Following the journey of a kilted Viking king by a Scottish loch

Now, the journey of King Magnus Olafsson, known as Magnus Barelegs who landed in Scotland in 1098 to assert Norwegian supremacy, is being pieced together as researchers map Viking travel routes across Scotland.

As the route of Barelegs is followed, pieces of oak timber found by a loch near Tarbert on the Kintyre Peninsula have become central to unlocking his journey.

The timbers are thought to be part of a portage route which were used by Vikings to take shortcuts and save time by dragging their boats over land, probably on wood and rollers.

Portage routes have been much debated given the effort required to use them but, according to the 12th Century Orkneyinga Saga, Barelegs - so-called because he liked to wear a kilt - deployed such a tactic on his trip to Kintyre. The place name too carries a clue, with Tarbert translating as “over bringing” in Gaelic.

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New wood-dating methods are now being deployed to determine if the oak did indeed date to the time of Barelegs’ visit - the first time such an analysis of a potential portage route has been carried out in Scotland.

Dr Shane McLeod, a Viking-age expert at the University of the Highlands and Islands, said: “If we could get the date to match the saga and the place names, it would be massive in terms of how we think about Viking Age communications.”

The oak timbers were found by a farmer back in the 1990s following ploughing and have remained in storage ever since.

Dr McLeod added: “The wood we are dating is from part of the route where the Norwegian king Magnus Barelegs is supposed to have had a boat portaged at Tarbert with him on board, therefore being able to claim that Kintyre was an island and it belonged to Norway.

“Barelegs one of the last proper Vikings to go out raiding .

“Why we are so interested in the route is that it is something that appears in a lot of written sources. We assume that it happened but no one has found the places that it did happen.”

Dr Alexandra Sanmark, from the Insitute of Northern Studies at UHI, is co-leading the the project to track Viking travel routes with the Tarbert wood dating being funded by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.

The wood was found on a strip of land between West Loch Tarbert and East Loch Tarbert, with it possible it formed part of a portage route and “major shortcut” which linked the Sound of Jura to Loch Fyne and, ultimately, the Clyde.

Place named are key to the research with several locations of interest also including the Old Norse root for ‘wooden roller’.

Prof Sanmark added: “There are a few place names that have the word for wooden roller but nobody has ever found wood at the place . That is why we are so excited about the wood find at Tarbert.

“The place names are hugely important . They are the first things that we look at.

“We are also looking at archaeology, settlements, burials and landscape topograpy.”

Kintyre was home to an elite Scandinavian settlement which later became Gaelicised with Barelegs looking to reassert his authority during his 1098 visit. He died five years later after being slain in the Gaelic kingdom of Ulaid in the north east of Ireland.