Skye Scotland

Day 51/Scotland 28

Travelled:142km 

Stay:Skye Neist Point- carpark N57.4299 W6.7782

Visited:Quiraing, Kilt Rock, Lealt Falls, Man of Storr, Portree, Trumpan Church, Stein, Neist Point

We had a full day in Skye today. We were the first, as per usual, to startup the dart and make a move. We stopped briefly to have a look at the traditional stone houses at the Museum of Island Life but we decided not to wait 2 hours for it to open at 10am, so took a few outside photos and continued on our way. 

The roads here are considerably in worse shape than those on Lewis and Harris, making Mark having to concentrate more and taking us longer to get around. The up side is that most of the time there is beautiful scenery to look at especially on the east side of this peninsula. We turned off the main road and went in search for a closer look at what they call the Quiraing, described in our book as ‘a series of landslides which has exposed the roots of the volcanic plateau, revealing a fantastic terrain of spikes and towers. 

We enjoyed the view and then ventured further south along the east coast. We stopped at Kilt Rock, a stunning coastal cliff which has Mealt falls spilling over the cliff into the sea.

 

 Next was Lealt Falls which was a series of falls before the water flowed into the sea.

 As we came to the start of the walk to The Old Man of Storr (a 49m monolith) we realised that it is the busy tourist season. The car parking was full and you had to pay for the privilege. We managed a few good photos from the road side and kept going.

 We the decended into the colourful harbour town of Portree. We managed to get a 30min parking spot in the street and had a walk around.

Doing some stealth toilet emptying.

 We did a bit of shopping and got some fuel before heading up to Trumpan Church. Here we learnt about the sad fate of both the MacLeod and MacDonald Clans. 

We opted not to go out on the 11mile hike and hopped back into Bluey and had a quick look at tiny Stein, which had an Inn and a Michlin Star restaurant.

 Having already eaten we set off towards Dunvegan. We got a glimpse of the castle that had been the seat for the chiefs of Clan MacLead for seven centuries. 

We then continued west on to Neist Point and enjoyed the spectacular views of the coast as we walked to the lighthouse.

Bluey is parked up there.

The Thistle The Scottish emblem.

 We were lucky to have the sun shinning because as we returned to Bluey for dinner the clouds had started to roll in.