Under Mixed Skys We Say Farewell To Skye

It was a cool and overcast morning when we packed the car and left our B&B. As we only had a couple of hours drive to our next B&B in Fort William, the plan was to spend most of the day on Skye so we headed off north again to Dunvegan Castle. When we got there it was rather cold, windy and raining so we went for a drive to visit the villages of Stein, Trumpan and Geary. One of the odd things we found was the the local primary school. Instead of being in one of the villages, it was located all by itself in the middle of nowhere. 

The village of Stein

The weather improved considerably while we were wandering around rural Skye so we headed off to Dunvegan Castle, the ancestral home of the MacLeod clan. It was an interesting place to visit with some very historic gardens adjoining the ancient castle. Unfortunately for us, we were a little early for the gardens to be at their best but they were clearly going to be beautiful in a few weeks. Among the relics in the castle is the Fairy Flag - a flag of legend that has been in the MacLeod family for probably a 1000 years. 

 

Dunvegan Castle

 

The Round garden at Dunvegan Castle

With the castle explored, it was time to head south to leave Skye. On the way, we dropped in briefly to the Talisker Distillery in Carbost. I would have liked to take a tour but is was quite a while to the next one and time was getting on. Not that it really mattered, there are plenty more distilleries in Scotland. To leave the Isle, we had decided to go by ferry - but not the one that plies between Armadale and Mallaig. We used the Glenelg - Skye Ferry, the last manually operated turntable ferry in Scotland. To get to the ferry, we had to drive along yet another single track to Kylerhea. This was an incredible little road that would be a candidate for Topgear's Best Driving Road in the World if it wasn't gravel and so narrow.

 The road down to Kylerhea
 

The ferry itself is a bit weird as the vehicle deck sits on a turntable. The ferry ties up beside the dock and the turntable is swung to the side so the cars can drive off and on. When loading is complete, the turntable is swung so the cars face forward for the journey and the ferry sets off. On reaching the other side, the turntable is again swung to the side so the cars can be driven off. After another mountains drive, we made it back onto the main road to Fort William and the Carna B&B which will be home for the next three nights.

Unloading the turntable ferry at Kylerhea

The Isle of Skye was a wonderful place to visit and it was a bit of a pity that because of the way we had changed our plans, we could not work another day there.