The Isle of Skye

I was so excited to go to The Isle of Skye. It had been on my bucket list for ages. I knew there would be some great swimming spots and that it was going to be very scenic.

The three photos below are basically what we saw in the first hour or so. As you can see, single track roads and fairly deserted! The ferry goes into Armadale which is right at the bottom of Skye there is a castle which we didn’t actually go to but we could see from the ferry.

We thought we would head to Elgol first which meant heading up then down into a little pointy bit of the Island. Elgol is supposed to be a very scenic village and also have a cave that is only assessable an hour or so either side of low tide. Sadly the roads you can see in the photos above got considerably worse and being in a motorhome we decided not to take the chance as we had no idea of how bad it may get and weather or not we would be able to turn round.

We turned back deciding we would head towards Glenbrittle for the famous fairy pools the next day.

We may not have made it to Elgol but we were greeted in our first hour by the most amazing rainbow over the mountains

Our first stop as we drove was when we saw some very impressive looking highland cows

As we drove up we came across the village of Sligachan. It was a great place to stop as there was a very scenic walk complete with waterfalls and an impressive looking bridge.

There was also a memorial of 2 climbers John Mackenzie (1856-1930) and Professor Norman Collie (1859-1942) They came from very different backgrounds but formed a friendship that lasted more than 50 years. Together they mapped out many routes that have been used by climbers over the years. To finish our day off there was a hotel and pub which we had a meal and drinks in. A great first day on Skye.

The Fairy Pools

The next day we headed to Glenbrittle and The Fairy Pools. For over a year I had a link to someone’s blog saved on my phone with a photo of somebody in The Fairy Pools under a waterfall. As an outdoor swimmer I saw this photo and I wanted to go there, I wanted to be under that waterfall! The photo, I suppose was a vision board. You can imagine how excited I was to go to The Fairy Pools.

It was an absolutely glorious day. Most people were walking and not swimming or dipping but I wasn’t the only one, there were a few others.

I’d heard that it could get quite crowded and that the best thing to do was to keep walking up beyond the crowds before finding a place to get in.

This in mind we did go beyond where most people decided to turn back.

You may be wondering if I got to sit under the same waterfall that I had on my phone. Well we did find that exact spot but there was considerably less water than in the photo on my phone. I’m guessing it was probably due to the fact that there hadn’t been much rain. I did get in and under a waterfall tho but it was a little bit further up. I didn’t really mind that it was a different one as I still got to go there and sit under a waterfall.

I absolutely loved it and was so grateful that we finally got to go there. Here are some more photos from the actual walk.

As you can see it was an incredibly scenic walk and it’s not surprising that The Fairy Pools are a famous tourist attraction in Skye.

What a fabulous day.

Portree

The main town on The Isle of Skye is Portree. It has a large supermarket and a garage. There is also a town centre with shops, bars and restaurants.

We spent an evening and a day there after The Fairy Pools and then another couple of days there later on when we had some rainy weather. As you can see we also had a very nice Japanese meal there.

Coral Beach

The others highlight of my trip to Skye was without a doubt Coral Beach. We weren’t sure if there would be space for Jovanna at Coral Beach car park or if we would be able to get down there as there was a sign “unsuitable for large vehicles”. Just in case you are reading this and have a large motorhome it would have actually been accessible but as always errr on the side of caution if unsure.

We decided to park at Dunvegan and then cycle. Dunvegan has a castle, we didn’t actually go inside as we thought it was expensive, obviously would depend on how much you want to see it! It also has a small high street with a couple of cafes and a police station .

The cycle ride to the car park for Coral Beach was about 2 or 3 miles. We had to leave the bikes at the car park and then walk for about a mile. It was once again a beautiful day.

Those two photos above are the first view we had of Coral Beach as we walked round the corner.

Once we got down there it was just amazing. It was so clear, probably the clearest water I’ve ever seen. It was turquoise but by the shoreline it was just clear with a hint of turquoise. When I actually got in and put my head under the water it was even clearer.

As you can imagine I couldn’t wait to swim here. I was the only one who did though! There were lots of people on the beach too!

I attempted to swim to the Island and almost made it but as I was on my own I decided to be sensible and turn back as I was starting to get a bit cold.

As we left Coral beach to walk back to the car park where our bikes were we had a bit of a traffic jam coming the other way as you can see from the photo below!

After Coral Beach we went back to Portree and then headed up to ‘The Old Man of Storr’

The Old Man of Storr is situated in the north of Skye on The Totternish Ridge. According to legend, the Old Man of Storr was a giant who lived on The Totternish Ridge. When he was laid to rest upon his death, his thumb—the “Old Man”—remained partially above ground. You can do the climb up to see it close up but we decided not to as the weather was quite bad and it was also the day of The Queen’s funeral which we were watching intermittently throughout the day, as it was after all history.

We had a bit of a drive round the Island and also back to Portree before heading to Uig where we would be catching the ferry to Harris and Lewis in a couple of days .

Here’s a photo of me standing by the road. There was lots of deserted roads like this in Skye.

Here’s another photo of Portree Harbour . Love the coloured houses

Waterfalls

The Isle of Skye has lots of waterfalls throughout. Here are some photos of Lealt waterfalls which we stopped and looked at from the road.

Also Rha Falls which we walked to from Uig whilst were waiting for the ferry. We were very lucky as we had heavy rain for about 24 hours but managed to catch a rain free window to do the 20 minute walk to see Rha falls . Was definitely worth the wait and the walk.

We left Skye on the ferry to The Isles of Lewis and Harris, The Outer Hebrides. We loved Skye but were also excited for the next part of our adventure .

Watch out for our next blog post, which is Lewis and Harris!

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