Isle of Skye advice

We have a 2 week Scotland trip planned, we are heading up to watch the MTB World Cup in Fort William, then we are going to Aviemore for a few days, then the plan is to go over to the Isle of Skye.

I have a few ideas having looked at maps and researching the web, but are there any places or spots that are too good to miss?

We will be camping, both campsite and the odd wild camp. We will be walking and biking at various points over the trip.

So any suggestions for the Isle of Skye would be welcomed, cheers 🙂

Some sort of walk/scramble in the Cuillin mountains – one of the most amazing places I’ve ever been.

If you don’t have a head for heights/scrambling Sgurr Bannachdich can be reached relatively easily.

You could camp at Glen Brittle.

if you head for portree, turn off to follow the road to the Talisker distillery but turn off to the left just before Carbost (signposted to Glen Brittle IIRC), a few miles along that road there’s a car park to the right and above the road. You can then wild camp below the Cuillin. and I doubt you’ll find a more spectacular place to camp in Britain.
Or, if you keep going to Carbost, there’s a pub/b&b/hostel more or less opposite the Talisker distillery which I’d recommend. They have music nights on Fridays which is just some guys with guitars, which is an easy way to spend a Friday night. Stunning location as well.
Old Inn, Carbost
Oh, and just before you hit the Skye Bridge, you might want to stop the car, get out and walk across, it’s breathtaking and best appreciated on foot so you can stop and gawk.

Take plenty midge repellent

Sligachan campsite is good and the pub has an online brewery. The fairy pools are really scenic. There the Talisker distillery and a really good pub nearby that does local seafood.

Loch Coruisk is one of my favourite places anywhere, you can get a boat in but for the best experience I suggest sea kayaking in, try Gordon Brown at Skyak.

Plockton on the mainland is really nice and there is some good eating and is not too far from Eilian Donan Castle (the highlander castle).

Depending on how biking you want your biking then there’s Kintail (see my thread), a couple of options out of Sligachan, a loop near Broadford and for a bit more of a drive there’s Torridon.

Its all great.

Park at Elgol and take the boat to Loch Coruisk, reckoned to be the wildest, most inaccessible place left in Britain. Explore the amazing glacial slabs where the loch empties via a short river straight into the sea then either:

Go back an hour later with the boatman, watching out for basking sharks.

Or walk out over the Cuillins to Glenbrittle (climbing with ropes needed – read up about this bit).

Or walk out over the Bad Step to spend a midge free night in the amazing Camasunary bothy then walk out the next day to Kilmarie.

Or just walk straight out along the coast to Elgol.

It’s a big adventure and don’t worry about the Bad Step, it’s not bad at all.

A scoot over to Raasay on the ferry and round the south of the island to read Sorley Maclean’s poem at Hallaig is nice.

Talisker Bay for the very quiet and very beautiful black sand beach in a fantastic setting.
Best saved for a sunny day when you have time to kill.

Take good midge spray and pray for a light breeze so the little buggers can’t fly

Keep ’em coming. I’m off up early May.
Planning a trip to Harris for the night to camp by the Sound of Taransay. Good idea?

Sgurr Bannachdich is fairly straight forward by Cuillin standards but the walk in is pretty dull.
Bruach na Frithe is a much better introduction to the Cuillin. It’s easier to navigate, busier, prettier and the views are better from the moment you leave the car.
If the ridge sounds scary then Bla Bheinn is a cracking day out with an unparalleled view of the whole Cuillin ridge.

For gentler but still great walks look at The Storr, The Quiraing, McLeod’s Maidens, Red Cuillin, Coral Beach etc etc
I’m sure Scotroutes will be along soon with some proper local knowledge

I would second Raasay (I actually work there!)- bikes are free on the ferry and its a 20 minute crossing- some good trails and the road up the north is great.

Planning a trip to Harris for the night to camp by the Sound of Taransay. Good idea?

The blackhouse campsite is worth checking out – other side of the island. The Taransaay side is nice but its sort of on the main road (as such as there can be one – but its the route to the ferry so sees more traffic)

The blackhouse site is really nicely laid out, lots of little individual camping spots littered over the hill side, connected by paths (cars can’t come onto the site) and the blackhouse itself as a communal cooking and lounging space. A good retreat if the weather closes in.

That SE side of the island has more backroads and paths, bays, hills and dales and is more explorable, the Tarransay side just has one road through

Brilliant, just what I am looking for….keep them coming…. 🙂

If you fancy some scrambling/climbing and aren’t confident yourself (route finding along some of the ridge is a nightmare) give Tony a shout http://www.climbskye.co.uk/ we had a few days booked with him a couple of years ago and it was brilliant, did things I’d never have had the confidence to do myself. He can make it as hard or easy as you like!

Defo take the bikes on the Ferry over to Raasay, feels like a mini adventure.
Walk up to the old Man of Storr, great geology and riding if you fancy – as featured in the old Earthed DVDs, with Rowan Sorrell & Chris Ball (wrecking his knee!).
Do the ride through Sligachan, either as a big loop or out and back to Camasunarie House.
Loads of lovely arts try the Skyeworks gallery near Portree or the Ellishadderartcafe up near Staffin.

Your road trip sound just like the one we did back in 2003 (World Cup catering is much better now!), enjoy, you’ll have a great time, feeling envious just thinking about it.

amazing place is Skye..

things to add to the list..

Macleods maidens..
we walked and wild camped at the end near the maidens.. but it looked like a fun ride too and i was highly jealous of all the bikers we saw!

Angus Macaskill giant museum..
Coral Beaches near Dunvegan..
old school restaurant in Dunvegan..
Sea Eagle watching from Portree..

heres some photos from whe we went in 2011..[/url]

NEVER add an S to the end of the word Cuillin or they throw you off the Island if you do.

Although it’s not much of a journey by a bike for the best sunset’s over “The Cuillin” head to here. http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?x=159655&y=811575&z=120&sv=159655,811575&st=4&ar=y&mapp=map.srf&searchp=ids.srf&dn=736&ax=159655&ay=811575&lm=0

If the weather’s good and you have time, there’s a nice walk to the point for a great place explore and whale watching, plus if the sun’s out this little beach is a real gem http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?x=156680&y=799790&z=120&sv=156680,799790&st=4&ar=y&mapp=map.srf&searchp=ids.srf&dn=736&ax=156680&ay=799790&lm=0

brant –

Planning a trip to Harris for the night to camp by the Sound of Taransay. Good idea?

Do it.

Lovely. Used to spend many family (as in when I was small) camping holidays by Horgabost beach, cracker. It’s a very well run community (?) campsite now, by the farmhouse. Unbeatable on that side – such a contrast to the moonscape of E side of island. Not sure if there’s still a small shop by the house, was a filling station too, and get straight from the cow milk. Family of McLeods (inevitably).

Callum

Bookmarked for later.

Stein Inn is worth a vist, might book a room next time, Mrs Ace wasn’t impressed with my plan to get smashed through the whisky collection, have an evening meal (already had lunch) and sleep in the car in the car park.

Jan’s cafe/bistro/cake shop in Dunvegan, had venison stew and several cakes, well worth a vist as well.

Did camp out at Camasunary, you might get an RAF sortie in the middle of the night….. About an hours walk to the main road to Elgol and you can park up and walk in for night out.
As already hinted at, getting the boat from Elgol and walking round via the bad step to the bothy and beyond is a future little adventure i intend to do. Just need to check bus time’s, dump the car somewhere, get down to Elgol and away 🙂

Teetosugars is just back this week I’ll get his attention.

Just got back, as Lee said..
It’s an awesome place.. We stayed ( and spent most of the week) in Knott, just north of Portree, is an amazing island, with loads to see..
Eat here: http://www.ellishadderartcafe.co.uk or if flush aim for the 3 Chimneys..
The quiraing are amazing to see..think Highlander & Promethius…

Here a couple of my pics..

asked exactly the same question this time last year on here ha! Good old singletrackworld all suggestions are spot on (incase you needed any confirmation) heres my snaps/blogpost from the holiday to whet your appetite – http://stephenandnaomi.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/hodge-holiday-2013-isle-of-skye.html

Excellent pics teetosugars. Must get up there again now I’ve got a decent camera.

The campsite at Staffin is ok and the beach is good and it makes a great base for riding/waling the Quiraing.

Kneep near Bhaltos on the Isle of Lewis is amazing. Perfect spot to stay – one calm beach and bay with miles of sand and surfing beach round the corner.

+1 for Bhaltos.
IMO Skye has some stunning corners, some nice watering holes, not to mention the incomparable Cuillin but, there is rather too much dull scenery in between.
For stunning wilderness there is nothing in Scotland to compare with Harris.

My mum’s cottages in Struan have purpose built bike storage 😀
Won’t link but it’s isleofskyecottages.co.uk

I take the family up as often as humanly possible – back there in June with the bike. Here’s my blog from Glen Brittle / The Fairy Pools bike meander: clicky

And here’s some photos from my neglected landscape site: linky

Loved it when we went 7 years ago, going again this summer, we got the ferry across and did a loop of the Island then came back over the bridge!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nzrich/sets/72157600305868872
Sligachan Camp1 on Skye by Richard Munro[/url], on Flickr

Campsite Glen Brittle by Richard Munro[/url], on Flickr

Heading out of Glenbrittle by Richard Munro[/url], on Flickr

Not Skye
Untitled by Richard Munro[/url], on Flickr

Visit Raasay. It’s a small island reached by a 30 minute ferry ride. We left our car on Skye and took bikes only to sightsee. There are a couple of abandoned/cleared villages that are well worth a visit and provide a little light off road cycling. The abandoned villages would make a good seculded camping spot with great views of the mainland and sea. You’ll likely see Sea Eagles too…we did.

A wonderful place and all good suggestions here. For me, when I first thought of going to Skye the attraction was very much the dramatic and challenging Cuillin. In that respect they pretty much eclipse everything else, on the island and off it – mountains different to the rest. Seeing them from so many vantage points is worth all the journeys (if the cloud isn’t down). I’ve only stood on a few of the summits – they feel like rare places (though I guess all mountain tops do). Gordon Stainsforth’s book ‘The Cuillin’ has some fantastic photography and inspired me to adventure.

I’d also second camping at Horgabost on the west of Harris. You pitch on the machair right behind a stunning white sand/turquoise water beach and can watch the sun set over the water and Taransay. The east coast is worth a drive around but the west really is something else.

Thread bump 🙂

Up end of the the month.
Few days on Raasay to plan. No bikes i am afraid to say, so might whip the car over so we can cover more ground, got the OS map today some nice little beaches and island to walk too for some overnighters.

Hmmm travel light….fishing rod or handline ? if i can catch a nice fish for tea and cook it on the beach 🙂

Elgol adventure and trip to Glenbrittle as well i think, now for a day looking at time tables, might follow with a trip to Applecross as well.

acehtn, you can hire (hybrid) bikes on Raasay if it helps- happy to help with trip planning on the island- email in profile 🙂

oops late reply rockthreeqozy 🙂

Ta for the info and offer, looking at taking car over and just going north till the road ends.
1 maybe 2 nights on Raasay.
See if i can skim stones over to Rona.

Singled out several places to wildcamp around Skye, depending on weather will dictate where i run to, tempted to wild camp near the Coral beach, but last time it was no overnight parking in the car park, might walk in from the Stein Inn instead (after lunch of course)

5-7 days 🙂 only one night booked in hotel…… that was hard work…. most are fully booked right through to september !

Reclaimed my old spotting scope for some wildlife watching inbetween pub lunches.

Might even see some ultra rare highland 550’ers on the return trip 🙂

And of course you can hang about outside the Giant MacAskill museum, Dunvegan, in the hope of seeing the modern MacAskill! Don’t think he lives there any more though.

Did the castle last trip, nice one to visit 🙂

Best way onto Skye is the Glenelg ferry. It’s fifteen quid, but worth doing once for the entertainment value and makes it feel like you are actually arriving on an island, which I don’t think the bridge does as well.

Spar Cave near Elgol is worth a visit at low tide.

Bla Bhein is a great hillwalk with amazing views of the Cuillin and Glen Sligachan.

The seafood gumbo at Creelers is pretty damn good too.

A good, short, techy ride is to the lochan and back in Coire Lagan from the Glen Brittle campsite. Bit of a carry up but the first section down the slabs is spectacular.