AN T-EILEAN SGITHANACH
(The Isle of Skye)Page 4 of 4
Continuing from page 2 at Sligachan, but taking the direct route via Glen Varragil into Portree.
Glen Varragil between Sligachan and PortreePORTREE: (Portrigh = The Kings Port), is the largest population on Skye. It has a pleasant setting with a reasonable harbour. There are numerous shops, which shut all day on Sundays. You will get petrol OK and the Portree and the Royal Hotels are open for food and drinks.
There are two or three cafes and a decent sized garage for repairs, (also at Broadford and Uig). The Portree filling station is on the southern outskirts.
The information office occupies the site of the old jail. The main part of interest is the Sky Woollen Mill just along to the left on the Uig road (A850) past a garage on the right and just before the junction of the scenic route too and from Bracadale. You will be made welcome and there is a sale of goods and of oddments of wool realms.
The town center has an interesting mixture of shops as well as modern supermarkets.
The harbour lies below the town in a sheltered bay. The loch is surrounded with high mountains with the narrow opening also sheltered by the Island of Raasay, which is about a mile outside. The pier can be busy with all sorts of fishing and sailing crafts and can be very colourful, particularly in the evening when the waters are like a millpond and the soft light makes everything sparkle. As well as the ferry, which plies too and from Kyle of Lochalsh there are some local trips around the harbour and coastline.
Portree High School is a large white building just at the road junction for Uig.
Portree town centre and Market Cross
Portree Harbour. Ther Ilse of Duncann in the background calms the sea on the appraoch to the harbour
A Greek Cruising Ship anchors outside the Harbour and a launch brings tourists into Portree
Portree Loch and Harbour in evening light.
Bright evening sunlight through dark clouds
Low evening light over the harbour
Low evening light over the harbour
Portree Harbour after midnight. Time Exposures. Camera on tripod
High Street and the Portree Hotel after midnight. Time exposures. Camera on tripodPORTREE TO BROADFORD
The road south (A850) runs through Glen Varragill to Sligachan and returns to Broadford and Kyleakin. However a very pleasant diversion is to Braes. The road (B893) is marked just a mile or so south of the Filling Station. The road Climbs just after a bridge. At the top. Look back; there is a waterfall high up on Ben a' Greine (The sunny mountain, 1367'). Look directly in the direction where the main road meets the Braes road junction.
Portree and the Quaraing seen from the Braes RoadThe main peak, on your left and looking towards Portree, and the coastline, is Ben Tianavaig. Pronounced Chee-an-eh-vick. It is a huge craggy rock that drops sharply into Portree loch.
There are nice mountain and coastal scenes all the way to the terminal point at Peinchorran. There is Caravan camping at Camastianavaig. Cam means Steep or steps. The road is single- track with passing places but is also nicely wooded here and there with the road twisting, rising and falling throughout.
Braes: Well known in the history of Skye for an incident over Crofting Rights, at Camastianavaig, in 1882. The village folk stood against the police who were sent from Glasgow. There was a bloody battle between the locals and the police. Mostly the women made the attack and many were seriously injured. However the final outcome was a success as it culminated in the Crofter's Act of 1886. It is also claimed that the battle of 'Braes' was, in fact, the final battle on U.K. soil and not the battle of Culloden.
At the road end walk to the shore and you are looking immediately across Loch Sligachan to Sconser and the pier with the ferry to Raasay. This immediate area has excellent mountain views. To get to that point from Braes via the main road is about 22 miles.
On the way to Broadford it is nice to take the original road from Sconser. There is a quarry just off the road and the road curves around the headland with pleasant sea views to Raasay, Scalpay and the mainland at Applecross.
Between Portree and SligachanWhen you curve back towards the new road there is a grand view of the Falls of Ainort. The falls are at the side of the main road. You are not allowed to stop but there is a layby at the top of the climb, on the new road. Walk back to the falls taking care of the fast moving traffic. There is also a very fine view from the layby.
On the Broadford-Sligachan road with the Ainort Falls in the distance
The Falls of Ainort
The view to the south from Ainort FallsSouth on the main road and you pass Luib where a small ferry plies too and from Rassay, then down the coast to Broadford.
The Luib-Rassay Ferry, with the area of Braes in the backgroundBROADFORD TO ARMADALE (Sound of Slate)
Just south of Broadford the road splits for the A851 to Armadale in the Sleat (Slate) Peninsula, which is known as the Garden of Skye and where you catch the ferry to Mallaig, on the mainland.
This is a very worthwhile trip. The scene varying from bare to colourful. You are in the open one moment and then you are passing wooded areas with nice trees and colours from berries, when in the season. Watch out for the lonely telephone box (red) by the roadside, near Kinloch.
The lonely phonebox on the road Jct. to OrdIsle Ornsay: is an island only when the tide is out. There isn't much there but the hotel is very nice and there is a gift shop selling local antiquities.
Isle Orosay only becomes an Island when the tide in the Sound Of Sleat goes outBack to the main road. Just beyond, a circular scenic road goes over to Ord and Tarskavaig with grand sea views across lochs Eishort and Slapin to Elgol and the Cuillins. There is a black sand beach at Tarskavaig. The road is mostly very narrow and steep in places but is nicely wooded.
Half way on from Tarskavaig to the main road you will pass a dark Loch, which was known for its Each-Uisge or Water Horse (a Serpent). Also at Ord, in the garden, of Ord House, there is a skeleton of a large fish-like creature. You will have to make up your own mind whether this is really an Each-Uisge! (ech-oosh- keh).
'Bo' Cattle on Taskavaig beach
The old Smithy at Ord House and Ord House Garden
Entrance to Ord House
Remains of 'supposed' Each Uisge (Water Horse) at Ord. Make your own mind up!
The Cuillins seen from the beach at Tarskavaig and Loch SlapinBack on the main road turn right for Armadale Castle, (private) and Ostaig Gaelic School, a large, barn type, building. It is open to the public with restaurant and shop.
On this length of the road, as you first view Ardvassar pier, in the distance, there are beautiful stretches covered in a blaze of purple from the wild Fusia`s by the road side, again when in season.
Mallaig seen across the Sound Of Sleat, near Ardvassar
Memorial to the two World Wars. Near Advassar
with Mallaig in the background
The coastal road approaching Ardvassar and the ferry to Mallaig
The Ferry departs Ardvassar Peir for MallaigThere is a general store and gift shop by the pier at Ardvassar. The road then continues 3-4 miles and terminates at the head of the Sound of Slate. You need to walk a little way for the sea views across to the 'Cocktail' islands of Eigg, Muck and Canna.
On a clear day the village of Mallaig stands out clearly, 4-5 mile across the sound. You can make out buildings and vehicles with your binoculars.
At Ord are the ruins of Dun Scaith Castle on Knock Bay. After Duntulm Castle this was the next most important fort on the island. The castle ruins are interesting as you can still see the archway on the eastend. The walk to the castle can be slow, slippery and smelly, as with the tide out thousands of Jelly Fish lie deserted until the next tide and many have died and are rotting away.
The ruins of Dun ScaithA war memorial stands just off the road (coast side) with grand views over the sound to the mainland at Mallaig.
If you are not crossing to Mallaig you must return by road to Broadford and Kyleakin and the ferry to Kyle of Lochalsh, or.... I mentioned the Brochs at Glen Elg. I left this because to make a good day trip this is best done on a circular tour starting from Skye or Kyle of Lochalsh.
BROADFORD TO GLENELG & LOCH HOURNE (Mainland)
(Kylerea Ferry)Back towards Broadford and the A850 and A851 junction. You pass the unusually named village (for Skye) of Waterloo. So named because many war-wounded Skye Soldiers from the battle were nursed at the hospital here. In proportion to the island's population Skye sent an extremely large number of local soldiers to the battle, compared to mainland counties.
Southwards to Kyleakin: On the way you come to the airport. At Drochaid Lusa (Lusa Bridge) and to the right is the road to Kylerhea over Glen Arroch. This road starts off sparse but after 2-3-miles it starts to twist and curve to the summit of the road, which I can only describe as, 'grand'. The road suddenly drops (single track). Watch out, all the way, for blind bends and tight curves. The view across Kylerhea (King's Narrow) and Glen Elg Bay to the Kintail Mountains is breathtaking and possibly the finest on Skye. The road is protected with steel guards on the seaward side, and there is very restricted space for stopping to take in this view. Motorcyclists should take extra care as in places there is a ridge of grass in the middle of the roadway.
The road continues falling and dramatically hugging the edge of the mountain at 1 in 7, 1 in 4 and 1 in 3 gradients and suddenly stops at the water edge of the pier. A small ferry (4-6 cars) plies too and from Glen Elg pier. The boat trip itself is exhilarating as the narrow water is the meeting of two seas and there is always a tide one way or the other. The little ferry struggles up stream, first beyond the Glen Elg pier, shuts off power and then drifts with the flow back towards the small pier. Finely timed, the engine is revved hard to bring the ferry up to the small landing.
You may have to wait for the ferry to fill up before it departs, or if a number of vehicles can be seen waiting on the opposite side. Life is a leasurely pace here and there is little respect for impatient tourists.
The setting is magnificent. The stretch of water toward Mallaig is known as 'The Ring of Bright Water', after Gavin Maxwells' story of Tarka the Otter. It was in this area that he lived with the otters. His ashes are buried under a large boulder on the spot where his house stood on Sandaig beach, on the mainland at the mouth of Loch Hourne. Tarka is buried under a stone cairn on the banks of the small burn where the Otter used to swim. He also lived for a time on Eilean Ban, a small island off shore, between Kyle of Lochalsh and Skye.
On reaching mainland, the road from the pier soon meets the main road from Sheil Bridge. Turn right and on towards Loch Hourne. You soon pass the ruins of Bernera Garrison, built by the English and it is where the Duke of Cumberland was stationed during period of the battle of Culloden. It sits in a lovely open plain with grand wooded surroundings.
Just beyond Galltair you turn right towards Glen Elg Village (Hotel and Bar). There is a very wide pleasant beach, which over looks the high mountain road that brought you to Kylerhea and the ferry. The road starts climbing as you run towards Arnisdale and Loch Hourne, the opposite side of the mountains when you were at the Grand View after Invergarry and Loch Quoich. It is only a few years since this road was opened up.
Return to the main road and turn left and go on to Arnisdale. This is one place in the highlands where the residents fight against modern society and keep the area looking timeless. The Loch is circled by high mountain peaks and with a couple of small islands. The larger island being Eilean Rarsaidh. Given the right lighting and weather conditions you won't want to leave this glorious area.
On a crystal clear still day the wide deep loch reflects a deep blue with a grand mountain background with treelined banks and, especially in June/July is broken by purple flowers, giving a Mediteranian look.
