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Day Trip to Isle of SkyeDay Trip to Isle of Skye
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A short but fine adventure by Jon Read more
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  • TravelerDay Trip to Isle of Skye
    Day 1

    Duck Bay, Loch Lomond.

    July 12, 2017 in Scotland ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C

    With a 20 hour day planned (there and back) I wanted to get on the road early and reach north of Glasgow before the rush-hour. So leaving home at 04:30 I reached Loch Lomond at around 08:30.

    Apart from re-fuelling, Duck Bay is my normal first stop when on the way to The Highlands. Loch Lomond is where The Highlands really begins. Looking out from here, you know you're at the start. It doesn't matter what the weather is, sun, mist or rain makes the scene look different every time you view. I used to stop at Luss which is a little further up the Loch, but that's too busy and touristy now, so I drive by there.

    The original plan was to get a bit of a power nap in the car here, but I felt good even after an early start and 4 hours so I decided to carry on.    Read more

  • TravelerDay Trip to Isle of Skye
    Day 1

    The Green Welly Stop

    July 12, 2017 in Scotland ⋅ ☀️ 13 °C

    Anyone who's been travelling to, from or through The Highlands will know this place.This is the place to stop for a quick break whichever direction you're heading.

    The A82 North of Loch Lomond up to Crianlarich winds in and out and is a little skinny; not a single track road like in the very north, but impossible to overtake if you get stuck behind a slow moving vehicle (as I did on this trip). My suggestion is just to sit back, be patient and take your time. After all you're not in the big city anymore and the scenery is worth driving slowly for anyway.

    However, on this particular trip I got stuck behind a tourist coach for quite a few miles and it was where my plan and trip timings started to take a nosedive. In planning my trip I hadn't taken into consideration that this was a summer trip (usually I tour in Spring and Autumn). I soon started to find that the tourist traffic was holding me back and affecting my timings. It really took hold after my Green Welly stop, but that wasn't the only thing that held me up as we'll see.

    A quick break here though and a blast of WiFi followed by my packed breakfast of fruit and cake and I was on my way again up the A82 towards Glen Coe.    Read more

  • TravelerDay Trip to Isle of Skye
    Day 1

    Rannoch Moor and Glencoe

    July 12, 2017 in Scotland ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    One of the objectives of my trip was to take a whole load of photos. Not just ordinary photos but 360 degree photos using Google Cardboard Camera app. This app allows you to view the photo as if you're stood in the middle of the scene and you can see all around you. There's sound too - it's like being there.

    So two things happened on this leg of the journey. Firstly I stopped every couple of miles to take photos. Even though the scenery is stunning here (some of the most beautiful I've ever seen) I've never actually stopped much along this stretch of the A82. It's very easy for me to get here and I've always been going further afield so wanted to carry on through, telling myself I would come back and stop here another time. Maybe this was the time. But stopping so often added more minutes to the travel plan than expected.

    Also, lacking discipline as this is my first trip and I know I have a lot to learn, I forgot to take many normal photos at all and all my pics were 360 degree ones. I've tried uploading the 360 photos here so they could potentially be viewed using the VR Headset, but alas they do not show proerly, so they will be for my own personal enjoyment.

    The other thing that added time was, once again, the sheer number of tourists. (I don't count myself as a tourist of course, although technically I am). I was constantly stuck behind cars, campers and coaches driving so slowly. Now there's nothing wrong with driving slowly and safely. But 25 in a 50 limit when there's still 150 miles to cover is not good. I think what drivers should realise about Scotland is that it is SO big and SO expansive that even driving at 50 you are not going to miss anything. Even at 50 you can be driving for quite a few minutes and the view only changes slightly from what it is. And then, boom! You drive around the next corner and it's even more beautiful and, like Romeo when he sees Juliet for the first time, you forget everything that's gone before because it's THIS time that you fall in love.    Read more

  • TravelerDay Trip to Isle of Skye
    Day 1

    The Road To Skye

    July 12, 2017 in Scotland ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

    The A82 carries on through Glencoe right the way up to Fort William and beyond.

    Fort William is the biggest city in these parts and after the glorious drive from Loch Lomond through Glencoe, frankly it's a jolt back to reality here. On the plus side you can refuel here and get some WiFi (if that bothers you which it does me). I have stopped here in the past. It does enable you to recalibrate with normality to some extent, but today I pressed on. More holiday traffic meant I'm already more than a couple of hours behind plan and my 8 hour drive to the North of Skye is already around 6 with 3 still to go. So on I go.

    The road to Skye from Spean Bridge contains some of the true highlights of Scottish scenery.

    You will pass breathtaking Loch Lochy, the third deepest Loch in Scotland with a mean depth of 70 m (230 ft), and a length of 10 miles. Folklore tales mention 'a supernatural being' called the River Horse which was said to emerge from the lake and assume a horse's shape before feeding on the loch's banks. The River Horse was also known as the Lord Of The Lake and the Water King and would overturn boats and 'entice mares from their pastures'.

    Passing Laggan Locks you will travel a little way along the Caledonian Canal then head through the groves of trees towards Invergarry with Loch Oich on your right. Then turning onto the A87 past the picturesque village you head up Glen Garry towards Loch Garry. Head on up to the highest point overlooking Loch Loyne. Here is the most spectaculour scenery. I am truly struck by awe each time I take this road. I can never remember the spiritual feeling I get there until I go back again. And there it is. Every time.

    There is a patch of ground here where it seems someone once built a little mound of stones. In Scotland such a thing is called a Cairn (a Scottish Gaelic word). Cairns are used for many things including monuments, trail markers, landmarks and even to locate buried items of treasure. People who've stopped here have noticed this makeshift cairn and decided they would build their own. So now what's here, overlooking the majestic Loch, are these hundreds of little personal Cairns built for reasons only the builders know.

    Back down the hill turn right at River Moriston. The road takes you along Loch Cluanie on the left then through the most stunning, mystical landscape through Glen Shiel with the towering peaks of Sgùrr Fhuaran and Beinn Fhada on the right.

    If you're not in a rush like I was today, get off the beaten track - turn right onto the Old Military Road at Shiel Bridge and explore. The scenery will blow your mind. But today I was straight on up Loch Duich towards the Kyle of Lochalsh and Skye Bridge.

    Then just before you reach Dornie you hit Eilean Donan Castle. One of the most photographed spots in all Scotland it really is the Jewel at the end of the A87.    Read more

  • TravelerDay Trip to Isle of Skye
    Day 1

    Pushed for time ...

    July 12, 2017 in Scotland ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    Eilean Donan, which means simply "island of Donnán", is named after Donnán of Eigg, a Celtic saint martyred in 617. Donnán is said to have established a church on the island, though no trace of this remains. The island is situated at the point Loch Duich, Loch Long and Loch Alsh meet. The castle which sits upon it was originally founded in the thirteenth century, and became a stronghold of the Clan Mackenzie and their allies the Clan Macrae. In the early eighteenth century, the Mackenzies' involvement in the Jacobite rebellions led in 1719 to the castle's destruction by government ships. What you see there now is Lieutenant-Colonel John Macrae-Gilstrap's twentieth-century reconstruction from the ruins and now has a footbridge connecting the island to the mainland.

    I literally parked my car here, got out and took this picture of the castle (which I'm very proud of), had a very brief conversation with a couple of Americans who were on a motorbike tour, then jumped in the car and was on my way again.

    Time was really against me by now and for the first time I was worried that I wouldn't reach my final destination and I'd just run out of time.    Read more

  • TravelerDay Trip to Isle of Skye
    Day 1

    Final push?

    July 12, 2017 in Scotland ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

    So now it's time for the final confession: I actually failed to reach my end destination. The reason for this was purely the amount of tourist traffic on the route, which I'd so badly under-estimated. I knew this by the time I reached Broadford and re-fuel.

    And then if it had been slow coming across Rannoch Moor and up to Fort William, it was even slower on Skye itself. Following traffic at 20mph in a 50mph area is just not going to get you where you planned to be in time. So it was that after 12 hours of almost continuous driving I'd only got to Flodigarry - which is an agonising 4 miles short of Duntulm.

    4 miles seems like nothing but after 12 hours driving, and not even knowing how long that last 4 miles would take if I'd got stuck behind another camper I decided that was it.

    In reality, the roads are skinny here at the top of Skye and its parochial and private and I didn't feel right here anyway - maybe it wasn't the area, maybe it was fatigue or that the pleasure of the trip had transformed into an ordeal with the frustration of the speed of travel.

    And more to the point, I would have had no time at all in which to enjoy Duntulm, view the castle and look out into the distance across the Atlantic.

    But I failed in another way too. And this was definitely due to the frustration of slow progress. I simply didn't stop and take enough photos. So my record of this area is scant.    Read more

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