A wonderful camping excursion to the Isle of Skye

At 11 o clock last Sunday evening Ben and I set off for the Isle of Skye. We drove all night stopping only near Glasgow so that Ben could have a bit of rest before continuing to our destination. I enjoyed a large cappuccino and almond croissant while he did a bit more research on his iPad regarding the places we hoped to visit. An hour or so later we continued our journey and before long we were enjoyed the glorious scenic views of Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park. From this point onward the beauty of the scenery was incredibly breathtakingly beautiful and we were stopping at very frequent intervals in order to take photos.

 

 We were so glad we had travelled by night as we arrived at this point just as it was getting light and even that early knew we would enjoy a nice sunny day. Whereas we had driven fast up until here, thereafter we took our time in order to appreciate the glory of it all. Take a look at the first photo in my Skye album on face book which shows the beauty of the loch just as it is getting light! Eventually we came to Fort William which is a gateway to the highlands of Scotland and we stopped at a large Morrisons store for a good breakfast and stocked up on a few provisions. Much later we arrived at Kyle of Lochaisch and were soon crossing the Skye Bridge to reach the island itself. All the way from Loch Lomond to this point the scenery was ever changing and amazing with high mountains shrouded in mist, including Ben Nevis, and glens as well as all those fantastic lochs. The Cuillin Mountains include Black Cuillin and Red Cuillin and some mountains are flat topped and extinct volcanoes. A bit further on we came to Eilean Donan Castle which is a really picturesque castle perched on the side of a loch and much used as a backdrop in filming, on pictures of boxes of highland shortbread at Christmas etc.

 

We had already looked on the internet for a suitable campsite but ended up at a different one at Dunvegan in the early evening, close to the Castle in the Northern part of the island, in a beautiful loch side setting and with good facilities. After crossing the Skye Bridge we had noticed a distinct change in the weather and by the time we came to set up camp it felt like gale force winds and Ben had to stand on one end of my tent while I hammered in the tent pegs to hold it down. Even then I didn’t trust the pegs to hold it and weighed it down with our camping chairs and table to be on the safe side! The wind was so strong it was practically flattening the tent to the ground so I was hoping it would not rain! After such a long drive Ben was very tired so he settled down to sleep and I read my book while it was still light. After the disaster with his tent in West Wales he came better prepared this time, sleeping on the mattress of my dining room futon, in the back of his car which is long enough to sleep, with him on one side and all our stuff piled on the other.

 

Dunvegan Castle is perched on a rock by the seashore on Loch Dunvegan and Mighty Loch Bracadale, Loch Dunvegan and Loch Snizort cut their way into the landscape of north west Skye and create the most dramatic vista of land and sea to be found anywhere in the British Isles. In fact we soon discovered that spectacular scenic delights abound in North East Skye. It is an island of dramatic contrasts and includes the bizarre land formations of the Quiraing and Trotternish Ridges. About 7.30 pm I decided to settle down to sleep as well, having only had a couple of short naps on the long journey, so got changed keeping my clothes on for warmth and putting my pyjamas on top and was soon fast asleep too. I thought that was it for the night, but about 8.30 Ben awoke as he was hungry and wanted to go and look for a nice place for dinner. We drove to Portree which is probably the largest town on Skye, in the centre, and the satnav took us on a cross country route of 18 miles over moorland on single track roads with passing places and sheep everywhere. We soon realised this is a feature of island life, the sheep being allowed to roam at will. In Portree we came across an Indian restaurant first and decided to eat there although the food was nowhere near as good as in Indian restaurants back home. Back at the campsite I slept surprisingly well as I was well sheltered from the wind once the tent was zipped closed and the wind died down in the night and it luckily did not rain.

 

The following day was much calmer and dry with some sunny spells. The shower facilities were excellent, even with hair dryers, and we just had cereals for breakfast and some fruit and then Ben was keen to begin several different walks as depicted in a book loaned to him by the campsite owner. I decided to accompany him on the first walk which was about 3 miles, a circular walk, taking in a delightful coral beach, but my walking boots proved to not be waterproof and I found it quite heavy going, so thereafter decided to rest up instead while Ben did more walks over more difficult terrain. After the Coral Beach walk we drove to Portree again and ended up enjoying haddock and chips for lunch which was delicious. Then driving to different parts of the Northern part of the island Ben did two further walks while I rested up in the car doing crossword puzzles or reading my book. One of the walks began at a place called Fairy Glen which had such unusual land formations that you could easily imagine it was inhabited by fairies!

 

Back at Dunvegan in the evening we found most of the restaurants were full. One we stopped at en route I was glad they were too full because it looked very expensive! It was third time lucky when we found a bistro in Dunvegan itself where we both enjoyed a luxurious fish chowder accompanied by delicious crusty bread. Back at the campsite later it was much much calmer, the loch almost like a mill pond, and I slept really well. Ben stayed awake longer and did some star gazing. Apparently the northern part of Skye is one of the darkest places in Europe, especially at Waternish which we visited later, where an amazing amount of constellations can be seen and blessed with minimal light pollution the island is perfect for star gazing. These include Cepheus, Cassiopeia, Camelopard is (The giraffe), Perseus, Pegasus, Triangulum, Aries, Auriga, Pielades and Jupiter.

 

Wednesday was another quite calm day and dry so we paid for a 3rd night. Ben did three walks that day but I rested up as my back was aching a bit from sleeping on the hard ground (Although I had brought a different air bed with me, the pump did not fit the nozzle so I could not inflate it! I thought my camping days were over at least 6 years ago, so these things had not been used since back then.) Driving to each of these walks involved long drives all over the north part of the island, so that we probably covered a large part of it. The coastal road north from Portree to Staffin passes the Storr lochs and Lochs Fada and Leathan, which feed the island’s small hydro-electric station. The first walk took us to Neish Point where there is a light house, which is a great place to see many varieties of sea birds. It is situated at the most westerly point in Skye and has some of the most magnificent cliffs in the Hebrides towering to over 1000 feet and home to the golden eagle.

 

The weird rock formations of the Quiraing are like nothing seen anywhere else in Skye or even the whole of Scotland. After the steep and tortuous climb over the Quiraing the road winds through moorland and peat bogs before rejoining the coast road for the long drop into Uig. Ben’s second walk that day took him to a remote point and involved the long downward steep climb. We had difficult parking as it was obviously a popular walk, and some damage was done to the underneath of his car when he parked partly off road which worried me later as anytime we went over rougher roads something felt as though it was dragging on the road. We had to be so careful thereafter and I was already worrying that we would never make it all the way home to Bath without mishap.

 

He was gone ages on that walk and I was sure glad I had not accompanied him as he went wrong and ended up going a long way down and ended up miles from his car. He had to hitchhike a ride back as it was such a steep hike back. I never would have coped with that. The third walk was to the Old Man of Storr a few miles north of Portree. It is a huge pinnacle of rock standing in front of the Storr Ridge which rises to around 2300 feet. Ben climbed right to the base of this pinnacle and said the wind up there was scary and fierce and he had a struggle not to be blown away and the sound of the wind was so eerie and weird it quite unnerved him.

 

By the time he had completed all three walks which involved over 100 miles of driving in between them, it was getting dark as we headed back to Portree to look for a restaurant for dinner. We ended up at a lovely restaurant just off the main square of the town and before going in we enjoyed watching a display of Scottish band and dancers for a while until it began to rain. This restaurant was called The Granary and was excellent. I chose Moroccan lamb and he chose a rack of lamb. He enjoyed all three courses but I just had the one as it was quite expensive. We got back to the campsite around 10.30 pm and although raining and windy on the loch shore I had another comfortable night’s sleep.

 

Our plan on Thursday had been to spend the whole day exploring as much as possible of the South part of the island but sadly we woke up to rain and the forecast was bad for the rest of the day so we packed up the tent and said goodbye to our friendly campsite owner who told us even worse weather was on its way but that he could guarantee that it would be sunny once we crossed the Skye Bridge. Despite the dull cloudy weather and occasional rain we enjoyed the scenery all the way to Kyle of Lochaish, passing many mountains in the south part of the island. We parked about a mile from the Skye Bridge on the sunny side and Ben went off with his tripod and camera while I looked for a nearby coffee shop and enjoyed a large cappuccino and then went to investigate about the glass bottom boat trips.

 

We met back at the car just in time to get tickets for the 2.15 excursion and enjoyed the trip immensely. The first half was spent checking the various bird life and then the seals basking on small islands and the second half of the trip we all trooped downstairs and through glass windows could see the sea bed with huge jelly fish floating by, assorted fish, crabs and starfish and amazing plant life. It was the first time I had ever had such a close up view of the sea bed and was immensely enjoyable. Back on land afterwards we headed for a seafood delicatessen where I enjoyed a dish of langoustine tails. Ben chose whole langoustines and scallops and ate his raw! He said they were delicious raw. I made sure mine were cooked though before buying them!

 

Another nice cappuccino and I was ready to hit the road again as we were anxious to press on towards Fort William and find a campsite. As it happened we didn’t get even halfway to Fort William before finding what appeared to be a great farmland campsite where it was laid out so that each camper had good privacy and even its own camping table and bench set, under trees. The showers were really luxurious. We had a picnic for supper at that table and then proceeded to have a game of scrabble but soon had to retire to the car to continue as Ben was being bitten to death by midges. During the week he collected around 1000 midge bites all over his arms, legs, hands and neck with at least 100 on his face alone. I was lucky to escape with only 3 bites on the last day.

 

We woke to another dry day and it was sunny but by the time we packed up to leave it was already deteriorating. We headed to Fort William intending to have breakfast there but on the way came across the Corriegour Hotel which said it was open to non residents and decided to have breakfast there. The dining room faced over the loch and the breakfast was fantastic with waiter service and crisp white linen on the tables. I enjoyed some really luxurious muesli topped with juicy figs, prunes and apricots, followed by a full Scottish breakfast and warm toast. They brought the toast twice so that each time we could enjoy it warm and I had orange juice and a huge carafe of coffee. Although £15 each it was worth every bite and quite reasonable when compared to spending a night there which would have been £125.

 

At Fort William we only intended to buy antihistimine cream for Ben’s bites but as the weather was still drizzly and dull we decided to do a couple of hours shopping instead of our original plan to press on to Glenfinnan and Moraig. I bought a beautiful butterfly ring made from semi precious stones and a fleece lined tartan blanket whereas Ben bought things for future camping including a stove and mess tins which would have been really handy had we got them earlier. The things I miss most when camping is not being able to brew up a cup of coffee now and again and having light to read by before going to sleep!

 

After the shopping we started the long journey home, leaving Fort William about 2 pm in the afternoon and we drove without stopping except to fill the petrol tank for the 4th time, finally reaching Bristol about 11 pm. We went straight to the Mayflower restaurant for a late dinner which was really delicious and I am definitely going back there again for the delicious roast duck! We got back home at 12.15 and by the time we unloaded the car and got to bed it was around 1.30 in the morning. It was heaven sleeping in a bed again after a night in the car on the long drive to Scotland followed by four nights sleeping on hard ground!

 

Our trip didn’t end there as on Saturday we collected my sister at 11 o clock in the morning and drove down to Cheddar to see our friend Reggie again. It was a fine sunny day and after cold drinks on his patio enjoying the lake views we headed down to the Riverside Inn in Cheddar itself and had a fantastic pub lunch. Back at his house we sat in the garden enjoying the lake views and the bird life around his home which included a visit by two guinea fowls who belong to a neighbour and come calling regularly as Reggie keeps a tub of bird seed for them. We really enjoyed a nice afternoon there listening to jazz music and enjoying the warm sunshine until about 5 pm when we had to leave as I was meeting up with friends in the evening who are returning to Alicante this week and had arranged a last get together before they go, We went to the Inn at Freshford for a meal.

 

Today my Algerian friend Khali and his son Nadir arrived from London. I picked them up from the station and we first went to visit my sister Kathryn who enjoyed seeing them again. Then we headed into the centre of Bath to go to Jimmy Spices world grill restaurant and met up with Colin and his sister Mary and we all enjoyed a nice lunch together. Khali was especially impressed with the restaurant and wants to go there again for another good lunch before he heads back to London on Tuesday evening. Afterwards we said goodbye to Colin and Mary and drove to my Mum’s house for a nice visit with her. You will be able to see some photos from this on my face book within a day or two. Also I plan to load an album of photos from the Skye trip to my face book either tomorrow or Tuesday as well.

 

It is going to be fun having Khali and Nadir here as guests and do some sightseeing in Bristol and Bath. They arrived from Algeria on 9th August and will be here until 20th September and the week before I was in Skye I spent a week with them in London, all of us staying at my ex husband’s house, and we did lots of sight seeing around London together. I was even able to meet up with my friend Dante who is the first Peruvian person I ever met in England and who has been a lovely friend ever since. As well as all the sight seeing we also went to the Algerian embassy to find out what happened with my failed visa application last year and discovered that as long as I arrive at the embassy with all the correct paperwork within just 3 months of a proposed trip there, they will expedite my visa next time. I plan to go to Algeria for 3 weeks in either May or June of next year, followed by a trip to China later in 2014.