The Isle of Skye

Leaving the Outer Hebrides, we caught the ferry from Tarbert to Uig on the Isle of Skye.  Once again, we were blessed with calm waters – phew! 

Skye is the largest of the Inner Hebrides and is 50 miles long and only 5 miles wide at its widest points, thanks to many deep inlets.  The people of Skye must have been thrilled to be connected to the mainland via the new bridge (built 1992) – it will have improved the economy in every way.  However, the ease of reaching Skye means that the tourist industry is booming.  EVERY site of interest is now so crowded that we quickly learned to visit these places very early in the morning. (Reminded us of visiting Lake Louise in Canada!)  Car parks are too small and road surfaces are terrible thanks to the increase in traffic from tour buses to motorhomes (yes, I know – that’s us!), from motorcycles to bicycles – they are ALL on the roads!  Perhaps we noticed this more keenly, having just had two relatively quiet weeks in the Outer Hebrides! 

The name Skye translates from the original Norse – meaning ‘island of mist’.  Oh dear!  You guessed it . . .. we’ve had lots of low cloud and rain! 

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Highlights:

The ruins of Duntulm Castle on the north-west coast of the island sit on a headland overlooking the Minch.  The present ruins date from the 14^th century, and it is said that there was once an Iron Age Broch on this site.

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More exciting for us was searching for dinosaur footprints on the shore below the castle.  Yes! You read that correctly! These 170-million-year-old fossils have been discovered recently.  Apparently, they only appear at low tide when a recent storm has cleaned the rocks of seaweed and shingle.  The local museum had some good examples. It is just incredible that something SO OLD can be preserved by the salt water – three cheers for the clever geologists/scientists who discover these things.

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Kilt Rock and Mealt Waterfall  – Skye’s coastline has some very steep, columnar cliffs.  At Kilt Rock it is said that the rocks resemble the tartan pleats of a kilt  (I’ll leave you to decide . . . )

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The Mealt Waterfall tumbles 55 metres into the sea from an inland loch named Mealt. 

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Given the miserable weather and low cloud, a visit to a castle and gardens was a must.  Dunvegan Castle dates from the 13^th century and is home to the MacLeod clan.  It is the oldest continually inhabited castle in Scotland.

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The surrounding gardens date from the 19^th century, and have been constantly updated since the 1970’s.  The interminable rain stopped for us as we arrived at Dunvegan . . .. . hence, we were able to admire the acres of garden accompanied by – you guessed it – MIDGES! 

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A day of sunshine and clouds was a definite invitation to get out and walk in the mountains of the Trotternish Ridge.  I shall leave you to research the geology in greater depth, but suffice to say that basalt lava flows combined with horizontal dolerite sills have created some of the most dramatic landscape in Britain (it says so in the book!) 

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We felt truly blessed to have the stamina (and some sunshine!) to climb the Quiraing (543 m).  The views were spectacular in all directions.  The clarity and colours were magic. The 8km walk took three hours, not only because of the arduous climb, but because of the numerous stops for photos! 

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Not only were we enchanted with the captivating scenery, we were overjoyed to FINALLY see some eagles!  No photos . . . they were too far away, but we sat on a rocky outcrop watching them soar overhead – just breath-taking. 

Portree is a pretty seaside town (we missed Charles and Camilla’s visit by a day!) and we enjoyed wasting a few hours in the rain  (yes, more rain!) looking in the various shops  (Harris Tweed anyone?) as well as replenishing Molly’s food supplies. 

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Portalong is at the end of one of the many peninsulas.  Single track roads lead to these tiny places where there is always a little car park and a jetty for the fishing boats. We sat watching a seal enjoying the turn of the tide – whilst listening to the rain pitter-pattering on Molly’s roof. 

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One last day on Skye, and the rain held off. An early start gave us an uninterrupted view of the Fairy Falls which tumble down throughout Glen Brittle

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Armadale Castle – home to the Macdonald Clan is sadly now a ruin. However, it is surrounded by beautiful gardens and an arboretum full of very impressive trees.

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We begin our journey home tomorrow . . . . . I shall add more to the blog when we go on another interesting holiday!

Thanks for following . . . . .