Today was the day we went ‘over the sea to Skye’, only in our case, it was on a CalMac ferry from Tarbert in Harris. We drove down through Harris to Tarbert and were dropped near the ferry so we could look at some local products. Some people went to taste the local gin, but neither of us likes gin so I went to the Harris Tweed shop. I didn’t buy myself anything though, I’m not quite sure why.
We went to the ferry terminal and watched the ferry come in, which it did with the bow doors open, somewhat to my surprise.
Once on board, we failed to find the steps up to the deck, so we stayed chatting in the café and so failed to photograph the leaving of Tarbert. I did take some photos as we left but the ferry windows were filthy so the photos are useless.
The ferry journey took 2 hours, and we drove off the ferry and into Uig. Ferries from Harris and from South Uist dock here, but it is a tiny place, though in a lovely setting.
You can see from this that the ferry is still in the harbour.
We drove through Uig and along the Totternish peninsula, where we made several stops. I have to say, today was sometimes a difficult journey for the bus. Many of the roads we took were only one track wide, with passing places, and, this being the tourist season, there are far too many vehicles for the type of road.
The first visit was to Kilmuir graveyard where we found the grave of Flora MacDonald, who saved Bonnie Prince Charlie.
‘Bonnie Prince Charlie’ or ‘The Young Pretender’ was Charles Edward Stuart, son of the Old Pretender, James, son of the exiled Stuart King James ll. Charles raised a rebellion in his father’s name against King George ll in 1755 and was defeated at the Battle of Culloden. His subsequent flight has become the stuff of legend and is commemorated in the popular folk song The Skye Boat Song. Hiding in the moors of Scotland, he was always barely ahead of the British government forces. Charles was assisted by many supporters including Flora MacDonald who helped him escape to Skye by taking him there, disguised as her Irish maid, Betty Burke, in a small boat. In this way he evaded capture and was able to leave the country to go back to France.
In a more modern part of the graveyard, we also found the grave of Alexander McQueen, the fashion designer and couturier. I had no idea he had any connection to Skye.
Very close to the graveyard is the Skye Museum of Island Life, another Blackhouse museum which I would have liked to visit. However, nobody else wanted to go there, so I didn’t go either.
The road along the peninsula is scenic, with distinctively shaped hills and some spectacular rock scenery, with the mist rolling down onto them. This is an area known as The Quiraing, As part of the Trotternish ridge it has been formed by a massive landslip which has created high cliffs, hidden plateaus and pinnacles of rock, some of which I photographed but I was photographing from the bus window directly into the sun, so there is nothing worth seeing, I’m afraid.
We visited Kilt Rock, 200ft high cliffs marked in an almost tartan like pattern by the rock strata, and with a waterfall tumbling sheer to the pebbled shore below.
As it was a very windy day, we got wet from the spray from the waterfall, even though we weren’t particularly near to it.
A little further along the coast, we visited a gorge
There was a option to go down the cliff path to an eco museum, but the path was very narrow and and right along the edge of the cliffs which were very high and none of us felt inclined to go down, so we continued towards Portree. We passed another spectacular rock formation known as The Old Man of Storr.
As you can see, the old man is hidden in the mist, so this is another hopeless photo. So we didn’t stop, but pressed on to Portree.
Portree is very hilly, with narrow roads and awkward turns and far too much traffic for the type of roads. It is very pretty though. We took photographs after supper
This is the pretty harbour, backed by colourful houses. I need to get a photo from high above the harbour to get all the houses in. I had intended to try it tonight, but instead we heard the sound of a pipe band, and followed it to see what was happening. It transpired that the Isle of Skye Pipe Band was hosting a pipe band from Scotch College in Melbourne (Australia). So we had an evening of marching bands and bagpipe music as they marched to the town square and performed there. The Australians are in Scotland to compete in a piping competition in Inverness at the weekend,
This is the two combined bands marching to the town square. They also played separately, and the Australians concluded their performance with the bagpipe version of Waltzing Matilda! We stayed for a long time listening, but Paul wasn’t wearing enough clothes and got very cold, so we left shortly before the end.
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