Staycation Stories: Over the Sea to Skye

Whenever I speak to customers visiting Scotland about their favourite places to visit or where they are headed next, there's one place that I can put money on them mentioning... Eilean a’ Cheó aka the Isle of Skye. I have to admit, despite having lived in Scotland my entire life, it's somewhere I had never quite made it to. We often find that our customers put us to shame and have seen much more of Scotland than us so with restrictions easing and a week's holiday it felt only right that I correct this and head over the sea to Skye.

Visit Scotland say "Skye is a truly magical place" which only echoes everything I'd heard about the Island so far, but could one island really live up to everything I'd been told it would? I'm delighted to say it did, with hills and heather, wind and waterfalls, mist and mountains, clans and Cullins it really was breathtaking! I can now understand exactly where the beautiful colours for the Isle of Skye tartan come from.

Living in the South East of Scotland, Skye is diagonally opposite Duns on the map. The long road trip may put people off as there's a fair bit of Scotland you need to get through first, but even this drive is totally worth it. There are a number of routes you can take, all with some special places to stop along the way. Below I've listed just a few of the places that are worth stopping to see.

A Dam might not sound the most interesting of places to stop but to the south west of Loch Laggan sits the Laggan Dam on the River Spean. With beautiful scenery surrounding the river and a lay-by right next to the A86 this is a great place to stretch your legs.

You can see all of Scotland from here, well, sort of... it's said that from this viewpoint the loch below resembles the outline of Scotland. The trees around the viewpoint are pretty tall now , so I couldn't make out the map myself but I hear that if you clamber up the banking on the other side of the road then you get a much clearer panorama.

If you are a Harry Potter fan then this is a must! I'm sure that the natural beauty of the viaduct made this a popular spot prior to Potter, but after the Hogwarts Express crossed the bridge within the second and third movies this area has become an attraction for many thousands of visitors.

Eilean Donan castle has been on my bucket list ever since I first saw a photo of the Island. The Island sits between Loch Duich, Loch Long and Loch Alsh and has been home to a castle since the thirteen century. The castle became a stronghold of the Clan Mackenzie and their allies the Clan MacRae with the present day castle buildings being in place as the result of 20th-century reconstruction by Gilstrap-Macrae after being destroyed during previous uprisings.

Capital town of the Island, Portree acts as the main hub for accommodation & services on the Island. It's home to the tourist information centre so if you need any advice this is a great place to start off. We stayed in a lodge just a few minutes from the town centre and visited the town most evenings for dinner.

Dunvegan Castle is the ancestral seat of the Clan MacLeod and one of Skye’s most popular attractions. The castle itself is currently closed due to COVID restrictions but the gardens, gift shop & cafe are all still open so it's still more than worth visiting. For the best views of the castle head down towards the water (where you can usually take a seal boat tour) and look back up at the impressive castle above you.

Uig is a small village in the very north of the Island, which surrounds the ferry port to the outer Isles of Uist and Harris. There isn't a whole lot to see within the village itself but I would recommend stopping in to the The Isle Of Skye Brewing Company to pick up some beer or gin. The pottery and Hebridean Shack are also worth a visit, and as a pizza lover I was a big fan of the Shack Pizza topped with smoked salmon, horseradish mascarpone, capers & lemon.

Carbost is best known for the Talisker distillery, but even if you don't enjoy a dram the views across Talisker bay are enough of a reason to visit. The Old Inn is a lovely little pub that looks right out on to the waterfront serving a huge portion of fish and chips and plenty of atmosphere too.

I think what I liked most about the island was that the best attractions were all natural & formed by the unique landscape. Here are my must-see spots but let me know if you think I've missed any!

Not far from Dunvegan, Coral Beach sounds like it should be in Barbados rather than Skye, and although I can't promise Caribbean weather I can promise a beautiful walk to the beach. The beach itself is made from crushed white coral like seaweed, with our guide book describing it like cake sprinkles. If you are feeling adventurous then jump in to the water for a swim, just watch out for the jelly fish! They managed to get me but thankfully it was nothing serious and by the next morning I couldn't feel it at all.

This is probably the most famous walk on the Island and definitely the busiest judging by the car park, we chose not to take on the walk during this visit but I do plan to go back with more time to dedicate to this. The ‘Old Man’ is a large pinnacle of rock that can be seen for miles around so there's still plenty of opportunity to see the old man even if you just pull over at the side of the road. There's varying advice on how long the walk takes but I think it's safe to say you would need to be prepared for this one with some sturdy footwear.

My immediate family are all keen open water swimmers like me, so the Fairy Pools were at the top of the list when planning our trip. They are a series of beautiful rock pools full of crystal clear spring water fed by a series of waterfalls at the base of the Cullin Mountains. There are a number of pools you can swim in if you are up for it, but I'd say the main challenge is actually scaling the rocks down in to the pools. They aren't just for swimmers though, I was taken aback by the amount of people walking the path up just to experience the magic.

After working at ScotlandShop for over 6 years now, I feel like kilts have become a big part of my life! Despite being away from my desk for the week I was still bound to come across a kilt in the Scottish Isles. Although the one I discovered wasn't really what I had been picturing. Kilt Rock or Creag An Fhèilidh is a cliff face that loosely resembles a kilt.

I was still delighted to find my kilt for the week! Mealt Waterfall is just next to the kilt rock and free-falls off the cliff for about 60 meters down into the Sound of Raasay. Apparently, if the wind is strong, the water is actually blown away and doesn't even make it to the bottom of the cliff.