Over the bridge to Skye, and a touch of Rabbie Burns

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Picture perfect Plockton, a beautiful village we decided to stop at on our way to the Isle of Skye. We’d found Plockton by chance a few years ago, it sits on the banks of Loch Carron and I can’t imagine a more perfect view. Unsurprisingly it has been the setting for the series Hamish Macbeth, and some scenes in the film The Wicker Man. On the far side of the bay sits Duncraig Castle, having an unusual history told in part in by a BBC documentary in 2002 when 17 family members moved in together and set about renovating it, apparently there were lots of disputes! Currently the castle is in private ownership, but it still has its own train station!

Heading on around the coast we arrive at the Kyle of Lochalsh, and the bridge to Skye. There are no campsites open, but we found a small ‘motorhome park’ for 5 vehicles adjacent to a community centre in the south of the island. On Skye we were surprised to meet up with many motorhomes and campervans with tourists from all over Europe, so we weren’t the only mad ones visiting the Highlands and Islands in November! I’ve no idea where they camped though. Although Scotland is synonymous with ‘free camping’ it actually applies just to tents, we found most stopping areas and car parks do not allow overnight stays.

Skye is huge, it took us 2 days to drive around the main routes, with viewing stops, its over 2 hours driving from one end to the other, and we have short days so we had to get up and out sharpish. Portree is the central town and has a nice pretty harbour. There are some interesting rock formations as you head north, are ‘the Old Man of Storr’ and the ‘Quiraing’, but we mostly enjoyed watching a pod of dolphins from the cliff tops at Rigg and Kilt Rock. Weather was mainly dry, but we did have a wonderful rainbow as we arrived at ‘the Fairy Pools’. Initially quite hard to find, it’s a series of pools along a waterfall. In the summer its great spot for swimming, but we weren’t brave enough today! Skye had been lovely to see, a lot of driving but some beautiful scenery.

One of the reasons for going to Scotland in the autumn was to hopefully see the northern lights. I duly downloaded an app and had been tracking our chances. The first couple of weeks the moon was too bright, but on Skye we had better conditions. You also have to wait for an ‘auroral substorm’, and have a clear sky, so all conditions have to be in place. Its incredibly rare to see the coloured lights with the naked eye, they appear as a faint white glow, the best way to capture them is with a camera, so we had a go…. it was really exiting to see our results.

To finish our Scottish adventure, we took a beautiful route via Glen Sheil and Invergarry to Fort William. Sitting at the foot of Ben Nevis the town is quite disappointing, mostly popular for those wanting to climb the great mountain. (It certainly wasn’t the weather for climbing today, but I’ve already been lucky enough to have climbed Ben Nevis before). We had a walk to ‘Neptune’s steps’ a series of locks that complete the linking of the Scottish lochs allowing boat traffic to travel the length of the Caledonian Canal, from the East coast at Inverness to the west coast at Corpach (near Fort William). It was an incredible feat of engineering in the early 19^th C and is still widely used for leisure travellers as well as some commercial boats.

Driving south we passed through the stunning autumn colours of Glencoe, and down the side of Loch Lomond. We skirted Glasgow and headed for the coast of Ayrshire, stopping briefly at the lovely coastal town of Troon. Our final Scottish overnight stay was in Mauchline near Ayr. We were the only ones on our campsite, staying in the walled garden on the estate of an old house. Robert Burns was born in nearby Alloway, we thought it rude not to pay our respects so visited the well presented National Trust museum in his honour. Its close to the Brig O’Doon, mentioned in the final verse of Rabbie Burn’s poem Tam O Shanter, and features on the Scottish £5 note. Also nearby is a Victorian memorial to Robert Burns and the original cottage of his birth. I’m much more informed about the life and times of Rabbie Burns, he led a very interesting life, it was great to hear his poetry read aloud, but I’m still working on my understanding of the original Scots language!

A truly fitting end to our Scottish adventure, as we pass through the lovely countryside of Dumfries and Galloway, past Gretna Green to complete our loop, a journey of over 1600 miles. In Scotland, we found her steeped in history, stunning scenery, wild waves, and a warm welcome.

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Photos

Quiraing
Rock formations Skye