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- Jun 16, 2024
- 🌬 11 °C
- Altitude: 5 m
- ScotlandHighlandPortree57°24’43” N 6°11’42” W
Isle of Skye
June 16 in Scotland ⋅ 🌬 11 °C
After a full day of train and bus travel yesterday, going from Inverness to the Isle of Skye, today we went on a full day, guided minibus tour of Skye. The photos will speak for themselves, but in a nutshell, it was an amazing tour! The stops were all very scenic and we had a knowledgeable, Scottish guide who gave us lots of history and interesting facts as he took us from site to site.
We were very lucky to have gotten on this tour. I tried booking it on line months ago, but there was only one spot available. I emailed the company and got a quick response from Bill (who turned out to be our tour guide today) who magically made two more spots available! There were no other touring companies with spots available and our only other option would have been to rent a car. Well that would have been a nightmare! Most of the roads we were on today were single lane, narrow and winding. All along the routes were very, very short sections that were slightly wider to allow two vehicles traveling in opposite directions to pass each other. They were all identified with a little sign, “Passing Place”. Our driver was constantly scanning the road ahead to see if he needed to use an upcoming passing place to allow oncoming traffic to pass. On more than one occasion we would be caught in between, and one or the other drivers would have to back up to the nearest passing place. Fine, if you’re not having to drive!
The touring, day trip started at 9:15. Our first stop, after we left our home base of Portree, were the Fairy Pools. Here we hiked along a trail and saw a series of small waterfalls in a grassy meadow setting at the foot of a towering mountain. From there we drove to Neist Point and hiked along another trail to get a number of amazing views of the ocean and surrounding landscape. Soon after, it was time for lunch so we stopped at a cafe on the route. Our touring group of 16 were seated at a number of small tables. We got to know Kevin and Nancy, a couple from Virginia. After lunch, the tour continued with photo stops at Quiraing, Old Man of Storr, Cuillin Mountains, Kilt Rock as well as time to walk through Fairy Glen.
Back in Portree we stopped in at our accommodation to drop off some things and headed straight to the church around the corner. Not to attend a service, but to eat dinner! It’s a church that’s been turned into a restaurant. Quite a cool setting. And we were able to watch a bit more EuroCup Soccer on their big TV screen while waiting for the food to be served. I had a big plate of fish and chips. Emma had a burger and Laura had scampi.
We ended the day watching France beat Austria in EuroCup soccer back in our room.Read more
Stunning scenery and so lush. No wonder the tours are popular. Was the weather cooler? How are you finding the train network? [Andrew]
The weather has been quite consistent since we arrived in Scotland. 15-20 degrees. Windy and feels cooler in some spots. We’ve only taken the train once. The connection to Skye required a bus that we thought was included in the train pass. It turns out not to be the case for our destination on Skye. So, today we travelled again by bus to get off the island and then to catch a train was complicated so we chose to go by bus all the way to Fort William, our next place of stay. [Hans]