My friend and I decided to embark on a last minute road trip around the beautiful Isle of Skye in Scotland. We hired a "medium commercial van" from Enterprise in Edinburgh Corstorphine for 6 nights for £231.34 (£115.67 my half) and borrowed a Trangia, double blow up mattress, pump and two sleeping bags from a friend to sleep in the back of the van. Here's what we got up to on our Skye adventure!
Day 1
- Slept: 57.313476, -6.111341
- Travelled: Edinburgh to Broadford to Sconser
- Miles: 222 (5 hours)
- Did: Picked up the van and some shopping, drove to Skye
- Spend: £27.39
- £43.40 food shop (£21.70 my half)
- £2 vacuum (£1 my half)
- £4.10 small chips and curry sauce
- £1.19 strawberries (59p my half)
Today I picked up the van from Enterprise near the zoo, filled it with groceries (a Tesco click and collect order from Queensferry) before heading to go pick up my friend from Spean Bridge. We nipped quickly into the whiskey shop there and then headed to cross the Kyle of Lochalsh to get to the Isle of Skye. The weather was beautiful! We parked up in the Co-op carpark and sat on some benches near the harbour as we worked out a plan for the next few days. Then we headed to Co-op for some Scottish strawberries and used the vacuum at the co-op garage to clean the back of the van. With some fish and chips acquired for dinner, we drove to the ferry port to sleep overnight. There were plenty of spaces, no signs saying we couldn't and free toilets that were open 24/7- winner!
Day Two
- Slept: 57.414062, -6.204096
- Travelled: Sconser to Isle of Raasay to The Storr to Portree
- Miles: 27 (50 mins)
- Did: Isle of Raasay walk, Isle of Raasay Distillery tour, Old Man Storr hike
- Spend: £41.70
- Ferry £4.20 return for 1 foot passenger
- Whiskey tour £18pp (there was a coupon on their website)
- Dinner £19.50
On Day Two we had a bit of a lie in then caught the 9:30am ferry from Sconser to Raasay. We had a tour of the Isle of Raasay Distillery including two whiskey tastings and a gin tasting. The tour also included some of the history of the island which was really nice to hear. It was a great tour and I really enjoyed it. We had a little wait on the island until the next ferry so we went for a bit of a walk. Once on the 2:30pm ferry back I saw the biggest and most active pod of dolphins I've seen in my life!
We cooked some late lunch on the Trangia and then drove to some on the road parking near The Storr to hike to Old Man Storr (we didn't use the official car park because you had to pay although there were paid for toilets available there). The weather was horrific! It was very windy and the path we chose was not at all safe! I would strongly recommend walking from the main car park along the designated route. We didn't go all the way to the top because it was so misty you weren't getting the view but also it was quite unsafe with the wind and starting to get dark.
After, we drove over to Portree to grab some dinner. Everywhere was fully booked but we did manage to go to a Japanese restaurant (Tomita). It was quite expensive and added a service charge on top but it was open and available! We then headed to go sleep on a layby on the side of the road which had good shelter from the bad wind and 24/7 toilets were available a 7 minute walk away in town.
Day Three
- Slept: 57.414062, -6.204096
- Travelled: Portree to Lealt to Staffin to Quairaing to Ferry Glen to Portree
- Miles: 46 (1h45)
- Did: Lealt Falls walk, saw the dinosaur footprints at Staffin Harbour, tried to look out at Quiraing viewpoint, visited the Ferry Glen
- Spend: £0
Today was a very wet, windy, misty and generally miserable day! In the morning we grabbed a shower from a hostel in Portree and I got a coffee while waiting for my friend to finish her run (I certainly wasn't joining in such awful weather!). We left some clothes in the drying room during the day. We had some noodles for lunch that we cooked in the kitchen and didn't actually end up leaving the warmth of the hostel until 1:20pm!
We had a little road trip with 4 stops.
- Our first stop was Lealt Falls for some beautiful waterfall views. The car park is in line with the higher viewing platform but I recommend taking the steps all the way down to the lower platform, where there are also some ruins overlooking the sea that are pretty cool.
- More beach was seen at our next stop to go see a dinosaur footprint on a beach. It was pretty cool to see the footprint but it was difficult to tell what was dinosaur footprint and what was just rock! We slip and slid over the rocks on a little walk of the area.
- Next up was Quiraing viewpoint but we couldn't actually see anything from the viewpoint because the weather was so bad!
- The last stop on the road trip for the day was the Fairy Glen. The weather was very bad so we didn't feel comfortable walking along the high pathways but it was easy to tell it was a very beautiful area. We thought it would just be an instagrammable place but would actually very much welcome a visit back again if the weather is better and we have the time.
We decided to park in the same place as the previous night and cook some dinner in the hostel. One spaghetti bolognese and some wine later and it was time for sleep in the van, with our fingers crossed for better weather Monday. We did so much considering the weather was against us!
Day 4
- Slept: near Cuillin Brewery
- Travelled: Portree to Trunoan Church to Coral Beach to Dunvegan Castle to Neist Point to Sconser
- Miles: 93 (3h40)
- Did: Lots of walks in different places, drinks at a microbrewery
- Spend: £12.35
- Stout £4.90
- Coffee and cake £7.45
Today I did a lot of driving on some pretty bad roads for 4 little trips!
- The first stop was just a quick one, Trunoan Church. This is the ruins of a church with a dark past but there wasn't so much to see here.
- Our next stop we stayed a little longer at. We had a walk around Coral Beach and I climbed the hill there while my friend went for a swim in the sea. People had spoken a lot online about the beach but I just found it to be a normal beach really.
- Our next stop was Dunvegan Castle, although we decided to see it from the viewpoint rather than pay for entry (it was like a manor house inside when we both prefer castle ruins). While here we used the Trangia to rustle up some lunch.
- Next up was Neist Point where we did a walk down the cliff face and passed the lighthouse. I wasn't so blown away by the lighthouse but there were lots of cairns on the cliff face which were pretty cool to see. I even built a couple myself that had fallen down!
We got in the van and started driving to find somewhere to park for the night when we came across The Cuillins, awe inspiring jagged dark mountains surrounding us. I spotted a cool bridge in front of them that I wanted to take a look at so we pulled up in the car park of Seumas' Bar. The Bar was full for food so we used the Trangia for dinner but we were able to get some really nice beer which were brewed in the microbrewery just next door! We headed for a layby near the pub to stay the night. For the first and only time on our trip, we suffered with midges. And judging by videos I've seen, it was a mild case of midges but it didn't feel like it- they were everywhere!
Day 5
- Slept: Carbost near Talisker Whiskey Distillery
- Travelled: Sconser to Fairy Pools to Carbost
- Miles: 19 (45 mins)
- Did: an 18km hike, fairy pools walk
- Spend: £12
- Dinner £12
We decided to be a really long Cuillin hike today. We ended up doing a ~18km hike along the Sgurr na Stri Trailhead. While the Cuillins are either side, you never actually go up (despite wanting too!), it's quite flat. We hiked the trail until we got to a large loch where we ate some lunch, drank some tins and then turned around and came back again. By the time we set off all the morning fog had cleared and we could see the beautiful views.
After Scotland's flattest hike (!), we celebrated our walk with a meal at Seumas' Bar (we hadn't managed to get a table the night before but were eating at an odd time today so managed this time), including one of their microbrewery beers and of course some haggis!
Haggis consumed and bellies full, we drove to the Fairy Pools for a mooch around before heading to Carbost to sleep with some pretty views.
Day 6
- Slept: Armadale Ferry Port
- Travelled: Carbost to Torrin Pools to Armadale
- Miles: 53 (1h30)
- Did: Talisker Distillery, celebrated at the Hebridean Whiskey Trail festival, a walk at the Torrin Pools
- Spend: £24.50
- Distillery £20
- Toilet 50p
- Pie £4
It just so happened that there was a whiskey festival on during our visit, the Hebridean Whiskey Trail. So we spent most of the day at the Talisker Distillery. We had our tour and tasting at 11am and then sat outside where there were yurts, a stage and some food stalls. I grabbed a delicious pie and settled in to listen to some music and community speakers. My friend did a ceilidh or two (while I showered in a sink of some nearby pay to use public toilets!). I know which of us had more fun! So much free whiskey was provided but unfortunately I had to refrain because of driving.
That afternoon we visited to Torrin Pools, which would have been nice to swim in but it was a little chilly (that wasn't stopping the locals however!). We cooked some dinner with the Trangia overlooking some beautiful views. Finally we headed over to the ferry park to park up for the night ready for our 8:15-8:45am ferry crossing.
Day 7
- Travelled: From Armadale to Mallaig to Edinburgh
- Miles: 170 (4h15)
- Did: From Armadale to Mallaig on the ferry. Then drove to Enterprise in Edinburgh.
- Spend: £8.53
- Ferry £17.05 for 2 people 1 car (£8.53 my half)
