Skye - Day 1

Happy Birthday Me!  

Not a bad view to wake up to (0510), even through the dirty window.

We were down for breakfast as the restaurant opened and it was rather like school dinners, you queued up and pointed to what you wanted.  As we were waiting a chap came in with more fried eggs so I asked if he was the chef and whether he could cook me yolks only.  His English was rather limited but we got the message across by referring to white and yellow and he duly sent out two beautifully cooked yolks.  Unfortunately the rest of the breakfast was rather cold and the tea very stewed.  But I guess under covid rules it was the best they could manage and once again the staff were very friendly.

The plan for today was to visit the Fairy Pools which are more or less due west from Broadford but given the few roads on the island the journey via Sligachan will take about 45mins to 1 hour.  The views on the drive were breathtaking and we stopped at a lay-by to take this picture; wild camping is very common here and clearly these campers like to look after their pet too. 

We waited a few moments for the light to fall where I wanted.

Sligachan Old Bridge built by Thomas Telford in the early 1800s

It was quite a wet and squidgy walk down to the river to get the above shot and by the time we'd got back up to the path it was raining steadily so I took a quick snap of the statue and mountains behind and we scuttled back to the car.

As we were to discover many roads on Skye are single track with passing places (or p*ssing places as Ian referred to them) and the one to the Fairy Pools was just that but we were quite early and it was fairly quiet.  When we reached the newly built car park, the attendant kindly informed us that due to the heavy rain yesterday the stepping stones across the river were submerged in 1ft of water and we might have difficulty crossing.  I'm not very confident crossing wide gaps on slippery stones at the best of times and with a backpack full of camera gear I could see problems.  So we decided to take his advice and visit another day when the water levels had receded.  A few views along the drive there and back.  The Cuillin Hills in the mist.

Unfortunately I was too slow getting my camera but these 3 wandering up the road looked so cute.

This one proudly showing his best side.

Sadly my favourite lens developed a fault and I couldn't use it so we decided to head to the island’s main town of Portree in the hope we might find a camera shop.  It turns our Portree is tiny and barely has a chemist let alone a camera shop.  I did phone a local photographer who kindly gave me some advice but it didn't work - b*gger I'm now down to 100-400 telephoto or 10-22 wide angle, neither of which are ideal for the kind of shots I'm taking.

Rather fed up we stopped for coffee and cake in the Arriba Cafe, which was very nice.

And then had a wander around Portree, which given its size didn't take very long at all.

These restaurants/shops looked very pretty with their different colours, unfortunately permission had been given for giant marquees to be erected on the quayside which rather spoilt the view (I cropped them out).

I always like a bit of dilapidation.

From there we drove north to an area known as the Fairy Glen.  We weren't quite sure what to expect and as we parked the heavens opened and it poured with rain so we sat in the car for a good 15 mins waiting for a break in the clouds.  In fact it's an area of little grass covered hillocks and pools, with some basalt rocks but it has a Hobbit-like feel to it.  After the recent cloudburst there weren't many people around but I've included a few for scale.

This is known as Castle Ewan as the basalt rock supposedly resembles a ruined castle.

I'm not entirely sure what Ian was mimicking - certainly not a Hobbit.

Mid June and still plenty of bluebells in flower.

We then went to the port of Uig on the west side of the bit of Skye that sticks up.  The ferry to Harris and Lewis leaves from here and at one point we'd thought about doing a day trip.  

There's nothing else here, seemingly no fishing industry (although these rings must be for something) and just a few cottages.

This Norman style Round Tower isn't very old at all.  It has no defence purpose at all and was built in 1860 purely as a symbol of wealth for a local landowner.

We then made the 40 min drive to Coral Beach on the west side.  After we driven through the village of Dunvegan the road was very narrow and bumpy in sections but the view was tremendous.

The road was a dead end and parking was just on the edge of unmade rough road with very little turning room and with Ian's direction I managed to get in a fairly small space, but I was worried how I'd ever turn the car round to drive home.

After quite a long walk we thought we'd reached the beach when we got to this gap in a wall.

Sadly not, the path continued.

But eventually we were rewarded with this view.

And finally we reached the Coral Beach itself.

We decided against walking to the top of this hill, although I'm sure the views would have been glorious.

Whilst we were well wrapped up against the cold, others were brave (or mad) enough to be in swimming.

 

The Armeria maritima (sea thrift) all along the shore was beautiful.

When we got back to the car there was space opposite that I thought I'd be able to turn round in, but a campervan was just arriving and went to park in it.  I dashed over and explained to the driver that I was rubbish at manoeuvring and would he be very sweet and wait until I'd turned round - luckily he was happy to oblige.

We then had a lovely view of Castle Dunvegan on the way back along the road.

These next two photos were taken within 4 minutes and illustrate perfectly how the weather changes so quickly on Skye.

An hour later back at our hotel on the east side of the island, our little harbour was looking lovely in the gentle late afternoon light.  From our bedroom window.

As it was such a glorious evening, we took a glass of wine down and sat by the water for a while.

I still can't really get the hang of selfies.

For dinner tonight I've booked us into Pizza Sia which is about 10 mins walk away - the food was very nice but we found the service a little surly, maybe they were over busy.  A couple more harbour shots after dinner.

Then at about 21:30 this little boat headed out to sea.

Phew, that was a long day.