Wigtwizzle - Norman Smith's Travel Blog.

Skye to Gairloch

Highlands holiday - Day 5.

Today I moved on from Skye to Gailoch, it can be the most beautiful drive. Down through Skye and then over the bridge. Up past Loch Carron and over the 2400 ft Beallach na Ba pass and into Applecross, followed by a coastal adventure to Torridon, then finally up past Loch Maree to Gairloch........
.......buy today was the worst day of the holiday, it threw it down non-stop so I stuck to the A roads all the way.

I made a short detour down Torridon in the hope that the weather would break....it didn't.

Loch Clare, Torridon

Laithach, Torridon

River at Annat, Torridon

River at Annat, Torridon.

Duirinish Peninsula and Neist Point

Highland holiday - Day four.

Day four and still no improvement with the weather.

Portree from the hotel.

I decided to head across to Neist Point which is the most westerly point on the island in the hope that with it being as far from the hills as it was possible to be, there was a better chance of some dry weather.

The River Sligachan was in spate as I drove past in driving rain. I followed yesterday's route up towards Dunvegan but turned off to go up the other side of Loch Dunvegan to an area of many small Lochans and crofting settlements. The scenery wasn't dramatic or breathtaking but it was a very pleasant area and made Skye live up to it's name of The Misty Isle. It had stopped raining, the roads were very quiet so it was a very pleasant drive up to Neist Point.

Neist Point

It's a fabulous place to be and makes you think that you are stood on the edge of the world. There are cliffs on both sides and to the south is the impressive Waterstein Point. It was getting quite misty and the cloud seemed to be heading in so I got the camera out and quickly took a couple of photos looking down on Neist Point and one looking across the bay towards Waterstein Head. I wanted to walk along the cliffs to get a photo of the Point with it's lighthouse but the cloud caught up with me and just about blocked everything out.

Waterstein Head in cloud

It's times like this when you turn to either alcohol or chocolate but unfortunately I had neither so I had to settle for a ham salad sandwich and almond slice from the bakers in Portree.Very nice indeed. I headed back inland and and found myself at a small fishing settlement called Husabost which overlooked Loch Dunvagen with Waternish beyond. There was three massive waterfalls streaming over the cliff tops across the sound but they were much too far away to get decent photographs. It also occured to me that I was problably looking across to the Dunvagan Invisible Seal Colony!

Husabost, Duirinish

Waternish from Husabost, Duirinish

Husabost, Duirinish

I followed the same route back to the Sligachan Bridge and took a couple of shots of the fast flowing river between further showers, one being so bad that I had to take refuge in Seumus's Bar at the Sligachan Hotel.

Good old Seumus :)

River Sligachan

Driving in the rain again had been a bit of a pain but I had really enjoyed my time on the Duirinish Peninsula. It was something new for me and Neist Point is nothing but spectacular. Another good day.

Waternish, Uig and Trotternish

Highlands holiday - Day three

The year before last when I was on Skye I visited the Waternish peninsula in driving rain as it was famous for it's whale sightings and being ever the optimist, I decided I would have another go today but unfortunately I fared no better with the weather. I should imagine it's a bleak and unforgivingn peninsula at the best of times so having a bit of rain thrown into the mix didn't really seem to matter.

Trumpan Church, Waternish

I drove as far as the road goes to the ruined church at Trumpan (that's Trumpan and not Trumpton!) and took my life in my hands by getting out of the car to have a look at the ruins. There is nothing between this place and the Iceland on one side and Scandinavia on the other and it certainly showed with the icy cold wind and driving rain. I could hardly see the headlands never mind any whales so after taking a couple of photos I beat a hasty retreat and headed off to Dunvegan, the ancestral home of the MacLeods. Apart from the Castle and a run down harbour, the place doesn't have much going for it so I followed the B road which runs along side Loch Dunvegan as far north as it went with the promise of a seal colony and coral beaches.

Start of the seal colony walk

As it had stopped raining, I parked the car up and put on my waterproof coat and woolly hat and then set off in pursuit of these infamous seals and coral beaches. Well, the wind got up, it started to rain stair rods again and no matter which way I turned the rain seemed to be driving straight into my face. I carried on as far as a stream which was in spate. I think I walked across a coral beach but can't really be sure and came across the largest colony of invisible seals you could ever imagine but having said all that, I did really enjoy the walk and it certainly blew the cobwebs off of me. Thankfully I had a spare pair of trousers in the car as my jeans were sodden and stuck to me.

An Dubh-Aird, Loch Dunvegan

Nosey wet coo

Dunvegan harbour

Scotch mist

Unperturbed by the drenching, I headed to Uig and paid a visit to the Isle of Skye Brewery shop. I am now in possession of an Isle of Skye Brewery beer glass, a coffee mug, a key ring and a fridge magnet although the bottles of Hebridean Gold having have long since disappeared!

Uig Bay

It stopped raining and the sun came out as I followed the coast road around the top of the Isle and excitement grew as I contemplated driving up to the Quairang and getting some good photos. However the sun might have been shining in Staffin at the foot of the Quairang but 3 miles away at the top it was cold wet and windy. I managed to get a couple of shots in a break in the weather but they were nothing special.

Trotternish

Road to Trotternish

Waterfall at Kilt Rock

Skye Coastline

Rainbow, Sound of Raasay

I returned to Portree with my tail between my legs and made for the Isles pub to drown my sorrows. A couple of pints later and the world looked rosry again. Looking back though it hadn't been a bad day and I always manage to make something happen no matter how bad the weather.

Over the sea to Skye

Highlands Holiday - Day two

Day two and at least the rain had stopped. I could actually see the top of Ben Nevis and I even kept catching fleeting glimpses of the sun trying to break through the clouds. Things were looking up!

I'd had a long drive up the previous day so I opted to get across to Skye via the Mallaig-Armadale ferry. Not only was it quicker and would get me on to Skye sooner but it gave me the chance to visit Glenfinnan, Arisaig and the Sands of Morar in the process. The weather still wasn't fit for photography but it's still a beautiful drive in any conditions.

Nearing Mallaig I put a post on Facebook saying that I could see the Isle of Skye and that this was a positive thing but within minutes the island was devoured under a carpet of dark stormy skies and the rain reared it's ugly head again.

Mallaig Harbour

Ferry crossing.

Armadale

The showers remained for most of the day but I still managed to take some photographs on my travels. A few miles after getting off the ferry there is a fabulous "loop" you can drive round which takes in a lot of the Sleat peninsula. Even in dull weather it was beautiful but once the clouds lift you apparently get great views of the Cuillins. I shall return in fine bright weather!

Tarskavaig

Tarskavaig (Tarsgabhaig in Scottish Gaelic) is a crofting village on the West coast of Sleat on the Isle of Skye. It sits in a glen which meets Tarskavaig Bay and lies opposite the Isles of Eigg, Rum and Canna.
It is often said that Tarskavaig has the best view of the Cuillin in Skye. The name of the village reflects the long and mixed history of the village, being an old Norse name, Torsk Vig, which translates as "Cod Bay" in English

On the way up to Portree I stopped at Sligachan to take a couple of photos and just for a micro-second, the sun burst through the clouds but it soon disappeared and was replaced with an almighty shower.

Sligachan Bridge

Sgurr Alistair in the clouds.

Sligachan Bridge

Thinking that the highlights of my day were now over I headed off to Portree, booked in to my hotel and had a walk around the town. A pipers band provided the Friday night entertainment by playing down in the harbour which created a very nice atmosphere and was most enjoyable.

Pipers on Portree Harbour

Portree

Funky Yacht

Out of the blue, the clouds started to break and the sun came out to play. As I had waited two days for this to happen I decided to make the most of it and had a drive up the Staffin to the Old Man of Storr and then carried on to a fabulous viewpoint which overlooks the Sound of Raasay and gives great views across to Wester Ross and down to the Cuillin Hills.

Portree Harbour

Storr and Loch Leathan

Old Man of Storr

Loch Fada

Sound of Raasay and distant Cuillins

Sound of Raasay

It's amazing but moments like this made me forget all about the many dreary miserable wet hours of the previous two days and I stayed out until the sun had gone down. It was then back to Portree for a couple of beers in the Isles pub and then back to the hotel for a wifi chinwag with Sal.

A damp start.

Highlands Holiday - Day one.

From the moment I left Cumbria to nearing Fort William on the A82 it rained! The M8 through Glasgow is dire in any conditions but add a downpour into the equation and it becomes downright dangerous and so it was with a sigh of relief that I crossed the Erskine Bridge and headed towards Loch Lomond.

I called in at the Loch Lomond Shores complex basically just to break my journey up. Now here is a store/complex that knows how to rip tourists off yet still coach loads turn up. I should imagine very few people actually buy anything though. Give me a good old tat shop any day.

Loch Lomond

The view up the Loch was non-existent except for a few old pier post sticking up from the water and the hazy trees on the shoreline but this scene was to be my first shoot of the holiday and one which I really like. The only problem was that I had left my camera in the car so I had to trundle off to get it and on my return, found the weather was even more murkier or as us photographers say, more atmospheric.Getting quite excited at the "frame" I had in my minds-eye, I set up my shot and was clicking away when as if by chance a guillemot landed on one of the posts and spread it's wings out to dry. Mission accomplished, at least I had one good shot from a thoroughly dismal day.

Buoyed up by this I drove round to Arrochar on Loch Long and got a similar type of shot from there, maybe today wasn't going to be such a washout after all.

Loch Lomond

My next port of call was the Falls of Falloch which was quite impressive after all the recent rain. It wasn't a really pleasant experience though, the short walk through the woods wet me through and it was hard keeping the rain off of the camera but I took a few shots just for my own record.

The Falls of Falloch

Glen Nevis

Then it was up and over a miserable Rannoch Moor, this must have been the first time that I have ever just driven across it but the weather was so bad that it seemed pointless to stop and the same went for Glencoe as well. I just pulled into the lay-by and took a quick photo.

Glen Nevis

As I drove along the shores of Loch Linnhe, I decided to put my contingency plan into place due to the bad weather so when I reached Fort William and had booked into my B&B, it was straight along to the Grog and Gruel for a couple of real pints of ale to drown my sorrows and take stock.

The Grog and Gruel