Beautiful Melancholy
A week on the Isle of Skye
Our boys have a two-week spring break around Easter each year. This year, we went back to Scotland after having such a good time two years ago. We spent the first week of the vacation on the Isle of Skye and the second week in the Cairngorms National Park. Many of you asked me to share the details of our trip to Skye, so here you go! April on Skye was lovely: Newborn lambs dotted the landscape and the gorse bloomed with abandon. The weather was changeable and could be windy and cold, but when the sun came out, it was transformative, both for the landscape and our enjoyment. Skye has a beautiful melancholy that is very affecting and it feels quite different from mainland Scotland.
Before our trip, I read a little about Skye’s experience with over-tourism. We didn’t think Skye was busy—we never stood in traffic or had to hunt for a parking spot. We could walk into most restaurants and cafes and not wait for more than 15 minutes for a table. The popular hikes were busy, but not unpleasantly so. In most places, we were all alone. Still, when we talked to a local, he assured us that this week was far busier than the island is off-season and that tourism is a huge and tricky subject for locals—they need the money that tourism brings, but really resent the behavior of many tourists. The proliferation of camper vans is particularly upsetting, not only because they clog Skye’s single-track roads, but because tourists in camper vans spend far less locally than others. Anyway, all of this to say that, as with anywhere, it’s good to come to Skye and be aware of the fact that locals may have mixed feelings about your visit, especially during busy times (and to be respectful of the single track road rules—our rental emailed them to us more than once).
How we got to Skye and where we stayed: We flew to Inverness and rented a car at the airport. For us, having a car on Skye was essential because we wanted to get around to all the nooks and crannies of the island.
We stayed in this vacation rental in the village of Edinbane, a 20-minute drive from Portree, the island’s capital. (We did most of our grocery shopping at the Co-Op in Portree.) The main house, which also has a living room, a big kitchen and two bathrooms, sleeps six, while next door, a second, smaller house sleeps two. The views from the house were dreamy and we enjoyed hanging out there at night (the house had games, puzzles and a television, but no books). And the location was convenient because it allowed us to visit almost every corner of the island.
Our itinerary: We left our house in the morning after breakfast and didn’t come home until late in the day. Which meant that lunch1 was always out, while dinner was always at home. (Cooking in vacation rentals can be a bit of a chore, but the rental had sharp knives (!) and an induction stove, which was really nice to use.)
On our first day, we went to Sligachan, which is where the Black Cuillin mountains meet the coast, and hiked around the area that is managed by the John Muir Trust - yes, the same John Muir as the one from Muir Woods. It poured while we hiked, which delighted Hugo to no end, but then the sun came out and we found ourselves next to some black-faced sheep and the whole thing was a wonderful start to our visit. For lunch, we drove down to Kinloch Lodge for Sunday lunch (reservations required). After lunch (a splurge, but so ample that we had leftovers for dinner), we walked down to the lodge’s private beach and ran around in the seaweed, climbing the big rocks and jumping on moss. Then it was on to Armadale Castle, but it was too close to closing time, and so we drove on to the Point of Sleat. It poured again violently and there were gale force winds and then suddenly the sun came out and we saw multiple rainbows, all in the span of twenty minutes or so. The sheep were placid and unbothered throughout.
On our second day, we took a long walk through the gorse and heather around our cottage. The sheep we encountered either ignored us or gave us curious stares, then ran off if we got too close. After our walk, we drove to the Fairy Bridge. Local legend says that a Chief of the MacLeods married a fairy and had a child with her, but the fairy was only allowed to live with the Chief for a year and a day, after which she had to return to her people. The Fairy Bridge marks where she left after leaving their son wrapped in a silken shawl—the Fairy Flag (more on it here.) . Before visiting Dunvegan Castle, the seat of the MacLeod clan, we stopped for lunch at MacLeod’s Table, a casual cafeteria serving sandwiches, soups and homemade scones and cakes across the street. Dunvegan is the only Highland fortress that has been inhabited by the same family for more than 800 years. In fact, the 30th Clan Chief still lives there. The castle has beautiful gardens to explore, but it started absolutely pouring as soon as we were outside—transforming the scenery into something very Macbeth-by-Polanski2, if you know what I mean, and eventually we threw in the towel and spent the rest of the afternoon at home.
The highlight of our third day was hiking the Quiraing. This is the one of the most spectacular hikes I’ve ever done and we all loved it. Hugo and Max went all the way to the very top, where the cliffs were vertiginous, while Bruno and I stopped about 3/4 of the way up to sit amongst the sheep and munch on oatcakes. We were blessed with gorgeous weather that day and the views were spectacular. It was a hard hike and took all morning, but was so incredibly worth it. For lunch, we stopped at The Hungry Gull, where we had to wait for a table, but that was more than fine. The cafe is in a community center and they sell local crafts as well. It’s all very homey and sweet. (I recommend the Turkish eggs with delicious rora yogurt and any of the homemade cakes.) After that, we hiked off our lunch by going up to see the ruins of Duntulm Castle and I got into a nice chat with a couple from Oxford who were taking a Gaelic class in Armadale all week. Looking back, the four of us agree that this might have been the best day of the whole week.
On the fourth day, we explored Dun Beag Broch and then went over to the village of Carbost. A friend from Berlin recommended Café Cuil for lunch, which was excellent (I had a piece of labneh-smeared toast topped with local cured trout with blood oranges and pickles and the best blueberry scone of my entire life). Carbost is also home to the Talisker Distillery, which was packed with visitors. After lunch, we drove south to the Fairy Pools and went on a long hike there. The landscape was, as always, spectacular, but the wind was biting. We were all pretty relieved to finish the hike and go home to our cozy house.
On the fifth day, we decided to drive to Neist Point to see the lighthouse, but on the way, we stopped to visit Skye Weavers, where they make tweed fabric on a bicycle-powered loom. They produce about 20 meters a day! At Neist Point, we went on a long hike (again, with treacherous cliffs) to see the lighthouse. But the wind was gentle that day and once we were up at the top, we sat in the sun for a while and just stared at the sea and the landscape in awe. The natural beauty of Skye is truly jaw-dropping, everywhere you look. Afterwards, we drove around the Waternish peninsula, communed with some Angus cows and their babies, and visited SkyeSkyns, a tannery that makes incredibly beautiful and soft sheepskins. You can see the whole process and then go upstairs and touch all the sheepskins and dream about padding an entire room with them.
On our final day, the sun was out in full force in the morning, so we drove over to Staffin and started hiking up to the Old Man of Storr, but after so many days of long walks and hikes, the boys lost steam pretty quickly. Max kept going up the mountain and the boys and I went down, got hot drinks at a little shack and just sat there admiring the landscape and playing Draw It (thanks for the tip, Youngna!). Afterwards, we noodled around Portree, the island’s capital, poking into gift shops and going down to the harbor to look at the boats, but it got quite gray, both metaphorically and literally, and we were on vacation after all, so we threw in the towel and spent the rest of the afternoon at home being cozy and getting ready for our big drive from Skye to the Cairngorms.
I wished we could have gone to Raasay by ferry or on a boat ride to see puffins and sea eagles, but we felt like we got a great week in Skye and saw so much of the island just by driving everywhere and getting out to hike whenever the mood struck. The boys were happy to spend the days tramping around outside and we made sure to always have some cookies or oatcakes on hand to stave off any mood swings.
We love you, Scotland!
I’m only going to mention/link to the places we liked.
I wanted to just show them the first scene with the witches on the beach, but Bruno has had a pretty serious witch phobia since he had a formative trauma with a Bruno-sized witch doll at a CVS on Halloween years ago, so it will probably have to wait another ten years at least oh well.
Sounds like perfection- I hope we are going to hear about you week in Cairngorms as well?
Folks who travel with sensitivity to the residents who live in a destination have my vote!!!