KYQ4: Skye

MacLeod Tables from Oronsay

Over the last 30 years, I have made 16 or so trips to Skye to climb in the Cuillins whilst camping in Glen Brittle or Sligachan. Aileen and I have had a few day trips when staying at Strathcarron to Loch Coruisk, Torrin, and Raasay, but not visited the north of the island since the 1990s during a family long weekend on Skye before the bridge was built. I recall Aileen and Amy having the giggles during a visit to Dunvegan Castle.

Gregor had booked a cottage at Edinbane, near Dunvegan for the week. It was a Monday to Monday let, Aileen and I drove up and met Gregor who was coming up from Glasgow at the Cluanie Inn for a snack at lunchtime. I have used the Cluanie Inn for years but with new owners it had lost its way. Terrible food, poor service and skye high prices. The location of the cottage was perfect away from he maddening crowds that have been the bane of climbing visits to Glen Brittle in recent years.

We expected mixed weather with the Met Office predicting rain for most days. On day one we visited the coral beach near Dunvegan during a heavy downpour, got thoroughly soaked and returned to the cottage to dry out but after that, surprisingly, it was dry but cool with sunny periods and excellent visibility. The island was only just opening up for visitors, cottages were being let, the camping pods were being prepared, the campsites were still empty but the first wave of motor homes was arriving in the annual migration.

The roads sweep through the island with a flourish, a lasting tribute to Highland Council and the massive contribution by the European Regional Development Fund. The bright green landscape is dotted with new houses, painted white and dispersed randomly where the hills do not dominate. Skye is probably the main benefactor of Scottish tourism in the past decade. The bridge has made it easily accessible and the numerous programmes and articles in the media have done much to make Skye into the Ibiza of the north but with wildness, rain and midges instead of debauchery, sun and drugs; although these are available but not on tap.

The island also has some top restaurants scattered about its communities. We were advised by a couple from Norfolk who were building a house near Dunvegan that Edinbane Lodge and Loch Bay in Stein were better than the more famous Three Chimneys in Colbost. We were less than 20 minutes away from all of them but the restaurants had not yet fully opened. We had our first evening meal out since January 2020 at the Edinbane Inn and whilst the food was good, the ambience of restaurants has been erased by the Covid closures. We were more impressed by a couple of lunchtime halts at local cafes that served homemade soups and cakes and where friendly locals welcomed us with a cheery courtesy.

Every day was a chance to explore those parts of the island that were not part of the Skye ridge. Neish Point lighthouse has surprisingly not been turned into holiday cottages by the Northern Lighthouses Board. The Fairy Glen near Uig has a brand new car park to generate income for the Council. Staffin Bay gave us chance to search for dinosaur footprints, the walk across the strand to Oronsay is a magical walk when the tide is out with its wonderful sea vistas. The coastal path beyond Waterneish gave us an appetite for lunch at the Skye Skynes Yurt. I also had a couple of short climbs up the Marilyn hills close to Edinbane whilst Gregor was out on longer runs. We all enjoyed the bigger walks and, in Gregor's case, long runs to the Quiraing, An Storr and Hartaval, Ben Tianavaig, and Glen Sligachan. He collected Strava crowns on almost all of them. He was obviously inspired by a girl he had met the night before on a first date in Mugdock Park. They were messaging each other non stop. It worked out well, they are married now.

Most of all this trip to Skye provided the sheer joy of going somewhere different after 7 months of being confined to barracks and cooped up mainly indoors during a cold wet Scottish winter.