, and still do, dedicate their lives to climbing or 'bagging' each and every Munro.

The man in the picture might look familiar to those older members of FunTrivia... This is the singer Matt Monro; yes, it's not spelled the same, but the way it is sounded is close enough!

Answer: True

Portree is the principal town or capital of Skye and has a population of around two and a half thousand people of which over nine hundred use Scots Gaelic as their first language. Portree harbour, which is surrounded by sheer cliffs, has a pier that was designed by the engineer Thomas Telford. The town's Royal Hotel is home to McNab's Inn, the location of the last meeting between Flora McDonald and Bonnie Prince Charlie before his flight into exile in 1746. There has been some debate as to the accuracy of the claim that the town's name means 'Port of the King'. The Seaforth Highlanders, an infantry regiment that traditionally recruited from the area, used the motto 'Cuidich 'n Righ' meaning 'Save (or Aid) the King' which was carried forward when the regiment was amalgamated to form the Queen's Own Highlanders in 1961; this gives some credence to the argument and local consensus is of the same opinion. However, it has also been argued that there was a settlement on the site of the town as far back as the Viking period and that Portree is a corruption of a Norse word or words that meant 'Port on the Slope'.

Beneath the wooden seat of the throne in this picture is the famous Stone of Scone which was used as the throne of the ancient kings of Scotland. The Stone of Scone was removed by the English king Edward I in 1296 and was housed in Westminster Abbey until November 1996 when it was returned to Scotland where it now resides in Edinburgh Castle.

Answer: Sgùrr Alasdair (Alexander's Peak)

Alexander's Peak or Sgùrr Alasdair as it is known in Scots Gaelic, at 3255 feet in height is the highest point on the Isle of Skye; in fact all of the peaks listed are categorised as Munros as each is over three thousand feet in height. Am Basteir rises to 3064 feet and Sgùrr nan Gillean reaches an elevation of 3163 feet. These three peaks are linked together in the Black Cuillin and are considered to be a range within a range. In contrast, Blà Bheinn at 3045 feet in height is regarded as a peak in the Black Cuillin group because of the type of rock from which it is formed but is, in effect, an entirely separate entity isolated from the main group by the Sligachan Valley.

The image used for this question is of a drawing of Alexander the Great cutting the Gordian Knot by the hand of the French artist and engraver Andre Castaigne, one of 36 that he produced for a book on the life and times of the Macedonian warrior which was published in 1900.

Answer: Greedy Woman

At 2543ft in height Glamaig falls short of the requirements to be categorised as a Munro. Hills of between 2500 feet and 3000 feet are categorised as Corbetts of which there are only two examples on Skye, this one and Garbh Bheinn. It is difficult to mistake this peak for any other on the island; it is almost perfectly conical in shape, looks like an enormous pile of loose scree and lies immediately to the east of the Sligachan Valley. It is not difficult to see why this range has been named the Red Cuillin, or 'na Beanntan Dearga' in Scots Gaelic, especially when viewed when the sun is low in the sky as the range takes on a most attractive pinkish-grey hue. This is in sharp contrast to the gabbro hills of the Black Cuillin which are geologically very different and have a menacing dark blue-grey almost black hue.

It was difficult, nay impossible, to source an image that came close to representing a greedy woman; I suppose some people are sensitive about being photographed whilst eating... I even went as far as to ask my partner to greedily eat a sandwich for my purposes but the glare that she shot in my direction told me everything that I needed to know about that idea! This image was as close as I was ever going to get.

Answer: Landslide

The Quiraing is one of the most visited areas on Skye and is situated in the northern reaches of the Trotternish peninsula at a distance of some thirteen miles onwards from the Old Man of Storr. This feature was formed many thousands of years ago by a massive landslip resulting in what is possibly one of the most spectacular vistas in a country renowned for the quality of its vistas! Where the land has slipped towards the sea in the east it has left a truly amazing landscape of sheer cliffs and needle-like pinnacles of rock interspersed with grass covered plateaus, it truly is a must-see; get there early on a misty morning and the scenery is a photographer's heaven... It should come as no surprise to learn that
the Quiraing is one of the most photographed areas in all of Scotland. However, it must be remembered that for all its beauty, the Quiraing should be respected as a potentially dangerous environment especially if you are walking alone, if there are strong winds in the area or if visibility is poor.

The image I have used for this question is a picture taken of the aftermath of a massive landslide that occurred in Leyte on the Philippines on the 17th of February 2006. The landslide occurred after a long period of heavy rain and a small earthquake. A total of 1,126 lives were claimed by this event.

Answer: The Skye Boat Song

The mysterious Loch Coruisk, reputed to be the home of a mythological Kelpie or water-horse, is located in the central south-western area of the island surrounded to the north by the peaks of the Black Cuillin. It is fed by the Coruisk River and emptied by the Scavaig River which flows into Loch Scavaig, a sea loch on the western coast. Incidentally, at a little more than a few hundred metres in length, the Scavaig River is a contender for the title of the shortest river in the United Kingdom. On first sight from the high ground near the beach at Camasunary, the long and slender freshwater loch takes the visitor's breath away, its waters appearing almost black. Loch Coruisk is the home of the wonderful 'Skye Boat Song', a line from the lyrics from which this quiz takes its name. During a trip on the loch in 1790 Miss Annie McLeod, of the Clan McLeod, heard the tune being whistled by boatmen on the loch. She wrote down the music and the words to the song were added later by Sir Harold Boulton.

The image I selected for this clue is of a painting titled 'In the Rowing Boat' which was produced by the late 19th and early 20th century English artist, Henry Scott Tuke.

Answer: Old Man of Storr

With the Quiraing, the Storr is one of Skye's most visited and most photographed natural features. Located toward the southern end of the Trotternish landslip of which the Quiraing is also a part, the Storr rises to a height of 2,211 feet, categorising this feature as a Graham. On the approach to the Storr along the road from Portree, the Old Man, a sharply pointed pinnacle of rock, is one of Skye's most recognisable landmarks; once seen it is never forgotten. The walk up the track to the Old Man of Storr is steep but well defined and should prove no problem for the walker of average fitness. On reaching the Old Man, the views eastward across the Sound of Raasay to the islands of Raasay and Rona, and then onwards across the Inner Sound to the western coast of the Scottish mainland are, again, a sight to behold.

The image used for this question is of a sketch drawn by the great Italian Renaissance master Leonardo da Vinci titled 'The Old Man with Water' which he produced in circa 1513.

Answer: The Vikings

Traces of the island's Viking heritage are still very evident in many of the place names on and around the Isle of Skye. For hundreds of years prior to the Treaty of Perth, which was signed in 1266 and which ceded the Hebridean islands to the Kingdom of Scotland, the vast majority of the Hebridean Islands fell within the Viking sphere of influence. To the east of the main island lies the smaller island of Raasay, a Viking name that means 'Isle of the Roe Deer'. There are also many Viking artefacts that have been found at locations dotted around the island; one of the most intriguing of these is a 12th century canal, quay and harbour discovered on the headland known as Rubha an Dùnain in the region of Minginish.

The sailing vessel in this image is a Viking longship typical of those in use in the area around the Inner Hebrides during the period in which the Vikings were in control. This image is featured on a postage stamp first issued by the Faroe Islands in February 2002.

Answer: McLeod's Maidens

McLeod's Maidens are a distinctive group of three sea stacks, the largest of which is known as Mother; the other two are known as her Daughters. According to local legend these stacks are the drowned wife and daughters of one of the ancient chieftains of the Clan McLeod. Mother, only scaled as recently as 1959, with its summit teetering on the edge and in danger of collapsing into the sea must have concentrated the minds of those climbers engaged in these ascents!

My image selection for this question is one that our friends living across the 'pond' should identify in a heartbeat. This vessel is the 'Maid of the Mist', one of the pleasure boats used to transport tourists as up close to the Niagara Falls as it is safe to do so. I considered that 'maid' was acceptably close to 'maiden' for my purposes here.