Skye
Loch Loyne on the background
Since a couple of years ago it became tradition to travel somewhere nice for our birthdays. Thanks to my boss I even get an extra holiday day for this special event. So last year we took a full week off and went to the world famous Isle of Skye. This article is my selection of the best things to see in Skye.
Eilean Donan Castle
The weather was gorgeous an we took our time to very slowly drive up from Stirling to Skye via Fort William stopping plenty of times on the way to admire the landscape. We finally got to see the legendary Eilean Donan Castle (featuring in Highlander and the Bond movie The World is Not Enough) just before arriving on the Isle of Skye.
We had rented a little flat on the Sleat peninsula which is in the South East of the Island. It's a little far from the most famous touristy sites but considering the size of the island we would have had to drive a fair bit wherever we stayed. We were, however, only few hundred meters away from a lovely beach, supposedly private (tidal beaches actually belong to the Crown in the UK), where we enjoyed a gorgeous sunset on our first night with a view back toward the mainland.
View back toward the mainland from Sleat Peninsula
View over the Black Cuillin from Sligachan
We can all agree that we were unbelievably lucky with the weather, and we weren't really ready for it. We both packed up a lot of nice cosy and warm clothes and both took only one pair of shorts thinking we might have a 2 hour window we could wear them. It turned out that, apart from the last day of the holidays, we wore that one pair of shorts everyday and I was too hot for a couple of hikes we did.
We also had a log burner in the flat we stayed in and we were very disappointed to not use it at the end...
Nick contemplating the view from the pass
We started the holidays pretty strong, by climbing up one Munro of the impressive Black Cuillin Range: Sgùrr na Banachdich. If you are not familiar with it, the term Munro defines any Scottish mountain summit which is over a 3000ft in height (or 914,4m). There are in total 282 Munros in the whole of Scotland and so far (at the moment I'm writing this article) we have bagged 8 of them..
The first part of the hike is quite easy but it soon gets quite steep to finally become very steep in some unstable ground making it a little bit challenging at times (especially on the way down). But the view at the top is so incredible that it makes all the effort well worth it. So, if you are a confident hiker and want a little challenge during your stay in Skye I would totally recommend this hike.
Views from the top of Sgùrr na Banachdich
Old Man of Storr
If you don't fancy the walk just driving past it is already quite impressive as you can see it sticking out from a long way away.
Portree Harbour
In the non-adventurous-things-to-do-list in Skye is a little visit of the main village : Portree. It's very small but offers some very nice choices of shops, coffee-shops, and, restaurant, and a very picturesque colourful harbour. The island also has two whisky distilleries, two castles and the Museum of Island Life you could visit during your stay, so even if you're not sure about climbing up mountains or walking under the rain, you will have interesting things to do, dry and effortlessly.
Skye is also full of hidden gems that are worth looking for. The variety of landscape is quite impressive and you could feel like you travelled from Iceland to the Caribbean within the same day by just adventuring off the beaten track.
My first hidden gem is "The Cave of Gold" or "Uamh Oir" situated near the tip of the Trotternish peninsula, just outside Kilmuir village. After a lovely short walk in fields overlooking the sea, there is a little track going steeply down and leading to very cool rock formation and a cave made of beautiful hexagonal columns of basalt. It's nowhere near as impressive as the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland or Fingal's cave on the island of Staffa but the spot is beautiful, quiet and can be a good place for a pic-nic looking toward the Outer Herbrides.
Some hexagonal columns of basalt
View of the Outer Herbrides in the background
Also at the tip of the Trotternish peninsula and only a few kilometres away following the coastline is my second hidden gem: a charming little bothy named Rubha Hunish. A bothy is a very basic little shelter found in the mountainous areas of Britain. These little huts usually offer a fireplace, a place to sleep (but no bedding or mattress provided) and a spade (yep that's for the toilets). The Rubha Hunish bothy used to be a coastguard lookout overlooking the narrow channel between the Isle of Skye and the Outer Herbrides and is now maintained by volunteers and left open for hikers' enjoyment. The location is stunning and it is apparently the best place in the whole island for spotting dolphins, whales and porpoise (July-august) but apparently we should have been there for sunrise in order to spot any (needless to say a Scottish summer sunrise is way too early for us).
Rubha Hunish Bothy
The walk to and from the bothy is also really nice, and the cherry on the cake on the way back: one of the best red telephone booth location!
The best telephone booth location
Incredible looking hills, it looks a bit like America
Even if the term hidden is not quite accurate, considering how famous it is, my next recommendation is still a gem. The coral beach at Claigan is a must see. A short walk is necessary to get to the beach and I recommend to climb the little hill behind the beach for a great view. This white beach is actually not made out of coral nor sand, but of fragment of dead Maerl which is in fact, when alive, a purple-pink hard seaweed (looking a little bit like coral). The dead seaweed is transported by the currant, crushed and bleached by the sun creating beautiful white beaches all over the west of Scotland.
The white sand is not very fine, it actually is more little chunks of the dead seaweed. As you can imagine the beach is very popular and the carpark near by can get very very busy. I would definitely advise to come early on a sunny day to be able to find a spot on the car park as it is quite small.
The coral Beach at Claigan
Neist point lighthouse
Now, if I had to choose my favorite spot on the isle of Skye, I think I would pick Neist Point Lighthouse which is on the most westerly point of the island. I just fell in love with the stunning view over the outer herbrides (on a clear day obsiously), the impressive rock formation and the very charming architecture of the lighthouse. There is something somewhat magical there that I can't really explain.
Neist point lighthouse
View of the Loch Bracadale and the Cuillin Hills
Quiraing
And finally last, but not least, The Quiraing. Probably the second most famous site on Skye after the Old Man of Storr, the Quiraing definitely deserves its reputation. To appreciate fully the real beauty of the site there is a 3h long circuit to do. The first part of the circuit follows the edge of a cliff which offers incredible views, before going down half way and heading back to the bottom of some crazy rock formations (some of them have a little nickname). If you feel very adventurous it's possible to climb above few of them, we only went up to see the Needle and it was not for the faint hearted. This was very steep but the scramble was all worth it.
To finish our stay we went exploring a little remote area: the west side of Sleat peninsula. We went to Tokavaig, explored a little ruined castle and had the most beautiful views over the black Cuillin from there: Skye in a nutshell.
Tokavaig
Some incredible light on Skye
Eilean Donnan Castle still looking very good on a grey and raining day
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