December Recap: The Isle of Skye

I should note first that getting back from London was a little tricky because of a powerful wind storm around the 8th of December that slowed our train to a crawl in in general wreaked havoc across Scotland and Northern England. The hurricane-force winds around 165 mph weren't quite as strong at my school, but it was bad enough that when my friend and I arrived back in town from London the buses had stopped running to the city centre and debris from trees were scattered around the road. A group of friends and I had scheduled a tour to the Highlands and the Isle of Skye that weekend and were afraid it would be canceled, but the next day after a slight delay as the tour picked up passengers with delayed trains, we were still on for the adventure.

Our Scottish tour guide Danny entertained us with his humorous renditions of Scottish and English history while we drove up north and west towards the island on the coast. We started to see the low, rolling hills blanketed in snow, and as the sun set we found ourselves in an area completely covered in white, a change from the milder weather back in Stirling (apart from the wind!). We heard an interesting story surrounding the death of a politician Willie MacRae after driving by his memorial cairn, and through the dark and snow saw the outline of a statue commemorating the British Commando forces. We also passed by a nighttime Eilean Donan, the most photographed castle in Scotland, built out on the water. After a snowy drive we made it to our hostel and ate some haggis prepared by our guide with the traditional "neeps and tatties" (turnips and potatoes).

Snow on the hills in the Highlands

Our drive the next morning took us onto the Isle of Skye, where we saw the arching Skye Bridge and heard about the controversies surrounding its system of tolls, as well as took pictures of the ruins of small Dunakin Castle, home to a Norwegian princess. Our drive took us up into a beautiful, snow-covered area of water, tall hills, and meandering white sheep. We stopped to take a hike to one of the most beautiful places I have seen on my trip- a view out onto the coast that ran up into a snow-covered bay at the feet of the Black Cuillins, called Camasunary. It was a cold and icy walk in the winter but the snow added to the beauty. Satisfied with our view but hungry, we hiked back down and went into Portree, a little town on the eastern side of Skye, where we ate in a cafe looking over the sound. We drove a while and stopped at a beach hoping to see seals, but as the weather was getting worse we drove on again, this time to our next hostel for the night. We ate cottage pie prepared again by our guide and hung around the fireplace in the main room.

View out the bus window of snowy mountains

Kyleakin, with Castle Dunakin on the left

Driving to Camasunary

Camasunary Bay

Sheep by a ruined church

The next morning we got to see Eilean Donan in a brighter light before continuing on the road through a pass (I think called Glen Shiel) full of the most gorgeous mountains I have seen. We passed through Inverness, stopping briefly at Castle Urquhart, which I had visited at the beginning of the year, and along Loch Ness, before arriving at Culloden Battlefield for a little more Scottish history. Our last two stops involved grabbing food in a small town (I purchased a little Christmas truffle from a bakery) and taking a walk in the park.

Eilean Donan

At Culloden Battlefield

Views along the highway

While the inclement weather thwarted some of our plans and cut off a few roads, I still feel that I was treated to some lovely views in the Highlands, and got to see them and the Isle of Skye in a time when most tourists don't.