The Isle of Skye

It was a long drive from Glasgow Airport following our morning flight from Belfast. Four hours and 47 minutes of driving time, to be exact. Our longest slog since we were returning to California from Alaska way back in July. As we motored under overcast skies and through the fog past the huge stretch of Loch Lomond, we made our way over the pass towards Loch Tulla and were welcomed by the first uninterrupted clear blue skies we’d seen since all the way back in the Lake District of England. I don’t know how the Brits and Scots and Welsh and Irish handle so many days without sunshine each autumn and winter! The Grampian Mountains alongside the highway were quite commanding, towering peaks shooting up multiple thousands of feet from the bogs. It had us all immediately making comparisons to some of the desolate mountain landscapes from Alaska. We even passed a ski resort near Glencoe on our way north. Definitely an area where the four of us could kill some time in the future at some point. I was tempted to make a few stops for some pics along the way, but we had a lot of ground to cover and were trying to minimize time on the icy roads in the dark.

The Isle of Skye is the largest and northernmost of the major islands in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. A territory of Norway until the 1266 Treaty of Perth, the island’s peninsulas are a magnet for photographers and hikers due to their incredibly rugged landscapes, striking mountains and unique geology. At almost 50 miles long, Skye necessitated a few days to explore, and given the sun was only above the horizon for a little more than six hours during our time on the island, we tried to make as much use of the daylight hours as possible.

The Quiraing is a landslip on the eastern face of Meall na Suiramach at the northern end of Skye and is one of the island’s most famous geologic formations. The needle spires formed below the cliffs make for some stunning scenery, so we set out to explore the entire area one morning on what was supposed to be a day with broken clouds and intermittent sun. Any Skye local will tell you that the weather can be extremely tricky on the island, especially during the winter months. It can be raining at one end of the island with blue skies and sun at the other. As we drove over the peak of the Trotternish Ridge from Uig, the broken clouds turned to dense, misty fog. So dense we could only see maybe a hundred feet in front of us. I’ll take rain, I’ll take snow, I’ll take sweltering heat but pea soup fog is just the pits, especially when you’ve traveled somewhere as stunning as theQuiraing. We saw some of theQuiraing’s rock formations – like The Prison and The Needle – through the fog, but the first portion of our 4.8 mile/7.7 kilometer loop was certainly not filled with the dramatic scenery we were expecting. We were very fortunate, however, that the sea breeze at the northern end of the Trotternish Ridge pushed the fog off the cliffs for the middle portion of our hike. The dark, stormy clouds on the horizon coupled with the low lying northern sun made for some incredible vistas, it felt like we were on top of the world as we hiked back above theQuiraing cliffs. We managed to navigate the peat bogs with mostly dry shoes – something we’ve all become quite expert at doing thanks to our time in Ireland – and arrived back at the car with more stunning views of theTrotternish Ridge south towards Portree. A truly breathtaking part of the world.

All on a high from the fog parting along ourQuiraing hike, we motored south to the other of the island’s famous landslip formations: The Storr. The area below the cliffs of The Storr is named The Sanctuary and is home to arguably the most recognizable of Skye’s rock needles: The Old Man of Storr. As we drove south, no less than a mile from The Storr the fog enveloped us again, making our hike up into The Storr not only frigid but also devoid of any views of the rock needles for which the area is so famous. The fog was so thick we could only just make out the towering rock needle of The Old Man of Storr. I was not a content camper.

We were, however, at the northern end of Skye on our last day on the island and just before sunset we motored up to catch The Storr in all its glory. Cloudy but no fog, fine with me. The kids and Lisa ventured to nearby Bride’s Veil Falls while I redid our hike from a couple of days earlier to snap some pics. The 2.7 mile/4.3 kilometer hike had almost 1000 feet of climbing and took the four of us an hour and 40 minutes in the fog; with the sun setting and opportunity to snap some pics of The Old Man of Storr I managed it in 42 minutes. It would have been a travesty to visit Skye without at least seeing the pinnacles of The Storr!

Without a doubt the kids’ favorite outdoor adventure during our time on the island was the loop hike we completed to the Fairy Pools. The pools were situated along a meandering stream below the towering peaks of the Cuillin Range, their turquoise water coupled with a seemingly endless number of waterfalls through the valley made for some majestic scenery. The landscape reminded Lilia and I a lot of some portions of the trip we made to Iceland back in 2018. The color of the water was incredible even under the overcast sky, I can only imagine what it must be like in the direct sunlight. The peaks of theCuillin Range flanking the valley were also quite awe inspiring, even though we couldn’t see the tops of the 3000+ foot mountains through the clouds. We hiked in the shadow of the dramatic pyramid-like peak of Sgùrr an Fheadain for most of the loop, neighboring Sgùrr an Fheadain also made a few appearances through the mist. Quite cool to share the trail with a herd of three deer as we wound across the bogs during the middle portion of our loop. The Fairy Pools in particular made me understand why photographers from the world over flock to Skye (next time I’ll pack a full-sized tripod and make sure I don’t drop my camera in Madrid so I can screw the polarizing filter onto my lens…).

The Isle of Skye was the kind of place where almost everywhere we looked there was a breathtaking natural landscape to view. There was no shortage of spots to visit, we could have easily killed a week on the island and still had plenty more to see. Our trip to the westernmost point of the island was a short stroll compared to The Storr and Quiraing adventures, but the sights were no less memorable. We hit a little traffic – Skye-style traffic (first few pics below) – on our way our to Neist Point Lighthouse, which was opened in 1909 but has been operated remotely since 1990. The old lighthouse keepers quarters had been turned into private accommodation, but from the look of it they hadn’t been used in many years, the rooms filled with broken furniture and empty beer bottles. The striking cliffs stretching along the Moonen Bay to the south with multiple waterfalls flowing into the ocean were amazing, as were the Waterstein Cliffs to the north. Our short out-and-back to the lighthouse was really the only time on Skye we encountered any noticeable wind, we were thanking our lucky stars we only had wind once after feeling the cold as we walked. It was about 4°C/39°F according to the car’s thermometer, but the wind absolutely cut through our clothes, even with three or four layers on our torsos. Must be absolutely frigid during a winter storm!

Never a family to miss a visit to a brewery, we ventured to the sleepy seaside enclave of Uig one afternoon to have a looksee at Isle of Skye Brewing Company. The beer was solid – nothing to write home about, but quite good – but we were a little disappointed that the brewery didn’t actually serve any beer at the point of sale. We could have saved ourselves a drive and bought a few samples back at the supermarket in Portree!

Our digs in the village of Carbost at the southern end of the Isle of Skye were just excellent. A classic stone farmhouse that had been converted into accommodation, it was exceptionally well kitted out and a very pleasant spot to spend a few days. The wood stove kept all our cheeks rosy whilst playing another Monopoly marathon in the evenings, and the views over Loch Harport from the house were magic. Definitely a highlight of the location was having The Oyster Shed a couple of minutes down the road, we enjoyed some exceptional fish and chips and local lobster one night for dinner and went by for some oysters on the way home from a hike on another occasion. The Scottish lass manning the oyster bar was an exceedingly friendly soul, a wealth of information on the local area and ups-and-downs of the oyster business. The Scottish oysters were delicious, and at US$16 per shucked dozen we were very happy customers! Talisker Distillery was also situated down the hill from our house on the edge of Loch Harport (and when I say edge, I mean the distillery had kelp washed up on its walls!). Unfortunately the retail portion of the distillery was closed for renovations until the spring, so we’ll have to sample some local whiskey elsewhere in Scotland.

As we traversed the island over the span of a few days it was literally impossible not to pass through Skye’s main town of Portree. Portree’s harbor was like something out of a postcard with moored fishing boats and colorful buildings along the water’s edge. The main square was ringed with a handful of high end restaurants and a couple of pubs, quite an approachable little enclave. The souvenir shops lining a few of the streets and some of the other boutiques closed for the winter gave the impression of a town that sees a hell of a lot more tourist traffic during the warmer (less cold?) months of the year.

Skye is but one of the 51 inhabited Hebrides Islands in northern Scotland. Such an outdoor lover’s paradise, I’d love to venture to some of the other islands one day. It would be incredible to climb some of the mountains of Skye’s Cuillin Range, but we were a little trigger shy on ascending any of the peaks this time around with the unpredictable winter weather and likelihood of snow on the upper portions of the mountains. Yes, our visit was cold, but to be honest I’d be a little wary of returning during the peak summer season: the parking lots at main attractions like the Fairy Pools, The Storr andQuiraing were setup to accommodate more than 100 cars each, the place must be a zoo in summer. I can imagine the island’s single lane roads must be an absolute mess with the more than 600K visitors that visit Skye during the warmer months. Regardless, it was a stunning part of the world that I’m glad we made the effort to visit.