A blunder surely made Macleod
(Who floats o'er Skye with 'bales of bills')
When all at once he thought out loud
"There's pots of gold on the Cuillin Hills"

William Amadan Wordsworth

Who ever would have believed that these mountains would be put up for sale with the likelihood that they'll be bought by a stinking rich Arab or some Yank with not one strand of Siol Thormoid DNA in his chromosome make-up. Not that it will make much difference to peasants like us of course - we'll still be able to climb them, chase sheep on them and laugh at the blighters in shorts, sand-shoes and t-shirts who leave from Sligachan on a nice summer's day, not fully knowing the consequences of midges or Skye weather.

Poor Chief John has had a lot of stick over the proposed sale and will probably have his head in his hands before the whole debacle is over. I say 'poor' as he doesn't have the cash he needs to fix his leaky castle roof. This according to himself is going to cost the best part of the £10 000 000 he is hoping to raise from the sale.

"TEN MILLION QUID, FOR A LEAKY ROOF?!" Amadan had a few thoughts when he heard that one -

• If he has a hole in his roof, why doesn't he phone Lord Godfrey at Kinloch and buy Sleat? (For those uneducated readers, Sleat, pronounced 'slate,' is an area in Skye owned by the MacDonalds).
  
  
• Has he had a quote from Uist Builders? Ask the Comhairle or anyone in the Western Isles and they'll tell you that the Peteranna's will do the job for the price of a return ticket to the Costa Del Sol.
  
  
• Why, as a man in his sixties living in the islands, can't he get the job done by the 'Care and Repair Project' like everyone else? I'm pretty sure the budget of Lochalsh and Skye Housing association would stretch as far as a few pieces of felt and his own able team, Messrs Allan and Campbell, could do the job for him on the cheap.
  
  
• The MacLeods have put up with a fairy flag which is full of holes for centuries. Why can't they either do the same with the roof or just give in and wave the flag?
  
  
• If he gets the cash he wants and he has some left to spare, will he give a back-hander to Highland Council so that they can provide a proper kerb along King's Brae in Dunvegan, instead of the environmentally friendly wood and earth effort that's just been constructed?
  
  
• What are the Munro Clan going to do to Chief John for putting eleven of their kin up for sale?
  
  
• On a more serious note, where does all the money Chief John gets from admission fees to the Castle and grounds go, bearing in mind that for a tourist, the price is only just beaten by the Skye Bridge?
  
  
• Last but not least, the Amadan may not be an elephant but he don't forget. Only last year the talk was of Macleod estates building a three million pound ferry terminal and before that it was a hotel and leisure complex, complete with ice rink. No word of a leaky roof or cash shortage then!

(If Amadan was mischievous enough, he would ask every climber and hillwalker who goes up the Cuillins this summer to take a couple of stones back with them. This would bring down the the ten million pounds asking price, as half of what was there at the time of valuation wouldn't be there any more!)

"FPD SALLACH .........."

Amadan wonders what MacLeod Estates will try and sell next if the Cuillin sale isn't successful. Perhaps the grand old US of A could at this very moment be under the surveyor's beady eyes. WHAT! - You mean you didn't know they have a claim on that part of the world too? Didn't you know that Able Seaman Alex Dan MacLeod from Sgire Bhac in Lewis accompanied Christopher Columbus on his epic voyage? (He fairly got around that fellow!)

Or how about the sky (no 'e') itself? Yes, these big white fluffy things are part of the clan, although they've dropped the 'mac' bit.

Or the Minch? That piece of water that separates the islands must have been full of the MacLeod blood if it 'flowed on the hills' in the 1600's when the Cuillins were siezed.

If you are in the know and want to tell us what will be for sale next or you're a Macleod and have a better idea, send us an e-mail

£10 000 000 FOR A FEW LUMPS OF ROCK?!!!
(Amadan could understand it if it was Eubhal or Lee, but for the Cuillin......?)