Like Bonnie Price Charlie before us, we went off to the Isle of Skye. For us however, the journey was a lot quicker and easier. We left Edinburgh just after the non-existent morning peak period, drove over the Firth of Forth Bridge and made our way to Perth. After refueling the car and a quick look around, we headed off into Highland country.
The weather had started off overcast but deteriorated to rain as we skirted around the bottom of the Cairngorms. It improved a little as we pressed on through places with wonderful names such as Dalwhinnie, Kinlochlaggan, Spean Bridge and Dornie and eventually arrived at the Kyle of Lochalsh. Until 15 years ago, ferries were the only option to get to the Isle of Skye however the Skye Bridge at the Kyle changed that. We zipped over the bridge and headed a little way up the Isle to the village of Broadford where turned onto single track road to the Allt a' Choire B&B out at Old Corry. It was a lovely tranquil location as the B&B is surrounded by a working croft (farm) and well away from the nearest village and main road.
The rain had returned by the time we got to Broadford so after we had settled in, we went for a drive to see a couple of nearby hamlets. Here we discovered that only the main north-south roads on Skye were two-lane and everything else was single track. We went first to Heast and then to Elgol, both on the west coast. The scenery was amazing when I had time to look - when you are driving on single tracks, you need to keep a keen eye out for the edge of the road, on-coming cars, sheep and mountain cattle. It had stopped raining when we were out at the coast and was pouring again when we got back to the Broadford Hotel for dinner (if it had actually stopped...)
You have to keep watching for oncoming traffic
The village of Elgol
Looking out over Loch Scavaig to the Isle of Soay and beyond to the Cuillin Hills on Skye
I had to learn all the verses of the Skye Boat Song from memory in Primary School, so yep I know that much about Flora!
ReplyDeleteSpeed bonnie boat like a bird on the wing
'Onward' the sailors cry
Carry the lad that born to king
over the sea to Skye.....
I won't keep singing ...but now you've reminded me about it, that song is stuck in my head!
Glad you're seeing so much and having a great time. (I'm still humming that song!)