A Mountain and A Ferry to Paradise (#ScotTour Day 8)

Today was sad: our last day on Skye and so it felt the "beginning of the end" of our cycling holiday. However, today's itinerary would see us cover nearly the full length of the Misty Isle and see a corner of it that's well off the beaten track. Lots still to look forward to, then!

We were really fortunate with our B&B in Portree, where the landlady was very happy to let us keep our bicycles looked in the rear 'service' yard, out of sight from the street (behind the blue gate). Adam fixed that gate the day we arrived so we were in her "good books" right from the start! 

Last minute fettling before leaving Portree

Setting off from our B&B: starting with a steep bit!
Be careful not to go flying over that wall into the harbour below!

As on Day 5 of our tour when we visited the Talisker Distillery, we left Portree southbound on the A87. Although our bikes were fully loaded this time, again I found this hill not to be the hardship I had originally expected it to be.

A pause to look back towards Portree and the Trotternish Ridge
- the Old Man of Storr on the right

A Change Of Season... And Back (#ScotTour Day 7)

Cresting the 'backbone' of the island

This day was a replay of the previous, in a minor chord. 

We re-traced our 'steps', this time on our bikes rather than on a bus. So we saw almost exactly the same sights... but at a slower pace. 

But the crucial difference today was the weather. Whatever and wherever we had yesterday, today it was the opposite. And while we enjoyed some sunshine and warmth while on the move, the mist and chill rolled in from the sea just exactly when we got off our bikes for a little sightseeing. Its timing could not have been worse. While I had taken arm and knee warmers and wore a somewhat-weather-resistant gillet, Adam (who to be fair does not feel weather fluctuations as I do) was in shorts and a short-sleeved jersey and opted to leave his jacket in our room. So in a reverse of fortunes, he suffered while I... not so much. Unfortunately, his discomfort forced us to cut short our visit to the Skye Museum of Island Life and we opted not to walk up the hill to the Kilmuir Cemetary (and Flora Macdonald's grave) at all. 

So here are some photos from our day. It was wonderful to fly along quiet roads unencumbered by loaded panniers! And except for that badly-timed hour at the Museum, it was very nearly a perfect day to be out on a bike. 

On the Tourist Trail: Portree and the North End (#ScotTour Day 6)

Midway through our cycling holiday in Scotland, we took a second day off the bike to get to know Portree and the area a little better...

To be honest, my knees were complaining quite a lot, which posed a bit of a dilemma for me. Taking a day off cycling makes little difference, and walking instead of cycling is in fact worse. But I did feel in need of a rest, or at least a break, even though the town I chose to take that break in is a hilly one. Either way, my knees were not going to have an easy time of it.

Nonetheless, the harbour drew us like a lure.

The Talisker Loop (#ScotTour Day 5)

On our first day based in Portree, we set off back the way we had come the previous day (I detect a pattern here...). We had an appointment on the other side of the Isle at 11am and could not be late!

This called for a Big Breakfast.

I left the B&B saying "Today, I am going to suffer". I dreaded the climb up out of Portree towards Sligachan (remembering the wind and inconsistent gradient) that was such an unwelcome surprise the day before) and figured I better resign myself to it -- make my peace with it, manage my expectations -- well before I actually had to do it. 

That "talking to" I gave myself must have worked, because it was... dare I say it, a breeze. Adam was waiting at the top and I cruised up to him saying "I don't believe it, my heart rate is still normal". 

At Sligachan, we turned westward off the A87, onto the A863. The day before, it had seemed to me that this road (across the middle of Skye from coast to coast) was siphoning off a great deal of traffic from the A87 -- for which I had been very grateful! So today, I was braced for quite a lot of motorhome and caravan traffic, on a road even less suited to it than the A87. 

We were immediately faced with a climb upwards into -- surprise, surprise -- low cloud and mist. There were no motor vehicles, none moving at least. Instead, we found ourselves negotiating a few families (with children) and walking groups, all strolling down (or up) the middle of the road. We went by a few cars parked up alongside the road, before cresting the backbone of the Isle and free-wheeling for miles down towards Loch Harport. 

The view across the valley, as we coasted to the coast.

Lifting The Veil (#ScotTour Day 4)

On Day 4, we left Elgol to cycle to Portree.

The first part of the journey saw us retracing our steps back to Broadford. This was not however a matter of seeing the same things twice, because -- you may recall -- the first time we cycled this road, we couldn't see much due to the mist and low cloud.

On this sunny Sunday, however, all was revealed.

Crossing the cattle grid leaving Elgol. 

The Highlander overlooking Elgol

I had my first opportunity to take close-up photos of Flag Irises, which were blooming in mad profusion all over Skye. I had no idea irises could be yellow. I learned later that this is one of only two species of iris that are native to the UK and the only one native to Scotland. Large "stands" of Yellow Iris in western Scotland form important feeding and breeding habitat for the endangered Corn Crake. 

Elgol: A Dead End and A Gateway (#ScotTour Day 3)

This was a day off our bikes. It gets a blog post of its own nonetheless, 

because Elgol is one of my Top Reasons To Go To Skye. 

On arriving in Elgol on the Strathaird peninsula at the end of Day 2, we got checked into our B&B, washed and changed and then headed down to the village. And by 'down to the village', I do mean down....

Elgol lies at the end of the A8083 road from Broadford. The road ends at the pier. If you're in a car, once you reach the pier, you can only turn around and go back.

Welcome To The Misty Isle (#ScotTour Day 2)

I did not know until our second or third day on the Isle of Skye that one of the island's two nicknames is 'The Misty Isle'. (The other is 'The Winged Isle'.)

But I could have guessed that may be the case, since our first day on Skye's fair shores can be summed up as:

90% mist,

10% midges

... and 100% magic

After a breakfast of smoked salmon (because how often do you get this option?), we boarded the ferry to cross the Sleat Strait to Armadale. 

Almost Off The Radar

Well, the problems I anticipated having with connectivity with the rest of the world have come to pass. I have lots of photos and lots of scribbled notes, but spots of mobile reception have been brief and rare and Internet access even more so and plagued with slow speeds. There's no broadband on Skye, Remember the good old days of telephone dial-up?! It's still alive and well - and a precious lifeline - in remote parts of the UK.

The photos I do have are only available to view on small screens, often impossible to see in natural light. So it has not yet been possible to review and cull the  'mistakes' and blurry out-of-focus shots, much less edit or crop the 'keepers' and caption them.

All that said.... I've been able to post onto Facebook from my mobile at fairly regular, if not frequent, intervals, especially since we arrived in Portree.

So, until I have the full range of tools available to me, may I point you to the velovoice Facebook page.