Popular for good reason
Skye’s beauty draws the crowds but peace and seclusion are easy to locate, finds Alison Gray
We had a three pronged mission for our visit to Skye; to take the temperature of the somewhat fevered debate about awkward term “overtourism” on the island, to experience the might and majesty of the Black Cuillin range of mountains and to find dinosaur footprints, some spotted in the early 2000s and others newly identified by the University of Edinburgh earlier this year.
Saturday dawned bright and sunny, which is not something you can say about every May weekend on Skye so we immediately made tracks of our own in the direction of perhaps our boldest trip challenge – one of the tops of the Black Cuillins. The imposing range looked even more dramatic than usual, thanks to the pockets of snow packed deep into the crevasess of the gabbro. Bruach na Frithe is known as the “easiest” of the peaks – it’s all relative, there’s a bit of scrambling required – and we encountered young Paddy attempting his first Munro with his dad (what’s wrong with Schiehallion or one of the ones you can drive half way up?). We also met a striking collie with half black half white face also on his first ascent, but we didn’t catch his name. It was a hill of three birds – first the bold chaffinch which fluttered over to us as we got the boots out of the car; I’m guessing he regularly helps walkers dispose of any spare breakfast they don’t need. Then there was the gull at the top of the hill, determined not to be beaten by the wind as he came in for an awkward landing, rewarded by a titbit of sandwich. However our third sighting was definitely the most impressive – as we headed along the old drovers’ road from Sligachan Glen back towards the Glen Brittle car park at the Fairy Pools, we heard the distinctive peep of a sea eagle and looked up to see no fewer than five magnificent birds wheeling above us on thermals, their white tail feathers fanning out against the clear blue sky. Everyone on the ground scrambled for their cameras.
And when I say everyone there were quite a few people around. We had managed to get a space in the car park that services the Fairy Pools but many hadn’t and a long line of cars and camper vans snaked along the verge of the single track road.
Last summer it was claimed that Skye was “full” thanks to “overtourism”. While it is absolutely fair to say that there are a few pinch points – the Fairy Pools as well as the distinctive and crucially, easily accessible by road rock formation of the Quiraing are two places that immediately spring to mind – the misty isle has lost none of its magic.
What’s urgent and seems to be happening in some hot spots – is the repair of road surfaces and the creation of new car parks.
We stayed at Duisdale House Hotel on the Sleat peninsula and Skeabost Hotel, close to Portree, which together with sister hotel Toravaig House make up the Sonas group of boutique hotels.
The evening meal at Skeabost, a recent award winner at the Catering Scotland (CIS) Excellence Awards was a highlight of our visit, and not only because we were ravenous after our day on the hills. Filipe and Ana from Portugal, now into their seventh month on the island run the dining room like clockwork. The sunshine brought out the tourists to feast on such delights as mackerel mousse accompanied by homemade oatcakes and a sticky toffee pudding which somehow managed to be light as well as gooey and decadent, in the light and bright conservatory which kept the sun until after well after 9pm.
Another foodie highlight was our visit to The Oyster Shed in Carbost, just past the Talisker Distillery. Sample half a dozen of these bivales which are shucked before your very eyes on site or take them home. Skeabost, main and its conservatory, above; Duisdale House, top right and above left
Previously the only way you’d get to eat them in an island restaurant was if you were booked into The Three Chimneys, but Paul Mcglynn who harvests his catch from Loch Harport has opened up a place in The Royal Hotel in Portree for the summer season, 11am to 5pm, eat in or take away.
Of course there is a new reason, or rather a very old reason to visit Skye this year, in particular the Trotternish peninsula where researchers from Edinburgh University have reported finding about 50 footprints left by two types of dinosaurs: a long-necked plant eater that was the size of a few elephants and a fast-running carnivore that was a primitive cousin of T.rex.
Just goes to show that Skye’s always been popular, even with visitors 170 million years ago. At Skeabost, Skeabost Bridge, By Portree (tel: 01470 532202, www. skeabosthotel.com) B&B is from £250
per room – £125 per person: DB&B is from £338 per room – £169 per
person. At Duisdale House, Isle of Ornsay, Sleat, (tel: 01471 833202, www. duisdale.com) B&B is from £238 per room – £119 per person; DB&B is from £338 per room –£169 per person) The Oyster Shed (tel: 01478 640383, www.theoysterman.co.uk)
We looked up to see no fewer than five magnificent sea eagles