Day one of the Alderton's Highlands adventure
Trip Start
Sep 12, 2006
1
80
100
Trip End
Sep 08, 2008
Portree,
Scotland,
United Kingdom
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Our first morning was spent in the car, making our way up through familiar territory past Loch Lomond, Tyndrum, Rannoch Moor, the great Glen Coe and Fort William, before turning off onto the A87 bound for the Isle of Skye. Stopping only for a quick bite to eat at Spean Bridge, our first major photo stop was at a stunning viewpoint looking out over Glen Garry. The weather was grey and overcast, but thankfully the rain was keeping away, and we continued on past the Five Sisters of Kintail to a site I'd seen grace countless postcards, the beautiful Eilean Donan Castle.
Photogenically situated at the entrance to Loch Duich, Eilean Donan is one of Scotland's most evocative castles, located on an offshore islet and linked to the mainland by a stone arched bridge. The castle itself had been destroyed and rebuilt a number of times over the years, however it was still worth paying a few quid to pop in and see the exhibitions. Truth told, it was probably more beautiful from the outside, however it was a good chance for us to get out of the car and stretch our legs a bit, and also take a few snaps of the Loch.
We continued on our way some time after 3pm, crossing the bridge at the Kyle of Lochalsh onto the Isle of Skye. Taking its name from the old Norse 'Sky-a', meaning 'Cloud Island' (hardly a surprising name), it is the largest of Scotland's islands, a 50 mile stretch of jagged mountains, sparkling lochs and towering cliffs. Our destination was the town of Portree, the largest and liveliest on the island, but given the summer solstice we wanted to go on a bit further and do a little walking before we pitched out tent and called it a day.
The walk we had planned was a short traverse of the Quirang, whose pinnacles, cliffs and landslides were supposedly a relatively easily explored example of what makes the Trotternish Peninsula so unique. This was just what we needed, given more than five hours in the car and some pretty menacing looking clouds hanging very low over our heads. We wound our way up a narrow road past the township of Staffin, and easily found the empty carpark at the base of our walk. It was uncomfortably cold, with thermals, a windstopper and rain jacket needed at the start of the summer period. However, the views more than made up for it, and they were spectacular. The vivid green and rugged peaks cut an image straight out of a fantasy world, and we could only wish the clouds would lift off Meall na Suiramach, the 543m peak we wanted to climb. Unperturbed, we set on our way, traipsing up the muddy and slippery slope past bewildered looking sheep for what we hoped would be a decent view over the cliffs down onto the formations known as the Table, the Needle and the Prison. Our luck wasn't to be, as within an hour the clouds lowered, the rain started and a strong wind all combined to leave us with less than about 50m visibility. As much as we wanted to continue on, we knew we couldn't, so we turned around and made tracks back for the car.
Not wanting to finish the day on our a sour note, we made one quick stop on the way back to Portree at Kilt Rock, a stupendous cliff of columnar basalt whose vertical ribbing is strangely compared to the pleats of a kilt. It was blowing a gale, and raining horizontally, so after taking a few photos we made our way into town for a cheap Chinese meal to finish the day.
Our first day was a long one, and the weather did let us down a bit, but we weren't going to let it set the scene for the trip. We had some amazing places to see, beginning with my first munro the next day, a 928m peak offering what were supposedly some of the best views of the Cuilin Hills and Isle of Skye one could get.
