Loch Coruisk (in

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well as ...

, ''Coire Uisg'', the "Cauldron of Waters") is an inland fresh-water

loch ''Loch'' () is the Scottish Gaelic, Scots language, Scots and Irish language, Irish word for a lake or sea inlet. It is Cognate, cognate with the Manx language, Manx lough, Cornish language, Cornish logh, and one of the Welsh language, Welsh w ...

, lying at the foot of the

Black Cuillin The Cuillin ( gd, An Cuiltheann) is a range of mostly jagged rocky mountains on the Isle of Skye in Scotland. The main Cuillin ridge is also called the Black Cuillin to distinguish it from the Red Cuillin ('), which lie to the east of Glen Slig ...

in the Isle of

Skye The Isle of Skye, or simply Skye (; gd, An t-Eilean Sgitheanach or ; sco, Isle o Skye), is the largest and northernmost of the major islands in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The island's peninsulas radiate from a mountainous hub dominated b ...

, in the

Scottish Highlands The Highlands ( sco, the Hielands; gd, a’ Ghàidhealtachd , 'the place of the Gaels') is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Sco ...

. Loch Coruisk is reputed to be the home of a

kelpie A kelpie, or water kelpie (Scottish Gaelic: ''Each-Uisge''), is a shape-shifting spirit inhabiting lochs in Scottish folklore. It is usually described as a black horse-like creature, able to adopt human form. Some accounts state that the kelpie ...

or water horse, a shape-shifting creature that can assume human form.

Geography

The loch is accessible by boat from

Elgol Elgol ( gd, Ealaghol) is a village on the shores of Loch Scavaig towards the end of the Strathaird peninsula in the Isle of Skye, in the Scottish Highlands. Name According to tradition, its name derives from a battle fought with five ships by Ae ...

, or on foot from

Sligachan Sligachan ( gd, Sligeachan) is a small settlement on Skye, Scotland. It is close to the Cuillin mountains and provides a good viewpoint for seeing the Black Cuillin mountains. Amenities Sligachan is situated at the junction of the roads from Po ...

(approximately distance). It is also possible to walk from Elgol, but one section of the path ("the Bad Step") presents some potential difficulties for the nervous or inexperienced. The northern end of the loch is ringed by the Black Cuillin, often wreathed in cloud. From the southern end the Scavaig River, only a few hundred yards long, discharges into a sea loch,

Loch Scavaig ''Loch'' () is the Scottish Gaelic, Scots and Irish word for a lake or sea inlet. It is cognate with the Manx lough, Cornish logh, and one of the Welsh words for lake, llwch. In English English and Hiberno-English, the anglicised spellin ...

. The loch is nearly long, but only about wide.

Literature

Sir

Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'', ''Rob Roy (n ...

visited the loch in 1814 and described it vividly: :“Rarely human eye has known :A scene so stern as that dread lake, :With its dark ledge of barren stone...”

Lord Tennyson Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Go ...

reported more prosaically: :“Loch Coruisk, said to be the wildest scene in the Highlands, I failed in seeing. After a fatiguing expedition over the roughest ground on a wet day we arrived at the banks of the loch, and made acquaintance with the extremest tiptoes of the hills, all else being thick wool-white fog.”

Mark Haddon Mark Haddon (born 28 October 1962) is an English novelist, best known for ''The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time'' (2003). He won the Whitbread Award, the Dolly Gray Children's Literature Award, Guardian Prize, and a Commonwealth Wr ...

used the remote location of the loch for a portal in the 1992 children's novel ''Gridzbi Spudvetch!'', re-issued in 2009 as '' Boom!''. A description of the path from Elgol (including a traverse of The Bad Step) is included in the narrative, as is the Memorial Hut. Robert Macfarlane visited the loch and its valley whilst writing his 2007

travelogue Travelogue may refer to: Genres * Travel literature, a record of the experiences of an author travelling * Travel documentary A travel documentary is a documentary film, television program, or online series that describes travel in general or ...

''The Wild Places'', and a description of the area forms the book's third chapter.Macfarlane, Robert (2007) ''The Wild Places.'' Granta Publications, pp. 43-62.

Art

The loch has been painted by, among many others,

William Daniell William Daniell (1769–1837) was an English Landscape art, landscape and Marine art, marine painter, and printmaker, notable for his work in aquatint. He travelled extensively in India in the company of his uncle Thomas Daniell, with whom he ...

(1769–1837), J. M. W. Turner (1775–1851),

Sidney Richard Percy Sidney Richard Percy (22 March 1822 – 13 April 1886) was an English landscape painter during the Victorian era, and a member of the Williams family of painters. Biography Life and career Sidney Richard Percy was born Sidney Richard Percy Wi ...

(1821–1886) and

Alexander Francis Lydon Alexander Francis Lydon (; 1836–1917) was a British watercolour artist, illustrator and engraver of natural history and landscapes. He worked for Benjamin Fawcett the printer, to whom he had been apprenticed from an early age. He collabo ...

(1836–1917)

References

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