Friday, 4 July 2014

Isle of Skye

I ended up with 3 full days on the Isle of Skye and really enjoyed it. It was the first trip I've taken in a long time where I felt like I kept running out of time. There was more stuff I wanted to see and do each day but it always seemed to be 2 or 3 hours later than I thought it should be. I never felt rushed though and I'm fine with what I didn't get to see and do.


Skye Bridge from Kyleakin (where I stayed)
Kyleakin Harbour











The first day I went to the north part of the island (Portree/Staffin/Uig area). There were a couple walks that I had ear marked but I narrowed it down to one (the Quiraing walk) on account of still feeling a bit sick and spending time stopping at lookouts along the way. The walk was great (except for the cliff-top scared-of-heights parts) and the weather was fantastic.


The Old Man of Storr
Coastline



Kilt Rock


Quaraing (I'm so disappointed with this
picture. It doesn't show the fact that I'm
 standing on the top of a cliff, freaking out
so much that I had to give myself a
talking to before I was able to move
 away. All that effort and it's not
even a great picture)


Quiraing
(not on a cliff so not freaking out)




























The second day I went to the northwest part of the island (Dunvegan area). I went for a couple of walks, one that got cut short due to horizontal pouring rain and one out to a tidal island (where you can access it across a causeway at low tide). I learned that the right combination of pouring rain and wind causes my waterproof trousers to leak along the crotch seam, which lead to some suspicious looking wet patches on the walking trousers I was wearing underneath. I also got (or noticed) my first ever midge bite. It swelled up impressively (as I thought it might because my first few blackfly bites did the same thing).

Coastline near Ullinish
More coastline near Ullinish




My impressive midge bite near my elbow
(I had marked the limits with pen to see if
it would get bigger overnight... it did).

The third day I went to the Cuillin Hills, which were actually a bit of a disappointment. I'm sure had it been a clear day, I would have been very impressed but as it was, the hills were hidden by low clouds. I went for a walk and got soaked with rain (again) and decided to call it a day. It would have been nice to do some more walking but it was also nice to go back to my B&B, change into dry clothes and relax.

On the way up to Coire Lagan
On the way up to Coire Lagan




















I think I was a bit surprised by the (lack of) extent of the Cuillin Hills. I'd heard a lot about them (most spectacular peaks in Scotland, etc.), and they were spectacular, but I was expecting more of them. I think it's a result of coming from a big country - everything in Scotland is so localized and distinct. Different parts of Canada are distinct but they're also large and spread out.

View of the Black Cuillins from Portree

On the way to Isle of Skye

I rented a car for 6 days for my short road trip to Isle of Skye and gave myself two days to get there (spending a night in Fort William, which is a little over half way there from Edinburgh). It doesn't take that long to get to Skye (it's only a 5 hour drive) but this way I didn't have to leave early in the morning and I could give myself time to stop and explore along the way.

The road I took goes through Glen Coe, which I'd briefly seen when I did part of the West Highland Way so I gave myself some time to stop and do a bit of walking on my way through. It was a beautiful day and I walked around for a couple hours and confirmed that, yeah, Glen Coe is a bit ridiculous! See for yourself:

Glen Coe (it's kind of hard to get a sense of scale... there's a
road cutting across about half way up the left side of the photo)

Glen Coe

Glen Coe

I woke up with a cold and a bit of a fever in Fort William (which made my tiredness and shaky legs in Glen Coe the day before make sense) so I altered my plans a bit for the rest of the journey to Skye. I had planned to stop and do a 3-4 hours walk on the way but figured it wouldn't be such a great idea so I did a bunch of little stops on the way instead. I'm glad it turned out that way because there were SO many places to stop and see beautiful scenery that I'm glad I didn't have to rush it in order to get the walk done. For the record, Glen Shiel is just as ridiculous as Glen Coe.

Loch Lochy (not even joking... that's what it's called)

Glen Shiel

Glen Shiel

Eilean Donan Castle

I also inadvertently ended up at a lookout area that my dad and I stopped at when my parents were over at Christmas. I thought it looked familiar so I looked at a map and realized it was the same one we had visited on a day exploring out of Inverness. It helped connect the dots of Scotland in my head.

Lookout at end of June
Lookout at end of December