Isle of Skye

After the conclusion of our trek, we rented a tiny little car and headed off to Isle of Skye. We took a lovely ferry ride from Mallaig to Armadale and drove up to Portree.  If the highlands were beautiful, Skye was almost even more so.  There were certainly more people on Skye and we booked rather late, so we felt lucky to snag a little pod Airbnb a few miles outside of Portree.

We had only 3 nights on Skye, so we tried to make the most of it.  The first day we headed up to The Quiraing for a hike with spectacular views and unique rock formation.  We ended the day swimming at Coral beach. The beach is made from crushed white coral-like seaweed that makes the water look tropical blue when the sun comes out.

We skipped Old Man of Storr because the parking lot was bursting at the seams.  Since Scotland was experiencing a serious drought when we were there, we also skipped the Fairy Pools as folks had reported barely a trickle of water.  Instead, we hiked Lochan Coire Lagan, an off-the-beaten-path option for those of us allergic to seeing other hikers.  This was definitely the highlight of our trip as there were only a few other people that scrambled to the top.

Skye is where we had our best meals, other than Bridge of Orchy Hotel which far surpassed all others.  There are very good restaurants in Portree.  We had the most fun driving our little car all around the island without much of a plan, just seeing where the one or two roads would lead.  Skye was the perfect way to end the trip and we were sad to say goodbye to her lovely coastlines and gorgeous landscapes.