Exploring the Trotternish Peninsula

Today we drove the Trotternish Peninsula.  Leaving Portree the first stop was at the Old Man of Storr. What a heartbreak!  They have clear cut a large area and ruined the walk up the path to the base of the Storr.  The place was overrun with tourists from buses.  That along with the heartbreaking view of downed trees discouraged us to the extent that  we didn’t walk to the base.  

The Old Man of Storr

 

Devastation at the Storr

Our next stop was at Lealt Falls.  The climb out to the ledge where the falls could be seen and photographed felt a bit scary but the view was lovely.  There was a man in a kilt walking the hills – way cool!  Below on the beach you can see the ruins of an old house and mill.  

Quiraing is amazing!  The drive up is a little unpleasant as it is a steep, single track road and there are tour buses using it.  The place was loaded with tourists making it difficult to get a picture without people with cameras in it.  The views are spectacular and I wish we had been able to devote more time to it and climb up further.  There is a large cliff face called the table is said to have been used  to hide up to 4000 cattle from the invading Norsemen.  This summit is at the north of the Trotternish Peninsula.  This landslip is still moving and road repairs are frequent.

Duntulm Castle is a ruin.  The castle stands on the site of a Norse stronghold and it is believed that an Iron Age fort is underneath.  The castle was the main residence of the Macdonalds in 1539. It is built on a 50 ft cliff with sea on three sides.  Because it is unsafe, it is fenced off so you cannot get very close.  Still, a beautiful place to visit.

Duntulm was the seat of the cheiftains of the MacDonalds of Sleat Peninsula.  It was abandoned in 1732 when Sir Alexander MacDonald built another home nearby and took materials from this castle to build his new residence.

Duntulm 

Duntulm

 
Our host at Bruachna Frithe in Portree made up a list of places to visit on the Trotternish with directions.  One of the places was called the Fairy Glen.  Robin and I turned off the main road to visit and drove through some AMAZING landscape.  I know for a fact that Robin did not notice nor appreciate this magnificent country as she was trying to drive on the very narrow, one lane road.  We had to backup twice while attempting to round a corner to let small tour buses pass...I don't know what they were doing on that road!  We are not sure we ever saw the fairy glen... we turned around at a farm which was no easy task by the way, and returned to the main road (2 miles) without stopping to take a single photograph!


When we got back to Portree we stopped in town to look around and have dinner.  Skye Batiks is a lovely store run by a man and his daughter. We were greeted by the smell of fresh brewed coffee and offered a cup straight away.  Gavin and Tashara asked occasionally "is everyone happy?!"  and did their best to make sure that everyone was.

Portree

Skye Batiks

 We had dinner at Cafe Arriba.  An unusual restaurant for Scotland, much less Skye.  They offered loads of vegetarian dishes!  Gavin had recommended it and as we were sitting waiting for our order Tashara came in with extra buttons for the items we purchased. She said her dad sent her over because they had meant to give us an extra and forgot.  It was quite nice!

Cafe Arriba..we both had the Falafel

Cafe Arriba