We have heard so much about the Isle of Skye that we had to see for ourselves if it was really as nice as everyone had said. We stayed in a bed and breakfast in Dunvegan which was perfect for us. The rooms were spacious, well ventilated, plenty of light and a phenomenal breakfast.
Dinner reservations were set for a relatively upscale restaurant in Portree. Finding parking was no trouble, trying to pay for it was. The pound coin didn’t seem to fit into any of the meters. At first we thought they were broken but then saw others deposit coins. Baffled, we gave up and tried to use the credit card option. Alas, the internet was down in the village. Having spent twenty minutes trying to legally park, and with only thirty minutes until it was free, we headed to dinner. When we walked in the door we were 10 minutes late and lost our table. Fortunately, the meter readers weren’t as anal. As it turns out we saved a bundle of cash and enjoyed a really nice meal at a less snooty place.
Thankfully we arrived at Cuchullin when we did because our presence apparently made it very popular.
The Isle of Skye in Scotland is south of Iceland making it a place where if you stay up late enough you can actually see a sunset on this trip. The photograph below was taken shortly after 10 PM.
We got up early the next morning and headed to the Neist Point lighthouse. There is a lengthy path to the lighthouse down the stairs winding through the hills. We walked about 30 minutes, took some photos and headed back to the B&B for breakfast.
Breakfast included eggs, vegetables, potatoes, haggis, sausage, cereal, juice and coffee. It was all really good. While my husband had the original meat version of the haggis and sausage, I had the vegan. Not to be missed. Real haggis is somewhat similar to scrapple and was deemed to be “quite tasty”. Of course, I’m not sure how discerning his palate may be, as he also said “parts is parts” and will eat scrapple. The dish is quite a common staple and is not now typically served in other organs as one may have heard.
One of the places that we planned to visit while staying at The Isle of Skye was the Old Man of Stor or “An Stor” as the Scots call it. Due to a landslide some 10,000 years ago, the topography of the mountain was changed to reveal rocks that looked like an old man.
To see the jagged rocks that make up “Storr”, you can take a moderate 2 mile or so hike up the hill in the area known as Trotternish. While it is supposedly about a one and a half hour round trip, you need to plan for more than that if you really want to take in the panoramic view that unfolds along the walk. You may be tempted to stop for a photo or two or a hundred. For us, it took 2 hours and a half and we clocked 6.3 miles.
As you can see from the photo above and the ones below, the trail is mostly an even gravel surface, at least for the beginning of the hike.
As you get to a higher elevation the trail becomes a bit more uneven. Wearing hiking or trail shoes is advised. When I got close to the top, I could see the Old Man’s feet. If you look at the photo below you will see the big toe of his right foot in between the pinnacle rock and the rock on the ledge.
Back down the hill we went and towards our next stop, "An Leth-allt" where the trail we walked on was asphalt and boardwalk and relatively flat.
After a nice short walk we headed in the direction of Duntulm. We stopped briefly in Staffin to get a snack as, according to Google, it was the closest place with food on our route. Unfortunately the food store was closed. On a positive note, there was an “At Risk” Blackface Norfolk Horned ram across the street. No we were not THAT hungry!
Arriving at the Duntulm viewpoint, where among other things, like the ruins of a castle, we saw more sheep. Between Ireland and Scotland it seems like there are sheep everywhere. However, here’s a piece of trivia. The country with the most sheep per capita is…China. That must be one heck of a lot of sheep.
With slightly smaller horns than her male counterpart the Female Black Faced Norfolk Sheep is still a sight to be seen.
Not ready to finish exploring the countryside, we headed towards the Fairy Hills at the Fairy Glen. There are countless small conical hills that look like they are meant for fairies and are quite lovely to look at and fun to climb.
After the walk around the Fairy Hill we were famished. Our bed and breakfast host mentioned the Old Schoolhouse for dinner.
Like all good things, our stay in the Isle of Skye was coming to an end but not without a visit to the Dunvegan Castle and Gardens.
Inside the Castle there was someone bringing food, who took forever to get down the stairs.
The gardens were fabulous.
There was still the Cullin to see in Skye, a range of rocky mountains. This is considered one of the most difficult climbs in the UK. Maybe next time we will give it a go. Probably not.
I hoped you enjoyed reading about Scotland’s Isle of Skye and that you join us in our next blog segment when we visit Inverness
In case you missed our recent Iceland blog segments “Return to Iceland 2022 - Different season - Photojournal”, and Iceland’s Westfjords 2022 - Photojournal
If you missed the previous 2 Scotland Segments:
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