A Day in Skye

Skye was a wonder.  Steep sharp mountains in the south, hills and crags in the north.  Heather and moors galore and everywhere you look is water.  We spent all of our time in the northern half of the island and so we'll have plenty left to see on our next visit!

The first day we drove a big circle route west on the Duirinish/Waternish Peninsula out to Neist Point to take a walk out to the lighthouse.  It's in a stunning location, as lighthouses often are, and the weather cooperated fully with our trek down the 3/4 mile path to the buildings at the end.

The lighthouse is hiding in back of this promontory

"Nice little lighthouse"

And this is the long, very steep path back to the car

Can I have a lift?

After a lovely lunch in a restored old crofter's cabin turned cafe/art gallery, we drove down to Dunvegan Castle, home to the MacLeod Clan for over 800 years.  It was actually a warm & inviting castle, not large but still an interesting tour.  Despite some dark threatening clouds we took a quick walk thru the castle gardens, thinking not much would be out this time of year but we were pleasantly surprised at how colorful and diverse the gardens were.  Well recommended to anyone traveling this way...

We hit the magical hour of 3:30, which meant we could then head for our B&B in Portree and arrive just after the opening time of 4pm.  Not that we were in any particular rush but it's nice to go 'home' at the end of the day and put one's feet up.  We booked into the Ben Tianavaig B&B right on Portree's waterfront and our attic room had the most marvelous view of the harbour...

Tired of eating 3-courses meals every night, we opted to stay in for a simple picnic dinner of pate, yummy Wensleydale cheese and fresh french bread and stayed up to watch the first episode of the new season of Downton Abbey!!  A perfect evening.  And no, we're not going to give out any hints of what's going to happen, you'll just have to wait...  :-)