Scottish Highlands, Isle of Skye.  (May, 2022).

We left Inverness early in the morning to drive over to the Isle of Skye for two days.  It was heavily overcast with light rain or mist most of the way, so we did not get any nice views of the famous Loch Ness. 

Stephanie spent the whole morning with a death grip on the steering wheel.

Along the way we made a quick stop at Eilean Donan Castle, located on a tiny island (the island of Donan) at the intersection of Loch Duich, Loch Long, and Loch Alsh, near Kyle of Lochalsh, Scotland.  It is a very famous and recognizable castle, mostly from photographs of its exterior.

The castle and parking lot are right on the main road to the Isle of Skye, making this a popular tourist stop.  Tickets are £10 each (a bit pricey for what you get), sold at an automated kiosk.  The castle is small and the self-guided tour fairly short.  From the time you walk across the bridge to the castle, it does not take more than about thirty minutes to see everything.

The café was inexplicably closed at the time of our visit, so we saved some money there.

For the most part our travels through the Scottish Highlands, and the Isle of Skye in particular, reminded us of southern Alaska in the summer.  Lot of green mountains (though obviously smaller in size), rivers, streams, waterfalls, clouds, rain, mist, and wind.  

I thought the weather changed quickly in Edinburgh.  Wrong.  The weather changes constantly on the Isle of Skye, so much so that we gave up checking weather forecast.  It was worthless.  We just wore our raincoats everywhere.

Dunvegan Castle was our first destination on the Isle of Skye.  This is the ancestral home of Clan MacLeod.  As with the other castles we visited, there is a self-guided tour of portions of the interior, outside gardens, a small gift shop, and café.  Tickets cost £10 at the gate. 

The castle tour was good, but too short.  I wish more rooms had been accessible.  The gardens were notable for several streams and waterfalls.

Per Google Maps there is a great view of Dunvegan Castle from just north of the property, along the coast.  We arrived shortly before the 10:00 AM opening, and decided to drive to the viewpoint first.  Before we realized it, the two lane road was one lane going through the woods.

I mentioned to Stephanie that some of the roads on Isle of Skye are one lane with designated passing areas.  Basically approaching cars have to figure out who is going to pull over and where.  To avoid additional stress on Stephanie while driving, we agreed to avoid one lane roads.  The only problem is that Google Maps does not tell us which roads are one lane.

While Stephanie was busy cussing about driving on a one lane road, we realized that passing areas are frequent (every 30 to 40 yards or so) and that most drivers are eager to pull over.  Fortunately the Dunvegan Castle viewpoint was not far down the road, less than a quarter of a mile.  We made the short round trip without incident.

After lunch at Café Arriba in Portree we decided on an afternoon sightseeing drive.  We took A87 north to Uig and from there followed A855 around the northern coast of the Trotternish Penninsula back to Portree. 

In Uig we stopped and walked a wooded trail along the coast to the River Conan.  After stretching our legs for about 30 minutes we hopped in the car and headed to A855, the road which goes up to a plateau and overlooks the coast.

The halfway point of the drive from Uig to Portree is the town of Staffin, about 17 miles from Uig.  This happens to be the section of A855 that is one lane wide. 

After more cussing, Stephanie settled down and realized that driving on a one lane road isn’t so bad.  There are frequent passing areas and driving slowly is accepted.  You essentially have the road to yourself except when passing another vehicle, or stopping for sheep crossing the road. 

We probably passed a couple of vehicles every mile or so, mostly small camper vans.  Those things are very common in the Highlands.  The road was most crowded near Castle Duntulm, a popular tourist destination at the northern end of the peninsula.

It was a perfect day for a drive as we had beautiful blue skies.  With slow driving and occasional stops, it took us well over an hour to drive the 17 miles from Uig to Staffin.

Staffin back to Portree is another 17 miles, but at this point A855 opens back up to a two lane road.  For us this also coincided with the end of perfect weather.  Goodbye blue skies, hello wind and rain.  Our road trip around the coast was cut short as any interest in stopping was gone.  We bypassed the popular sights south of Staffin and hightailed it back to Portree.  

Time and weather (and not having boots) kept us from going on any of the spectacular hikes on the Isle of Skye.  It was really wet and muddy.  But rain and mud does not stop locals from hiking.  Parking lots at the trailheads were packed.

We had dinner twice at Antlers Tea Room and Restaurant for the simple reason that this was the only place in town we could get a reservation.  Without a reservation you are limited to only a few places to eat and will be waiting a long time for a table.

Antlers, and the adjacent West Highlands Bar, are notable for the glasshouse tables set up outside in the street.  Basically these are mini-greenhouses containing a table for four with fans and electric heaters to adjust the temperature.  These outdoor spots are a perfect place to have a few drinks. 

At the bar mention that you will be going outside and your drinks will be poured into a plastic cup instead of a glass mug.  Stephanie bought a couple of beers at the bar and, after paying, said to a couple of locals: “Y’all have a good night.”  They got a huge kick out of “y’all” and were still repeating it to each other minutes later.

I should mention that the food at Antlers was really good, too.

After two nights in Portree it was back to Edinburgh to drop off the Hyundai Tucson and catch our next flight.

Rather than pay £2.50 each to ride a shuttle bus for less than half a mile from the rental car park to Holiday Inn Express, we walked.  What a great call.  While walking Stephanie found my birthday present – literally on the side of the road.  A Tennant’s pint glass, just like those used in all the bars and restaurants in Scotland.

Previously I mentioned to Stephanie that if I saw a Tennant’s pint glass for sale I’d probably buy one.  I never imagined being handed a dirt and grass encrusted pint glass (it cleaned up nicely) on the side of the road near the airport.  And I have just enough spare room in my suitcase to get it home.

Our two week stay in Scotland is over, and we are headed to Austria for the summer.

Garrett and Stephanie

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