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"Blink and you'll miss it..." A common expression, and one that
is especially apt for Dornie. This charming village stands some
eight miles east of Kyle of Lochalsh at the meeting point of
Loch Duich to the south east, Loch Alsh to the West, and Loch
Long to the north east. Dornie stretches for over half a mile
along the east shore of Loch Long. Motorists driving north west
along the A87 as it follows the shore of Loch Duich will
certainly be aware of the magnificent Eilean Donan Castle.
Dornie's origins are unclear. Until the early 1800s the main
overland route to the Isle of Skye took off south west from the
head of Loch Duich and the foot of Glen Shiel, taking travelers
to Glenelg and the short crossing of the Kyle Rhea to Skye
itself. This changed when Thomas Telford completed his Kintail
Road in the early 1820s.
It was still necessary to use a ferry to progress west from
Dornie until 1940. The bridge that made the ferry redundant was
a single track concrete structure that crossed the loch from the
center of the village. It was replaced in 1990 by the bridge
that motorists use (and barely notice) today.
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