’26 Aug: Return To Skye And Edinburgh

Day 12 – Stornoway to Luskentyre to Portree

Mountains, Beaches and back to the Isle of Skye. It’s time for something a little more dramatic. It’s time to enter the region of Harris. Harris boasts the highest mountains in the Outer Hebrides and one of the most beautiful white-sandy beaches in Britain, Luskentyre. The area is also famous for Harris Tweed and myths that are as strange as they are poignant.
After a morning of exploring the dramatic landscapes, we stop for lunch. Depending on the weather, we may even go for a picnic on the beach – so don’t forget to pack your sunglasses. Our adventure continues on a ferry over the sea to Portree, the largest town in Skye and our base for the next two evenings.

Overnight – Skye

Lews Castle, where we visited the inside a couple days ago. “Built in the mid-1800s by Sir James Matheson using wealth from the Chinese opium trade, this Victorian Gothic Revival castle has quite a history. It has transitioned from a grand private estate to a naval hospital during WWII, a college, and now a museum and luxury accommodation venue.”

I didn’t take very many pictures of our numerious accommodation I guess maybe they weren’t particularly photogenic. This place had a not-very-good restaurant and not-very-good rooms, and the rooms were way too hot, But it’s all forgotten now.

More of these monuments that I talked about before.

We walked until we didn’t want to walk anymore.

Seven of us were together for our whole trip. The other eight changed twice, and we were perfectly happy with all of them. Wow, right.

A Harris Tweed Museum and store of course that was wildly popular with the gang.

We stopped off at a market, bought some snacks and sandwiches and had lunch at a stunning view, while sitting on a rock. Windy and I declined the opportunity to eat our lunch sitting on a rock and enjoy the cushy bus instead, and then went for a welcome walk.

St Clement’s Church (known in Scottish Gaelic as Tùr Chliamhainn), built in the late 15th or early 16th century for the Chiefs of the MacLeods of Harris, constructed from local Lewisian gneiss rock and widely praised as the grandest medieval building in the Western Isles.

The tower is closed but the main part of the church is nicely restored.

Beaches…

…and more gorgeous beaches.

Of course whisky is The Thing here in the Scottish Highlands but also here they make my new favorite gin!

I’d say don’t bother with the Tidal Strength. It tastes like some herbs soaked in rubbing alcohol.

Back on the ferry. I don’t remember hear one single complaint about all the ferry rides. Maybe because they are all in the program so we knew ahead of time, and also maybe because it was a nice chance to rest!

Day 13 – The Isle of Skye

Back on the Isle of Skye and today our driver-guide makes the most out of our time on this marvel-studded landscape. We may travel to the Quiraing mountain pass and enjoy a spectacular walk, venture to Kilt Rock and see a gigantic waterfall, or take a boat trip to the lesser-known Loch Coruisk.
After we’ve enjoyed the sights of Skye, we have our final evening in Portree. There are plenty of fabulous seafood restaurants to celebrate a fine day of exploring.

Overnight – Skye

This was the only place we saw Coos that were not just loose in a pasture. Well, these guys are loose in a pasture, just a smaller pasture than usual. At least they can escape up the hill when they’re tired of all the oooowing and awwwwing from the tourists.

Everybody was NUTS for a Baby Coo! It’s a Baayyby!! He was so surrounded this was the best I could do. People were so excited, jockeying for a position, sticking their cameras right up into his face. I photoshopped out the fence, arms, phones…

An entrance to the stunning Fairy Glen.

The sheep are mostly free range, gathered up once a year or so.

This is all about “turn right at the barking dog”.

We ate here twice, both times we were in Portree on the Isle of Skye.

As we travel through the countryside.

Many of our group made it to the top. We did not. “This is Neist Point, the most westerly headland on the island of Skye and is famous for its dramatic sea cliffs, panoramic ocean views, and the iconic Neist Point Lighthouse built in 1909. The black circle in the upper right marks the high clifftop viewpoint where visitors often stand to get a sweeping view of the entire promontory.”

I mentioned about the single track roads before – here’s a better view. Drivers did try to pull into the Passing Place if there was one on their side and they could see oncoming traffic. It seemed everyone agreed who should back up when there was a face-off. You could always identify a driver from a drive-on-the-right country because they would pull into the opposite Passing Place and send our drivers into a shiver.

Day 14 – Portree to Ben Nevis to Glencoe to Edinburgh.

Don’t be too sad that our trip is ending today, because there are a lot of amazing things to check out on the way back to Edinburgh. Once we’ve crossed the Skye Bridge, we get a chance to see Eilean Donan Castle. This classic combination of a sturdy-stone fortification perched upon a loch is about as Scottish a view as you can get. Just ensure you’ve got some room left on your camera to take photos. We then travel under Britain’s tallest mountain, Ben Nevis. The peak of this mountain is likely to be shrouded high in the clouds.

Our driver-guide may become a little emotional as we move through the valley of Glencoe. This marvelously mountainous area was the site of one
of the most tragic massacres in Scottish history. The story is as unforgettable as the landscape. he hilly views become flatter as we enter the Lowlands and travel to Edinburgh. We arrive in the early evening.

Let’s talk about midges again because when they are swarming, as they were here, it can be quite unbearable. Not that I wouldn’t have done exactly the same thing but I would have bought some very thin cool long pants and thin cool long sleeved shirt and a hat with netting. Really, no shorts and spaghetti strapped camis for me! You can follow along here for the Midge Alert. Everyone eventually made a dash for the bus and everyone on the bus was yelling Get In Shut the Door Shut the DOOR.

So many greens.

We never did see a deer. We stopped here for the second time because I thought it was fab, the Glencoe Visitors Centre. We often saw Glen Coe as often as Glencoe but I never learned the difference, and now I know – Glen Coe refers to the valley and Glencoe refers to the village. Nice. But I’ll tell ‘ya, it often seems random.

Probably due to the size of our vehicle and Keith’s penchant for surprise, we got to go to many places where we were the only tourists, like this place for example.

Mòran Taing Keith, it was grand.