6/4, Sunday. Had lunch at this ruined church.
Soon after, at Torrin, we had the first glimps of the beautiful Cuillin Range.
Saw a few camper vans and decked out picnic chairs in this area. What a great place to camp!
We drove to the end of the road, the little town of Elgol.
Bought the next boat tour (2pm, 3 hours) to Loch Coruisk. £32/pp.
It's a pretty ride. There's a trail on the shore. The guide pointed out a different step there. There's also a white hut.
Saw short-beaked common dolph, at least 4.
Many islands. One has only 3 inhabitants.
One has 20, and they pooled money together to buy the island from its owner.
Just before we anchored the boat, saw many seals sunning on the rock on a little island off shore.
A short walk to go to the lake itself.
We were given 90 minutes. I walked along the west shoreline.
This is one way of getting to the Cullin Hills.
Sure enough, on our way back, 3 young climbers joined us, with helmet and ropes.
Drove through Portree. Very busy, narrow streets, a lot of people out and about.
We didn't stop, continued about a mile north to Portree Campground for the night.
We stayed put for 3 nights here. £11/pp/day.
There was midge.
This photo was taken after 8pm. Still too bright.
6/5 Monday. Cloudy -> sunny.
First hike: Fairy Glen. £2 parking. I really like this one. Short and easy.
Interesting landscape. It's small though. ~1 hour.
Drove to Duntulm Castle, a ruin on the edge of the cliff.
You can walk around it, through it. Good view.
Next, we drove to the northern tip of the island Rubha Hunish.
Walked to the coast. A bit windy the first mile or two (flat, boring).
Once on the edge of the coast, it was less windy, much better view). Odd.
Some sea-thrift at the coast.
All morning cloudy.
Highlight today is the Quiraing loop. Sunny in the afternoon.
We started at the small TH by A855 (Loch Gangaig). Free parking.
This is an ideal start, much better than the formal TH parking (big, crowded with tour buses).
Total about 6-7 miles.
Very soon after getting on the unpretencious trail head, we passed by the lake Gangaig.
The view gets better from there on.
Going through the rock formations that Quiraing is known for.
Here it's fun to scramble up some of those rocks.
On the left photo, cicled in red, is me.
Continue along the trail till the giant parking lot and hords of people.
There, we took the upper trail, going above the grassy bluff.
Once on the top, it's flat, great view of the ocean to the east and many lakes and isles.
No fanciful rock formations.
Then we looped back down and connected to the original trail to Lake Gangaig.
6/6 Tuesday. Again very cloudy in the morning.
PS dropped me off at Fairy Glen parking lot (£6), and he drove to Neist Point.
We'd meet here again later here in the afternoon.
Fairy Glen is not really worth visiting, but the mountains beyond, yes.
This is his photo later in the afternoon, when it was sunny.
It's a mountain creek, fairly small. Quite crowded.
Lots of midge in the parking lot, by the creek and beyond.
My objective is Bruach na Frithe (Summitpost), the only Cullin Peak I'll climb on this trip.
I walked all the way to the upper reach of the creek, then cut left to join the trail up into the mountains.
There, I was alone all the way to the summit.
I sat down once on the hike trying to eat my sandwich. But after just 2 bites, I had to continue, because migets found me.
Saw 2 deers on the way up here. Red deer?
It was so cloudy at times, that I couldn't see where I was going.
Upper ridge, the track is clear to follow.
No more miget.
There's a tri-post on the summit.
Clouds shifting. I finished my sandwich, waiting for the clouds to part.
Saw a group of climbers coming from another ridge.
If you have 2 cars, it's good to do a traverse from Sligachan Bridge.
Excellent view of Cuillin Range, Egol, the boat from Egol.
Back at the parking lot, PS was already waiting for me.
We headed to Old Men Storr, another main attraction with fun rock formations.
Parking £5.
Shorter trail here. Good view over the coast and a couple of lakes.
2 rabbits. 2 sheep (with tag).
6/7 Wednesday.
On our drive out, stopped at Sligachan bridge just for a photo.
It's now pedestrian only. The vehicle traffic is on a regular boring concrete bridge just next to it. I wish the two could be more apart.
Nearby there's a statue of 2 climers in bronze,
John Mackenzie and Norman Collie.
Torabhaig distillery tasting tour. £10 (booked yesterday) is our last stop on Skye.
Hourly. Small groups (8 people). Our tour has 7.
The waiting area looks very nice, with old photos of the area and construction of the site, also lots of info on whiskey. I took a lot notes.
First, the name of the company: Tora = hill, Bhaig = bay.
Here, the barley is from Egan in the mainland. Water is local. Island style whiskey == using peat as fuel.
We went in to the production line (fairly small), photos not allowed. My notes:
Germinated seed. Dried from 45% to 5% moisture.
First soak: 70°C 5000L water with 1.5 ton of barley: grounded 20% husk, 70% meal, 10% flour.
2nd soak: 90°C 5000L water.
7 hours (3 rounds of wort production).
20°C wort (fermented liquid) + yeast. 17-100 hours fermentation. About 8% alcohol. The draf (fiber) is for animal feed.
Distill: copper. First round 28%, 2nd distill 78%.
Only the mid section (heart) of the liquid is used, ~69% alcohol. Head + tail are recycled
Age: Washback Canadian oak (8000L barrel). Charred inside. 3 year minimum.
Diluted till ~48% for bottling.
Tasting: the 4 glasses are: water, 69% alcohol, wort, barley.
We were to dilute the whiskey ourselves.
The tasting room has only 2 tables, with 8 placesets.
This new distillery was converted from an animal barn. They don't yet have any of their own product to sell, but has some form the parent company.
I enjoyed the tour. Liked it being a small scale, which I could ask questions. PS had tried to book tours for some other well known brands, but all sold out, and only tasting was possible.
Walked to the castle ruin from the distillery. A bonus.
Good view of the bay. Open to anyone, but no one else is around.
Now, driving back to mainland.
