An Overnight Trip to the Isle of Skye

Steve took a couple of days off when I returned from my three weeks in The States. We used the extra time to take an overnight trip to the Isle of Skye. Skye has been on my bucket list for awhile, so I was quite excited to finally get there. The weather forecast called for rain for the entire trip. Luckily, the forecast was wrong (as it so often is around here) and the rain never interfered with our activities.

Our route took us by Loch Carron. You can't tell from these photos, but Loch Carron is a sea loch. I want to say it dumps into the Atlantic Ocean, but I am unsure if the span of water between the Isle of Skye and the Scottish mainland has its own name.

This is the tiny village of North Strome on the other side of the loch.

I think the sepia filter gives this view of Loch Carron an interesting quality.

A zoomed-in view of North Strome on the other side of the loch. The large building in the foreground is Strome Castle (I think).

I didn't know it at the time, but this is a photo of the Isle of Skye. I only snapped it because of the cloud that is sitting on it.

Further up the road, there was a viewpoint with another info sign. This is Loch Alsh and another view of the Isle of Skye. Loch Alsh, like Loch Carron, is a sea loch.

Here's a view looking up Loch Alsh toward the Skye Bridge. You can just make it out on the right side in the distance.

Looking the other way down the loch, with Steve in the frame.

We had booked a room at the Cuillin Hills Hotel in Portree. I highly recommend this hotel. Everyone was incredibly friendly. The room was spacious and very nicely appointed. When we return to Skye, we will definitely book here again.

Portree boasts a small harbor with brightly colored buildings and a slew of boats. This isn't a very good photo of it, but I never got a chance to get closer.

We only had about three hours before the sun set, so we took a drive around the northern part of the island.

It looks like we ended up on a different planet, doesn't it? This is the Quiraing, an area of unusual land formations in the Trotternish landslip. A landslip is a landslide. This one is about nineteen miles long.

This is Mealt Falls, and the cliffs in the background are Kilt Rock.

The wind was howling that day,. Gale-force winds seem to be a theme on our adventures. The metal balustrades were singing in the wind. It created an almost ethereal soundtrack. Steve shot a video, but you can barely hear the song because of the wind battering the microphone.

I liked the look of this lone red bench at the viewpoint.

Back in Portree and the view from our hotel window. The next few photos were taken from the hotel's front garden.

Portree had a map of the town posted on a large sign. The cartographer had a sense of humor as evidenced by the "Monkey Puzzle Poodle Palm" notation.

Here is the aforementioned Monkey Puzzle Poodle Palm. Monkey puzzle trees are quite common here in Scotland (and throughout Britain, for that matter) despite heralding from Argentina and Chile. It's a conifer with very sharp leaves and normally looks like a Christmas tree. But here in Portree, they got a bit creative.

Here's a view of the harbor from the hotel.

We took a different route home through some more of Scotland's spectacular landscape.

Baaaa

A perfect spot for a picnic table.

It looks like a volcano to me.

A double rainbow

The iconic Eilean Donan Castle. Eilean is Scot Gaelic for island. It is named for Donnán of Eigg, a 7th Century martyred saint. We did not take a tour of the castle this time.

We made a lot of stops on the way home so I could snap photographs. Steve has the patience of a saint.

Steve pulled over to take a phone call and I took the opportunity to jump out and take some photos. Here is an old abandoned church with the graveyard still intact.

It wasn't dark yet when I snapped this. The sun was very bright and turned the mountains into silhouettes. That combined with the dark clouds created an interesting photo.

We were baffled by the obvious change in water level in this loch. If you look at the bank, you can see the original water line above the beach. The whole loch was like this and we couldn't understand what would cause such a drastic change. I wasn't able to get a photo, but we came upon a hydroelectric facility and dam further up the road. So we assume they are responsible.

There remains so much we haven't seen on the Isle of Skye. We called this a reconnaissance trip just to get the lay of the land, as it were. And I definitely want to revisit Glen Shiel. We drove through it on the way home (most of the photos of the return trip were taken there). Scotland never fails to impress.