On the penultimate day of our Scottish leg we visit the Isle of Skye.
Isle of Skye - Around the village of Uig
We start the day with a real English breakfast. Janet was looking forward to Black pudding in the form of brownies and got the original in the form of Czech yarn. However, for the fact that we only got 2 small toasts to go with it, I leave breakfast feeling downright stuffed.
English breakfast in Scottish style
We are using the services of Rabbies travel agency to visit the island again. We meet at 8 am at the bus station. We arrive last and get the worst seats. To Janet's disappointment, we have a guide today. Unfortunately for me, she is much harder to understand than Raye from the previous tour. We get on the road and the first stop is a short wee-pause at the station in the village of Achnasheen, which is in the middle of nowhere in the Scottish Highlands.
Railway station in Achnasheen
The next short stop was before the island, a view of Loch Carron.
Loch Carron
We now cross Skye Bridge and find ourselves on the island. Our first stop is just over the bridge in the village of Kyleakin overlooking the Kyle of Lochals. Unfortunately the weather today is purely Scottish, i.e. windy, rainy, overcast, foggy.
Kyle of Lochals
Kyleakin - View of Skye bridge
Kyleakin
We continue our journey to the town of Portree. Before we arrive there we have a short stop at the corral to see the Scottish Highland Cattle and at the village of Sligachan, which in normal weather has a view of the mountains, but thanks to the fog and rain we are grateful for at least the original stone bridge over the river of the same name.
Scottish Highland cattle
Sligachan
In Portree we have a one hour break for lunch and sightseeing. We were going to have local fish and chips at the harbour, but since no one was there we weren't hungry yet, and when we were, there was an endless line of people, so we were out of luck and had to give in to sandwiches from nearby Coop.
Portree
From the town of Portree we go to Loch Mealt, which is located on a rocky cliff and supplies water to the Mealt waterfall, which falls directly into the sea.
Mealt Waterfall
Kilt Rock Viewpoint
We are now descending to Quiraing road. Supposedly the most beautiful road on Skye, overlooking the Quiraing landscape, which is made up of basalt walls, rock formations and a table mountain that overlooks the green valley. It was also the location of several locations of the TV series, and strangely enough, not Aliens, but Game of Thrones. We had the misfortune to have fog fall on the viewpoint again and the wind was blowing incredibly strong, like from a cold hairdryer. So we couldn't see anything, and within seconds we were completely wet.
Quiraing
Quiraing road
Quiraing vista - View from the lookout
Quiraing vista - With the wind like this
At the end of Quiraing road is Uig village. There is a wharf with a ferry to Uibhist and Tuath island and Leodhas agus to Hearadh. There is also a microbrewery here which we stop at for a short while.
Uig
From the village of Uig, we drive just a few meters and go to see the Rha waterfall. It has the colour and foam of Kofola (Czech cola drink), so we start calling it that.
Kofola waterfall
The waterfall is our last stop on the island. But it's not the last stop on the tour. On the way to Inverness, we'll have a tour of what is probably Scotland's most famous and most filmed castle, Eilean Donnan Castle, with its distinctive stone approach bridge. As with proper capitalists, you can buy admission to the castle or for £3 you can walk around the castle. The funny thing is that at 5pm the ticket office closes, the ticket inspectors disappear and you can walk around the castle for free.
Eilean Donnan Castle
The last short stop on the tour is a view of the famous Loch Ness. We can't do much more than that and continue back to Inverness.
Jezero Loch Ness
This concludes our tour and we are dropped off at Inverness bus station at around 9pm. We have no choice but to buy dinner in Tesco and go back to our accommodation. We finish the day with wine. Tomorrow we head back to Edinburgh and back to London in the evening.
Useful links:
Rabbie's Tours
Cedar Villa Guest House
More accommodation options in Inverness
Accommodation on the Isle of Skye
