Isle of Skye

Next up--our two-night stay on the Isle of Skye!

Where we stayed: Marine House, Portree

Why we wanted to come: A curiosity to see a rather remote part of Scotland that was said to be quite beautiful. Anyway, the name just sounds intriguing, doesn't it?

Major sights: Driving loop around the north end of the island, the Fairy Pools

The are no big towns on Skye, but Portree is one of the largest. Still, it's a pretty small place with a quaint harbor. Christina did a fantastic job finding us a B&B--Marine House was right on the harbor-front. You can see it in this picture--it's the little pink house on the left at the back of the harbor, in between the white and brown houses. The owner was another very sweet lady who served us a fantastic breakfast. An added treat was that our room had a window looking straight out at the harbor.

 We also climbed a hill and got a bigger view of the bay that Portree is next to. The land in the distance is actually another smaller island--the Isle of Raasay.

Sunset in the harbor.

 On our one full day in Skye we did a drive around the north side of the island.

On the right side of this picture you can see a rock formation called the Old Man of Storr.

The steep cliffs in the background here are called Kilt Rock.

At one point we turned off the main road to drive up to a pass over the island. This was another competitor for "windiest spot" during our trip.

Yes, Amber really did drive up this road!!

So wild and beautiful!

My favorite sheep picture. We saw lots of sheep and lambs, but I just love this picture. There were sheep everywhere--in the fields and sometimes on the roads.

You can just barely see a hint of more islands out there across the water. Those, I'm pretty sure, were the Outer Hebrides. The Isle of Skye is actually part of the Inner Hebrides.

After lunch, we headed south in search of the famed Fairy Pools, which have lovely turquoise blue water. It was a bit of an adventure finding them. We had to drive along another single track road (similar to the road we had been on that morning), dotted with many pull-out spots to let on-coming traffic pass. It wasn't really that far from Portree, but it seems like it took a long time to get there, because we weren't sure what we were looking for.

The Black Cuillin Mountains on our way to the Fairy Pools (at least, I'm pretty sure that's what they were). 

The road to the pools looked so remote, it felt as though there wouldn't be very many people there. And yet, we had been sight-seeing enough in the Highlands by now that I had a sneaking suspicion it wound't be that way. I said jokingly to the girls that when we finally found the Fairy Pools there would probably be a parking lot full of lots of tourists, complete with a food truck. As it turned at, there was a food truck (and a lot of tourists)--greatly to my surprise!

The path to the Fairy Pools.

The Fairy Pools are spread out along a fairly easy hiking trail that winds through a glen towards the mountains. Along the way we got to cross a few little streams.

 One of the pools with its signature turquoise blue water.

I was trying to imitate a postcard we had bought in this picture. It didn't turn out as vivid as the postcard, but it's still pretty!

You know you're in Scotland when you see a man wearing a kilt taking pictures across the way.