England-Scotland Day 8 (Part 4) – Evening at Portree on the Isle of Skye

10 April 2010

The village of Portree, situated on the east side of Skye overlooking a sheltered bay, is the capital of the island and centrally located on the Isle of Skye.  and . It is surrounded by hills, Ben Tianavaig to the south and Suidh Fhinn or Fingal’s Seat to the west, both about 1000ft (413m and 312m respectively) and Ben Chrachaig, much lower (144m) to the north.

The area around Portree harbour is a good place to stay and we had booked a Bed & Breakfast B&B, called the Ben Tianavaig. It is located on high ground, overlooking the Portree harbour.

“Postcard view” of the Portree harbour from outside the B&B. Yes, we saw postcards of Scotland with this view!

I had booked the B& B via email and our hosts Bill and Charlotte Johnson were waiting for our arrival. Bill helped directed me to park the car into a tight space by the road across the B&B. We took the 2 rooms at the ground floor, on both sides of the entrance. 

Once we had checked in and freshen up, it was time to explore the small town of Portree and also dinner! Naturally, we took a stroll downhill to the harbour front.

Ben Tianaviag B&B – great place to stay in Portree and some of the best hosts we met during our trip.

View of the actual Ben Tianavaig across the harbour. The B&B is named after this mountain that could be viewed outside the B&B and also from our breakfast table on the second floor of the B&B.

Interesting road sign at Portree harbour, Isle of Skye. Good thing we walked here!

Our B&B perched on the top of the cliff, overlooking the harbour, and walking distance to the restaurants in the town.

Portree harbour and Ben Tianavaig glowing in the evening sun. It was about 7.45 PM by now but the sky was still bright in spring.

Checking out the menu of the Sea Breezes restaurant at Portree Harbour.

After a day of driving, we needed a good dinner to end the day with. Choosing the Seabreezes Restaurant was a good decision. Dinner at the Seabreezes Restaurant was great! We ordered the langoustine platter, fresh scallop pasta amongst other seafood. The scallops (about 8 cm in diameter) was the largest and tastiest I have eaten so far.

The view of the harbour and town at dusk was simply pretty. I had left my tripod in the B&B, so I had to improvise to take some long exposure shots of the night scene.

View of Portree from the outside the Seabreeze Restaurant before our dinner. Our B&B is on the top right hand corner of picture. 

View of Portree from the outside the Seabreeze Restaurant after our dinner. Beautiful!

Portree Harbour at night. Calm and serene. This photo was shot on long exposure, without tripod, but resting my camera on the railings!

Portree after dark. Quiet and peaceful.

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England-Scotland Day 9 (Part 1) – Our plan for exploring the Trotternish Peninsula on Isle of Skye

11 April 2010

The day started off with a good breakfast on the second floor of the Ben Tianaviag B&B. Besides serving us an excellent breakfast, Bill Johnson came to chat with us and helped fine-tuned our sight-seeing plan for the day. 

Our plan was to explore the Trotternish Peninsula and North-East Skye and all these could be covered in a day, going up one side of it and come down the other side for a full circuit.

Places I planned to cover includes the following:

THE OLD MAN OF STORR (8 miles north of Portree) - stone pinnacle which is 160 feet high and featured on many postcards on Scotland.

LEALT (14 miles north of Portree) – a walking trail to see Skye's most spectacular gorge and waterfall.

MEALT WATERFALL AND KILT ROCK (17 miles north of Portree) - a waterfall that drops 300 feet into the sea.  Kilt Rock is where columns of dolerite form what appears to be pleats in the cliff

THE QUIRAING (20 miles north of Portree) – Mountains with weird formations of pinnacles and pillars.

DUNTULM CASTLE (26 miles north of Portree) – a ruin castle close by the sea.

UIG (15 miles north-west of Portree) - Ferry terminal and town. Probably a good place for lunch.

FAIRY GLEN (2 or 3 miles east of Uig) - conical mounds and hillocks divided by steep-sided narrow valleys were formed by a process of landslips. 

DUNVEGAN CASTLE (22 miles west of Portree ) - Picturesque castle and wooded gardens.

 

Bill loaned us his detailed maps of Skye which I found particularly useful. He recommended that we drive up to the Quiraing for the gorgeous views and walks at the top. He said that we should have no problems with it if we had done the Applecross Pass. It is going to be easier or pretty much the same!

The above itinerary would be enough for a day trip but I wanted to photograph Neist Point at sunset. Neist Point is the most Westerly point on the Isle of Skye. This is a good place for short coastal walks, spectacular sceneries and watching the sunset. It would meant a detour from the standard Trotternish Peninsula driving route, going through some single-track roads, to get to this remote area.

It may mean some night driving on the way back. But if you had seen some the photographs of this place in postcards of Scotland, you will understand why this was a “MUST GO” place for me in Skye. I will post my photos of Neist Point at a later post. We planned to be back at Portree for dinner and probably back to the Sea Breezes Restaurant again!

By the time we finished our breakfast and ready to go, it was 10 AM. I could not help taking more shots of the postcard picture views of Portree with the reflection of the pastel coloured buildings off the still water of the harbour, but this time in the morning light. The lighting was harsher now, so it was not the best picture but still pretty nevertheless.

Photo of Portree Harbour in the late morning. 

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England-Scotland Day 9 (Part 2) – Old Man of Storr, Lealt Falls and Mealt Waterfall and Kilt Rock

11 April 2010

Leaving Portree, we drove northwards towards the Trotternish Peninsula via the A855. We could see the Old Man of Storr from the road as we approached it, some 8 miles north of Portree.

We spotted some horned sheep by the road and being city folks, we stopped the car to get closer.

By the A855 road and taking photos of sheep and ram. The Old Man of Storr in the distance on the left.

Photo of a young ram, backlit by the morning sun.

The Old Man of Storr seen from the roadside.  This basalt pillar is one of Isle of Skye most famous landmark.

There is a car park at the foot of the hill next to the forest. We could have parked our car at the carpark and walked up to the Old Man of Storr, but somehow we did not do it.

The location surrounding the Old Man of Storr had been featured in many movies and most recently, we saw it in the opening scenes of the alien sci-fi show Prometheus.

We stopped at the Lealt Falls and took the recommended walk down the path on the south side of the river towards the shore to view the coast.

This is supposed to be Skye's most spectacular gorge and waterfall but we had seen better. Nevertheless the walk to the coast was a nice experience. The Applecross mountains could been seen across the sea from here.

Lealt Falls running down the gorge.

The gorge leads into the sea. The Applecross peninsula where we were the day before could be seen across the sea.

Walking to the edge of the cliff.

Some parts of the cliff were unfenced. We could see sheep grazing on the steep slope in the distance cliff. Sure-footed beasts. A slip would mean a fall into the sea below.

Some ruins at the bottom of the cliff.

Thrill seeker sitting on a rock near the edge of the gorge. I would not want my kids to do this!

“Flag of Scotland” seen over the sky at Skye.

Our next stop was the Mealt Falls. This waterfall drops 300 feet into the sea. This is one of the few waterfalls in the world where the water falls directly into the sea. I had seen one similar, in the island of Jeju, South Korea.

Mealt Fall – quite spectacular. Kilt Rock in the background.

Joanna doing the “Merlion”. The merlion is  famous tourist landmark in Singapore. It is a stone figurine that has a lion head and a mermaid’s tail and spouting water out of its mouth.

Like most places of interest in Scotland, there were information signs here. Kilt Rock was formed about 61 to 55 millions years ago by volcanic activities. It was formed when molten rock were pushed up through the sandstones by volcanic activities and then cooled subsequently. The sandstones were then eroded over time, leaving the harder rock pillars in columnar form.

A closer shot of Kilt Rock, using telephoto lens.

A closer look at Kilt Rock revealed upper layers of hard rocks with the sandstone eroded away and the lower layer of rock with the horizontal sandstones still present.

This place is also known for its dinosaur fossil. Fossils of dinosaur footprints were found on a beach in the town of Staffin nearby.

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England-Scotland Day 9 (Part 3) – Going up the Quirang in the Isle of Skye

11 April 2010

Shortly after leaving the Mealt Falls and Kilt Rock carpark, we approached the Quirang. This is the mountain range that Bill had told us about during breakfast.

We caught our first glimpse of the Quirang from the A855.

We could see tiny figures of some people on the mountain top as we took the single track road that will leads us there.

We turned off the A855 and took a single track road that zig zag up the mountain. It was like “Applecross Pass” driving all over again.

We passed some cyclists. It was amazing to see an elderly man on a black bicycle going up the mountain on the road that we were taking. This road will lead to the other side of the Skye peninsula, so he must be taking a “short-cut” by cycling up and down this mountain pass!

We left our car at the car park near the peak and explored the flat surface of this “table mountain”. We had to be careful not to fall off the edge. We were now the “tiny people” seen by cars below.

There were a few trails for walks at the top of the Quirang. We took a trail that leads to the weird formations of pinnacles and pillars, stopping often to enjoy the views.

View from the Quirang. Car negotiating one of the many hair-pin turns on the single track road.

Here, we were taking the trail at the top of the Quirang that leads to the weird formations of pinnacles and pillars.

Stopping for a photo.

View of the single track road that we took to get to the top of the Quirang.

Mom and daughter moment – enjoying the sun and views of Skye and the Applecross peninsula across the sea.

Putting my tripod to good use - Family photo at the Quirang.

After the walk, we went back to our car and back-tracked down the road we came from and headed towards Staffin. If we did not backtrack down the way we came, the single track road would take us across the top of the Quirang and down to the other side of the Trotternish peninsula.

Once back on the A855, we continued northwards to see the Duntulum Castle.

Cottages at the foot of the Quirang near Staffin.

As the Quirang is a mountain range, a panoramic photo is needed to show its complete majesty.

The photo below is created from several photos stitched together using a panorama-maker software.

Panorama of the Quirang – one last look at the mountains taken from the A855 road as we travelled northwards.

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England-Scotland Day 9 (Part 4) – Visit to two castles Duntulm and Dunvegan and the Fairy Glen on the Isle of Skye

11 April 2010

Duntulm Castle is a castle ruin situated on the northern coast of the Trotternish Peninsula, Isle of Skye. To get to the castle, we took a short walk on a footpath across a grass fields on top of a ridge, avoiding the landmines (sheep droppings) along the way.

Not much was left of the castle, except piles of rubble and some crumbling walls where wooden fences had being put up as a safety barrier to prevent visitors from taking an unplanned dip in the sea below.  I was not too interested in the history of this place, but the ruins and blue sea offered some photographic opportunities.

Ruins of Duntulm Castle.

Ruin of Duntulm Castle by the northern coast of Isle of Skye.

Exploring Duntulm Castle, Isle of Skye, Scotland.

View from a “window” . I was amazed by the colour of the sea below. A deep blue and crystal clear!

We stopped for lunch at Uig. Not much options here, although this was supposed to be a ferry point to some outer islands. Lunch was some sandwiches from a deserted cafe.

Uig – a place where we stopped for lunch. Not much options here, surprisingly.

Then we moved on to search for the Fairy Glen, a supposedly “magical” place just outside of Uig. Along the way, we spotted the same elderly man on the black bicycle we had last seen cycling up the Quirang. Amazing how physically fit the local folks are.

The Fairly Glen was not well marked in the maps we had. So it took some navigating, wrong turns and back-tracking before we finally got there.

The Fairy Glen is a “bizarre and delightful miniature landscape of grassy, cone-shaped hills” as described in the guidebooks and internet. No big wow factor here but it was a nice place to take a hike and enjoy the weather.

Exploring the Fairy Glen near Uig, Isle of Skye, Scotland.

Leaving our car by the roadside, we took a small footpath up a slope to explore the place where fairies lives. The small conical hills were the points of interest.

Our final destination and objective for the day is to visit Neist Point, the most westerly point on the Isle of Skye. To get there we have to pass by Dunvegan where there was another touristy place to visit – the Dunvegan Castle. The castle was not on my list of places to see in Skye, but since it was too early to see the sunset at Neist Point, we paid (not cheap!) a visit to the castle.

Unlike Duntulm Castle, this castle is not in ruins. We went into the building to see the interiors. There were supposed to be other activities like boat rides on the loch but it was not operational in Spring.

The garden is supposed to be a highlight of this attraction, but at this time of year in early Spring, the garden was not at its best yet.

Garden at Dunvegan Castle.

We left Dunvegan Castle feeling a little let down and proceed to take the single track road to Neist Point.

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England-Scotland Day 9 (Part 5) – Neist Point at Isle of Skye

11 April 2010

For a photographer or hobbyist, no visit to the Isle of Skye is complete without a visit to Neist Point to photograph the cliffs.  That’s what I told my family to get them to tag along with me while I took a detour off the beaten path to see this place.

Leaving the A863 near Dunvegan, I took a B-road heading west towards the most westerly point of the Isle of Skye, followed by a single track road. Thanks to the detailed map provided by Bill Johnson from our B&B, we managed to find this place.

There is a car park at the end of the single track road for hikers to leave their cars. There is a well publicised walk  (about one mile distance) from the car park to the lighthouse below the steep cliff. We did not take that path. It would be long walk down and a steep climb back up if we were to go to the lighthouse.

Instead, we went through a wooden gate and took a walk by the edge of the cliff northwards. The views from the top of the were magnificent, well worth the effort to get to this place.

I was leading the way across the fields looking for the best spot to shoot the “postcard” view of Neist Point while the family followed behind. Far behind!

Finally, the spot I was looking for - Northern face of the cliff and lighthouse in the distance. The trail leading to the Neist Point lighthouse in the distance could be seen on the left.

Neist Point at Isle of Skye.

Family photo at cliff overlooking Neist Point – a highlight of my trip to Isle of Skye.

The lighthouse at Neist Point. This is a view often seen in postcards of Scotland.

To appreciate this place, I shot a couple of panorama of the Moonen Bay and Neist Point.

I would have like to stay here a little longer to take more pictures of the coastline at dusk but that would mean a wait of at least 2 hours and a drive back on a single track road in the dark. Not a good option to take.

Last look at Moonen Bay and coast of western Skye from near the car park.

We decided to head back to Portree for a good dinner at the Seabreezes Restaurant again. But it was not to be.

Seabreezes Restaurant was closed! We scouted around and have our dinner at the another restaurant on the quayside at the Portree harbour.

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