Isle of Skye
The first morning on the Isle of Skye
On the next morning after arrival on the Isle of Skye, we had an early walk towards the coast (not to mention that the coast is almost all around). The path led us to the nearest bay, discovering a beautiful view of a small local harbour where many fishing boats were parked. Such an amazing and quiet early morning scenery for our first day of holidays!
The biggest surprise upon arrival to Skye late evening and later driving around the Isle of Skye was an observation that almost all roads are very narrow with frequent passing places. Of course, there also are wider roads, although the narrow ones are predominant, and you should note that when planning trips around the Isle of Skye. It may take way more time to get from one place to another because you may have to stop at many passing places and wait for oncoming cars very often.
Dunvegan Castle
Our first major trip on Skye was visiting Dunvegan Castle and gardens located in the north-west of the island. Dunvegan Castle (MacLeod estate) for centuries has been and still is the home of MacLeod’s clan. When we visited it, the price for visiting both the castle and gardens were at £7.50 for an adult.
The gardens are beautiful, however, the castle is surprising as well. Dunvegan Castle is the longest inhabited castle in Scotland; the MacLeod family has been living there almost for eight hundred years! Since 1933, the castle has been open to the public and visitors may find out details about the clan’s history and its relation to the history of whole Scotland. All rooms open to the public were well presented and exciting.
Visiting seals
After visiting the castle and gardens, we followed signs towards the coast to visit a colony of seals living on smaller islands nearby. Boats are waiting for visitors on the coast to bring you over to the colony. It is common to expect to see some wild animals during this kind of adventure trip, however, what we got was way more than we were expecting!
Hundreds of seals were lying down on the islands and swimming in the water – an amazing view.
Boats were navigating between islands and sometimes seals came very close to our boat, just a few metres away from us. Apart from seals, there also were many seabirds all around. Seals did not look much bothered about our visit and all of us enjoyed the trip very much.
Boats were navigating between islands and sometimes seals came very close to our boat, just a few metres away from us. Apart from seals, there also were many seabirds all around. Seals did not look much bothered about our visit and all of us enjoyed the trip very much.
Visiting Skyeskins
After enjoying visiting seals, we continued our trip around the Isle of Skye. The next destination was a small village Waternish. There is located local business Skyeskins (address: 17 Lochbay, Waternish, Isle of Skye, IV55 8GD), which deals with processing sheep skin using old traditional methods.
We had a guided tour in a small skin processing workshop showing us the whole cycle of sheep skin processing. After the tour, we visited a factory shop where you can buy very nice sheep skins; all of them are of very high quality and we bought one which we are using up to now.
Scottish oysters
The village we stayed in is known for catching oysters. So, we had to taste them and bought a dozen in the local shop. As usual, we came to the point that ousters in every place are different. Those on Skye still are one of our favourites. And of course, the oysters you get must be fresh and locally produced.
Hiking on the Trotternish peninsula
After a few days on Skye, we had our last major event of going around the Isle of Skye – hiking on the Trotternish peninsula. Trotternish peninsula is in the north of Skye; it was about 120 kilometres away from the place we lived on Skye. On the way there, we passed the biggest town on the Isle of Skye Portree and visited Kilt Rock, which is another iconic place in Scotland.
Kilt Rock is basalt rock, and its name comes from its similarity to kilt. After visiting Kilt Rock, we continued our way to Rubha Hunish's walking paths to have a good hiking experience and to look at Duntulm Castle. Those are the ruins of Duntulm Castle located near the northern seashore of Skye.
It is hard or even impossible to describe the beauty and wilderness of the peninsula. This day was one of the most emotional days not only on Skye but during all our visits to different countries. What is most interesting here is that after four years we moved to Scotland which we were never expected before and even after this trip.