By Portree

Both these little beauties lie close to Skye’s capital village. The first walks you north to Scorrybreac* and a panorama of the Black Cuillin and the buttresses of the Torridon range on the distant mainland. From the Cuillin Hills Hotel, the road-come-path curls around Portree Bay, looking out to the pier and the brightpainted buildings that line the harbour wall. Fishing boats bob in the shallows and birdsong resounds from the nearby woodland. Beyond a small boathouse, the path climbs through an avenue of trees and out along the coast. The going gets rougher underfoot but the scene for the next mile sings to the soul. To your left is the sheer slab of the Scorrybreac headland, black rock and ochre scrub, ravens circling its heights. Out and off to the right, the teardrop-shaped bay is flanked by a second imposing headland, Braes, and the soaring peak of Ben Tianavaig. Ahead, the smaller island of Raasay, on a clear day brilliant green against the deep blue of the ocean, with seal, harbour porpoise and dolphin breaking the chopping waters. Look up and you may spy a sea eagle navigating the thermals with its barn door-shaped wings. Eventually the path, such as it now is, sheers steeply to the brow of the headland (or you can cross a more gently inclining field and zigzag up a track to the same point) to drink in that vista, before returning via heath and trees to Portree.

The second walk takes you to Braes Head (pic below) on the opposite side of Portree Bay and is even more bracing. From a layby near The Braes (grid ref NG525350) a sign indicates the path, which meanders a short way across boggy heath before descending to a crescent-shaped beach where white shale-sand peppered with black rock sweeps out into the Sound of Raasay. Follow the arc of the beach and go up the shoulder of burnt-green heathland. There’s no path now, but the route is obvious, dead ahead, and the going easy. Go to the lip of the headland, where your senses are assailed by the wind from the sea, Raasay looming ahead, the land falling to the ocean on either side, and behind, the imperious hulk of Glamaig.