Scotland series #4 - Portree and Isle of Skye
Pretty much everyone suggested that travelling in Scotland, especially in highlands, using public transport is a crazy idea. Even with own vehicle and a companion, it is almost impossible to get accommodation. However, every tour package I verified required at least 3 days and I did not have an option to take day off. After a lot of searching, I managed to book a B&B for two nights and took afternoon bus to Portree.
Our client work half day on Fridays and, even though I work full day, I easily got permission to leave early one Friday🤓. From Glasgow airport, the bus left around 3 pm. Ideal way to travel to highlands is to take ferry from Mallaig and travel by road from there. Since it is a long journey, I took direct bus and that route is quite scenic too. For an hour of two, the bus was quite crowded, but I got window seat very soon.
The ride through Lochs and mountains, is both serene and scary😅. It was almost 10 pm by the time I reached Portree. The B&B was about 10 mins walk - I initially waited to take the cab, but the lady at restaurant suggested its better to go by walk as cabs would take forever to come back ( if it even does). The roads are very much deserted except for few partygoers and I reached the B&B soon. The owner was up waiting for her daughter and I checked in without having to wake her up😌. She told that I could have mentioned the name of B&B to the bus drive and he would've stopped there🤷🏻♀️.
Next morning, I was first to arrive for breakfast as I booked a day tour, but soon was joined by two couples who belong to a highland clans (MacDonalds and Mackenzie) and their ancestors moved to Canada and Australia. They came to Scotland as sort of pilgrimage to visit land of their ancestors - it must have been a fascinating experience for them😍.
We started with a tour to Talisker distillery followed by a visit to highland cow.
Then we went to fairy streams which was bit of a trek, but even after too hours, we couldn't reach the fairy streams🙇🏻♀️, but our guide told us no one could find fairies there🤪.
We then went to Dunvegan castle and our guide pointed to ideal viewpoint without having to spend on entrance fee🤑. We had lunch en cafeteria nearby.
We then went to few other view points & Isle of Storr.
Next we went to a hillock where there are fairy circles at the top _ they are really obsessed with fairies🧚🏼♂️.
He returned to Portree, I had dinner and headed back to B&b admiring the views which I didn't notice the night before.
Taking the photo at night proved to be quite difficult😓.
Next day I woke up more leisurely, had breakfast, checked out and went back to town centre. I took a short cruise of 2 hours which I found about the previous evening and saw lots of animals and birds.
After the cruise, I packed some lunch and went around walking.
I went to few small stores and bought a cashmere scarf and local made wallet. I thought cashmere sweaters are quite expensive, however, compared to Glasgow & Edinburgh, they are quite cheap. Regret not buying a sweater there😔.
After walking around more, I came across an abandoned building which provided some great views. Unfortunately, I lost the pictures I took there🙇🏻♀️.
I went back to town centre to catch my bus to Glasgow. This time I got to see the highland views in day light and ride by Loch Lomand in nightfall listening to the subtle water flow right next to the road. I saw few places on the way which seemed quite cozy but nothing seems to be nearby. Next time, will try to stay in one of those cottages🤫.
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