May 2017
In the last week of May we headed up to Scotland, staying near Fort William on the first night, before heading over to Skye for a week. We stayed in a fantastic house called Cladach, near Earlish, just south of Uig. The house was set in it's own spacious grounds and raised up from a small bay, looking out over the sea.
The house interior was as immaculate as the exterior was magnificent.
We stopped off at the Co-op in Portree for supplies.
The following images are a random selection of photographs from our week on Skye. I will return soon to add more structure, more words and more images of our stay on this wonderful island.
Looking north towards the Quirking from just south of Portree.
The Quirking. We drove over the mountain road and it was a Sunday. That was not a very clever thing to do. It is a single track road and most of the passing places had been taken by people selfishly parking in them, every possible place to park was full, many cars were parked off the road on what is basically peat! Some cars were getting stuck off the road too, it was a mess and didn't encourage us to stop for a walk, which had been our original intention.
The beach at Elgol is a wonderful, almost other worldly kind of place. The geology is fascinating, the flora beautiful and the setting is absolutely magnificent. Elgol is a small fishing community, just a handful of houses a hotel and a shop. We decided to buy a couple of sandwiches from the shop to have for our lunch. I was a bit uncertain before I bought them, but wow, if you are ever in Elgol, go to the shop and make sure you get a lobster salad sandwich!! mmm.
A rock on the beach, covered in seaweed
A flag iris, or Shilasdair.
We found some very beautiful orchids on Skye. This is a Heath Spotted Orchid.
Sea Thrift, growing amongst the rocks on the shore.
Oyster Catchers looking for their lunch. Oysters maybe?
Fairy Pools
Looking towards the Cullin from Fairy Pools.
Talisker Beach
The Cullins
These Primroses and Bluebells were some of the flowers growing in the immediate vicinity of the house we were staying in.
A field of Daisies leading down to the sea.
Common Butterwort
Heath Spotted Orchid
Bluebells at the end of the garden
On our last full ay on Skye we drove back down to Elgol to take the boat trip to Loch Coruisk. It had been recommended to us by a friend, so we thought that if the weather was good, we would give it a try. It was a most amazing day, the highlight of our time on Skye. We had booked ahead (recommended) and took the 09.30 boat across to Loch Coruisk, sailing out of the harbour and northwards towards the eve growing Cullin mountains. Henry, one of the 'onboard team', gave us all the information about the other islands we could see, all about the history and nature to be found in this small area. We stopped off at a group of rocks to observe and photograph the seals that were hauled out on the rocks basking in the morning sunshine.
Common Seals
A panorama of Loch Coruisk.
Once we had reached our destination we disembarked and it was just a short half mile walk to Loch Coruisk and what a beautiful place. As we crossed the narrow bridge of land between the sea and the loch we saw a Sea Eagle flying around the crags above us.
There was also a welcome cup of coffee onboard as we made our way back, across the sea to Elgol.
A brief stop at Eileen Donan on the way home.
