Skye & other stuff

23/3/2025

22/3 We have travelled from Edinburgh up the east coast over the top & now we are working our way down the west coast. It’s been interesting to see the variation in geography. Although we are in the “Highlands” until we came over the top you wouldn’t know it from the terrain. It was surprisingly flat but with stunning beaches. Now, this side is much much more like you would expect… wild, mountainous, covered in heather and with many lochs. Yesterday we travelled past Eribol Loch which is one of Scotland’s deepest sea lochs, an important naval anchorage for much of the 20th century & hosted the surrender of the German U –Boat fleet in May 1945.
We were shocked to see many many wild fires yesterday. At one bit we got caught on a one lane road behind 3 fire engines and a Scotland water truck. The heather was still smoldering beside the road & in places the road surface was scorched where the fire had moved across. In hindsight, I think we were quite lucky to get through. The wind was really fierce at one bit (we could barely stand when we tried to photograph a glorious beach) and the firefighters couldn’t really battle the fires, but seemed to be just monitoring. Now, I wish I had photographed the fires when we passed a bit with all the flames close by – it seemed a bit touristy and insensitive to do so at the time, so I didn’t.

23/3 Today was disappointing to start and also to finish with a good bit in the middle. I had wanted to shoot sunrise at Loch Maree with the Slioch (mountain) in the background. Nope, low cloud, rubbish light, inaccessible areas – not going to happen. This evening I had planned to shoot at Neist Point Lighthouse but Google advised that the road was closed. It’s beautiful clear night – our other sunset excursions have fizzled as cloud rolled in, but this time I’m being stymied by a road closure. Not happy!
During the middle of the day we walked to the Fairy Pools. It’s a bit of a hike, (that's a Big hike for tired old bodies) and very popular. People (& dogs) everywhere. I imagine it would be sheer hell in summer. The pools are suffering from lack of water but still impressive. It’s a downhill & uphill hike that took us over 2 hours. Unfortunately you finish on an uphill. I was absolutely exhausted, not helped by carrying camera pack & tripod. When google told us the road to Neist was closed we decided to detour to Talisker Bay (as in Talisker whiskey), but when we got there it was another hike from the car park, some 3.6km round trip. We’d had more than enough walking by then, everything was aching, so we flagged it. I find that really hard… in NZ you reach the end of the road, there would be a car park & you’d most likely be able to see the sea. Here, it’s private land… the road NEVER goes to the end, there is most often no adequate parking, no signs & you have to hunt for the way forward. Very frustrating.
Our accommodation in Portree is absolutely delightful – the nicest we have had by far. It’s a large room on the top floor of a row of old terraced houses right on the harbour quay. But to reach our room is a narrow winding staircase 2 levels up. So we are paying for the lovely view by having to haul 23 & 30kg bags up that staircase. Not complaining (just describing) coz it was worth it. There was a pub, chippy (fish & chip shop) and seafood restaurant all within 3 doors along. Perfect.
Sorry not downloaded any photos of the fairy pools yest and I didn't take any on my phone.
PS: Found put the next morning the road closure to Neist Point was only9am-5pm. So we could have gone put there and enjoyed the only clear sunset after all.