On my way to the Isle of Skye

[Lonewolf]

Early doors tomorrow, probably about 6ish I'm off to the Isle of Skye for a week with Mrs Wolf and the two young wolf's. (My dogs). The weather doesn't look great but at least I wont be camping this time!! :)
We've got WiFi up there so I'll still be able to log on and I'll probably post a few pics at the same time. I'm hoping to pay a visit to John O'Groats while I'm so far up North but it'll still be a 400 mile round trip.
If anyone has any suggestions re whats worth a visit, feel free to post and point me in the right direction.

[Therenback]

Fort William is worth a few pics great views.

[Lonewolf]

Yep, Fort William is a decent place, I went there in June when I was up in Scotland on the bike. Definately worth another visit though.

[Rusty]

You lucky chap Mr Wolf .... I love Scotland .... enjoy all of it !!!

[Therenback]

Hope wolfpack has safe an chilled trip. Look forward to the snaps. We did visit to channel islands recently must learn how put pics up. Do most chat on forum through phone thing

[Lonewolf]

A very belated update, two days of the holiday left, so far touch wood we have only had one poor day weather wise. Done plenty of day trips, been all the way around the island which took two days. I'm not sure whether I pity or envy the locals, bit of both I suppose but I do think kids growing up here must lead a very sheltered and niave existence.
Plenty of photos taken so far, still experimenting with the new digi camera but getting there slowly. I'll post some pics probably this Sunday.

Update to follow shortly.  8)

[Lonewolf]

 We just returned from the Isle of Skye yesterday after a wet and windy journey home lasting some nine hours plus. The total mileage for the week was 1350 which consisted of travelling to and from the Isle of Skye and then exploring the place and some of the immediate areas on the mainland. Unfortunately we never got to John O' Groats which is what we had initially intended to do as we thought it was too far to go and instead concentrated on areas closer to the holiday home we were at. The location on Skye where we stayed was called Saasaig which is off the A851 on the Southern side of the island. Not a lot there in reality, just moorland and the odd property scattered every few hundred metres if you were lucky. Where we stayed was right down on the shore.





Some breathtaking views from the garden over the water.






We had hoped to get a stunning sunset but alas it was not to be. Likewise we had hoped to see some sealife, seals, otters etc all of which are apparently residing in the water, but again they were keeping their heads down if indeed they were there. We did however see some magnificent birds of prey, not quite of the eagle status but big nevertheless.

On one of our daily trips we explored Portree which was a pleasant location but far busier than where we were staying. In some respects it reminded me of some of the more remote fishing villages of Cornwall with their quiet little coves and multi coloured houses on the sea front.






Heading further out of Portree you could witness the idyllic lifestyle of those who were fortunate to have a small craft soaking up the rays of the sun.




As we headed further north up the east side of the Island you occasionally saw the odd relic abandoned at the roadside.....




And the views out to sea were stunning. Beautifully clear skies and water to match.






One brief photo of me lounging around.




Up near the top of the Island the Flora Macdonald Museum stands for all us historians on here.












It wasn't until I'd taken the photos that I saw a sign in one of the building saying No Photography. Oops! Easy mistake to make I suppose. It must have been an extremely hard life for residents on the Island in the old days, in fact I believe it still is today. There can't be a great deal for kids to do and they must grow up living quite a sheltered life, but on the other hand, is that a bad thing?



Having a bit of Scottish blood in me and living up in Scotland for a while when I was younger I like to visit distillery's and the Tallisker Distellery is no exception. Every twenty minutes they have tours, but if like me you want to cut out the middle man you can go straight into the shop and buy some of their wares. The most expensive bottle of whiskey I saw in the shop was £230. Well out of my league although I did buy a couple of bottles of slightly cheaper samples.




One short trip which I definitely wanted to do was a short ferry trip from Kyle Rhea on Skye to Glenelg. The trip only takes about five minutes but it's an experience in itself. The ferry is an old turntable affair which takes about four cars maximum and is restricted to twelve passengers. The route down to the ferry on Kyle Rhea is about seven miles from the main road all on single tracks.

Stunning views down the hills and into the valley's.  Heather everywhere you look and even a small lighthouse down at the water's edge.


















Right over on the west side of the island is a place called Waterstein where you will find Neist Point lighthouse.  It takes some getting to does the lighthouse because apparently it was built right on the cliffs.....but from the car park you can walk the mile plus and visit the lighthouse which to this day is still used and parts of it can be rented out as a holiday home.

This is part of the route to the lighthouse.


















I personally wouldn't fancy lugging my bags all that way but if you fancy you can risk putting your luggage in an old cable lift made from a rotten wooden crate with rusty unpredictable fixings.








Er, no thanks!!



After one particular evening of extremely heavy rainfall the rivers were overflowing virtually. And all this excessive rain caused numerous small falls of water down the hillsides.








We had a trip over to Applecross Pass which we did in both directions, in the space of less than an hour the route changed from fog to Sun and it was quite a pleasant drive. Many people harp on about Applecross but I didn't think it was actually as good as Hardknott Pass up in The Lakes. Nevertheless it's a challenging route with some tight hairpin bends in places.








I wasn't convinced a coach should have been using the route.....







Back on Skye and their way of life you have all sorts of things to contend with on the road, cows sheep and more cows with rather severe looking horns!








Last but not least, on the day I saw the GTR travelling over the Skye Bridge towards the mainland I discovered a group of bikers who had all travelled up from Dumfries in the pouring rain and who had camped out on the grass in front of a building which looked like a community centre or something similar. They were all complaining about the weather but some had found their own way of dealing with the boredom.











The Skye Bridge.



So that's it. A great little trip and for those who have never ventured this far north before and enjoy exploring you could do a damn site worse than giving Skye an opportunity to impress you.

[Rusty]

Great stuff Mr Wolf ... I love the pictures that show bright clear skies and then when the clouds come down its just so different ! And those bikers .... they were looking a little damp !
The Nikon camera was clearly a winner... lovely depth and colours all in together. I shall definately have to get there one day.
Very nice mate, well done.  ;D

[2kwacks]

well mr wolf excellent pics again! have got a decent camara, but unfortunately I lack imagination. but that would be down to the places I visit, must try to venture further in the very near future, like the alps again ;D