Isle of Skye Scotland
Scotland and the amazing beauty of its islands
While living in London, I had many conversations with Brits about Scottish islands, especially about Isle of Skye. Almost all of them knew about the Isle of Skye, although not many of them had visited this beautiful island located in the northwest of Scotland. Perhaps, because it is so far away from the UK – more than one thousand kilometres. However, the nature of the Isle of Skye is so unpredictable that you know either you may enjoy a nice holiday or weather conditions would challenge you all the way through while you are there.
We accepted the challenge and went there for our early summer holidays. I must admit that we have chosen early June for going over to the Isle of Skye, knowing that there may be a chance to get some sunny days there during that time of the year. After being on the Isle of Skye already twice now, I can tell that it is one of the most beautiful places in Europe. Because of the people living there, because of nature and the whole range of experiences, you may get there.
Scotland was joined with England in 1603 when Scottish King James VI also became the King of England James I. This agreement was formalised in 1707 and because of it both kingdoms created the United Kingdom with parliament in Westminster. Before that, there were many wars between England and Scotland, however, the English never were able to conquer Scotland. In 1999, Scots voted in favour of creating their own Scottish Parliament, which has legal rights to deal with several matters in Scotland, for example, education and tax policy.
Arrival to Scotland
The first time, we visited Scotland was in June 2009 arriving at Glasgow Prestwick Airport on a Ryanair flight. We booked a car for rent and a van picked us up in the airport to give us a lift to their office in Prestwick. Only 15 minutes we had to wait for the van to arrive and we were soon in Prestwick; since our exit from the airport, it took about half an hour to arrive at the Arnold Clark car rental office.
We made the booking a while in advance through the Economy Car Rentals website. After completing all the paperwork, we started our trip to the Isle of Skye – our destination was Prtnalong village some 380 kilometres from Prestwick. As far as I know, the name of the village may be translated from the local language as harbour.
Arrival to Skye
For centuries, the Isle of Skye was under the influence of two major clans – MacDonalds and MacLeods (the existence of the last one you may recall from the film Highlander). My first impressions about Scottish Highlands –wild and very beautiful. Something similar to the scenery you may see in Norway, though everything is more compact – you do not have to travel very long distances to see everything. And of course – sheep all around, even on roads everywhere you go (similar to some places in Norway).
As we arrived around midday, we reached the Isle of Skye very late in the afternoon; it was nice to observe the sunset while crossing a bridge connecting mainland Scotland with the Isle of Skye. Before that, we made a couple of stops and visited Eilean Donan Castle, which is one of the most known castles in Scotland, sometimes presented as a symbol of Scotland and its castles. The castle is located on a tiny island close to the road and, most probably because of that, is one of the most photographed objects in Scotland.
Accommodation
Very close to midnight, we arrived at camping The Croft Bunkhouse, Bothies & Wigwams (address: 7 Portnalong, Isle of Skye, IV47 8SL, phone Billy/Kara on 07834827524); please note that they only accept bookings for a minimum of 3 nights. We got a place for four people in the bunkhouse with a kitchen inside the room. It was a little, nice and cosy room for a family with two children.
I must note that finding a place on Skye according to the given address may be a challenge, especially if you visit Skye for the first time; it may take more time than you expected. Upon our arrival, the hosts already were in their beads, however, they kindly left us the keys to the bunkhouse and a short welcome letter, so we happily went to sleep after a very long and exciting day in Scotland.
There is another blog about our trip around the Isle of Skye; for this, only a bit more about us leaving the island.
Back to mainland of Scotland
After a few exciting and sometimes even challenging days on the Isle of Skye, we had to leave this beautiful island and return to mainland Scotland. We arrived at our bunkhouse exhausted but very happy to spend our last night on Skye. The next destination, the popular town of Fort William, was waiting for us.
There are two major options to get from Skye to Fort William – a bridge near Kyle and a ferry connecting Armadale with Mallaig. As we arrived at Skye via bridge, we decided to go for a ferry for our return. There is no big difference in terms of travel distance between those if you are in the central or northern part of Skye. Going via bridge will take some 180 kilometres of driving; using a ferry will take about 150 kilometres. It was worth trying the ferry because the port of Armadale was very nice, we spent some time wandering around and taking some nice pictures.