The Trotternish Peninsula

Today was the day to drive the most northerly peninsula on Skye. From the look of Portree the night before, it looked like it was going to be a busy on Skye. I decided that I would just head out as soon as I got up as typically I wake up at 6. As I had gone to bed last night quite early, I was up and away by 6:15 am.
My first stop was The Old Man of Storr. The old man of Storr is a huge pinnacle of granite rock which came detached from the adjacent mountain and has weathered over time. It is quite spectacular. I am sure that I have seen photos of it before and it has been used in the backdrop of movies. One could see the pinnacle from very far away. Rick Steve's book mentioned you could walk up and overlook the stonendimg but didn't really indicate whether or not it was worth it. I got there just as a hiker from Seattle was coming down. I asked him whether the hike was worth it. He told me that it definitely was and that he had gotten up at 1:30 to get to the rock to watch the sunrise. I met a Czech family coming down later with three young children. They had been at the stone at 4:30 am and when they arrived they reported a lot of people departing as the sunrise was over. There weren't many cars when I showed up. I walked up a path overlooking the stone which took me about 45 minutes. It was quite spectacular and well worth the walk. I was a little disappointed with RS. They don't want you going near the rock as they are worried about falling rock. There were a few people up by the stone including a young man in a kilt and his rolling luggage. I thought that I was imagining it. I pointed him out to a couple standing close to me and they were surprised too.
After the stone, Leah Gorge and Kilt rock. Spectacular lookouts at the massive cliffs on the coast of Skye. I occurred my first tour bus here.
I continued north onto a one lane road to the Duntulm Castle of the McDonalds. It felt very isolated and inhabitable. No tourists but lots of sheep. At some point they had abandoned it to move to the more hospitable southern part of the island which was very lucky for their ancestors as years later the new castle was located by the ferry terminal giving them an endless supply of tourists.
I then hit the Skye museum of island life. It was a great open air museum which consisted of thatched roofed stone farm houses which had been the traditional farm house. The farmers were called crofters. The thatched roofs were held down by stones. The one house had been occupied on the site until 1957 by a couple who had ten children. The others had all been moved from other sites on the island as people didn't want to live in them anymore and air BnB had not yet been invented. There must have been a lot of love. The house consisted of three rooms, kitchen and sitting room, parents room and the largest the parents room. My Air BnB isn't that much smaller. It described the hard life of the farmers. They worked very hard from sunrise to sunset. I think the island at that time had more agriculture then it does now. All I see now is pasture land for sheep. Then they were growing crops and raising animals. They didn't need a large house as they spent the majority of their time outside working. Some of the houses were set up to demonstrate weaving, blacksmith shop, cobbler and the fishing industry. A very sad display about a group of 28 territorial soldiers from the area who had gone off to fight with the Cameron Highlanders and only eight had survived the WW1. It must have been devastating for the island. I walked up behind the museum to a pretty little graveyard with a huge Celtic cross marked the grave of Flora McDonald who had helped Bonnie Prince Charles escape the English soccer fans. When I finished at the graveyard and made it back to the carpark it was now about noon and the carpark was packed.
I drove to Uig and then Quiraing on a single path road. Lots of traffic and it was very slow going. Quiraing is a hilly area that commands beautiful views of the northern peninsula. The carpark was overflowing and there was traffic chaos. I drove down the hill and parked at the entrance to a cemetery. I met two very pleasant Danish sisters and discussed the traffic chaos with them. They had been given a tip of how they could park where we had and still walk up into the Quiraing. I followed them and chatted about my trip last year to Denmark. We were able to hike up to a very pleasant view point giving a commanding view of the island.
By this time I had given up on driving one one lane roads. I drove a very long way from Staffin back to Portree and onto the Dunvegan Castle home of the McLeods. I only had two hours at the place but it warrented 3 stars while RS had only given it 2. It had a spectacular garden and the castle was beautiful. Very friendly docents. It reminded me of a Scottish version of Castle Howard in York. I wish I could have spent more time. I returned to Portree by 5:30 for a very solid 11 hours of sight seeing.Read more