Isle Of Skye And The Highlands.

[gumpt1oo]

I have just got back from a 3 day trip to the Isle of Skye. I set off on Wednesday morning in torrential rain up to Carlisle to meet my mate Kieron. We then set off through Dumfries and Galloway to Gourock to catch the ferry across the Firth of Clyde to Dunoon.

Dumfries and Galloway


Crossing the Clyde towards Dunoon.


From Dunoon we continued north around Loch Fyne to Inverarey.


From Inverarey the weather was a mix of heavy downpours and the odd sunny spell, so pics were a bit limited. We carried on north past Loch Awe, over the Connel Bridge and followed the coast to Ballachulish.

Ballaculish Bridge.


From here we continued on through Fort William to catch the ferry at Mallaig to the Isle of Skye.
We didn't have much time to spare. We were booked on the 6.00pm ferry, the last on of the day, and we arrived 10 mins before check in closed!

Mallaig


The ferry crossing is about 30 mins, these pics were taken on the crossing,

Storm brewing over the the isle of Rum


Approaching Skye


Once we landed on Skye we then rode to the Hotel in the Kyle of Lochalsh.

Kyle of Localsh


continued...........

 

[gumpt1oo]

After a good night rest we set of on a circular route over the Pass of the Cattle, to Applecross. The first place we came across was Plockton.

Plockton


From Plockton we passed Loch Carron and started to climb the Pass of the Cattle. Unfortunately, the higher we got the lower the cloud became and visibility at the top was zero!

Starting the climb.




Entering the gloom!


Once lower ground was reached the cloud cleared and we could see again.

Applecross


Continuing on to Shieldaig and for no apparent reason, Kieron's right foot peg snapped off his Bonnie!
Luckily I carry a good selection of tools and nuts and bolts so we took the rear passenger peg off and fitted it to the front and put a new bolt in the rear to fix the exhaust to the frame. It is a bit worrying why it snapped as he was just riding along on a straight road!

Running repairs


After repairing the bike we returned to the Kyle of Localsh to start a trip around the coast of Skye.

continued.............

 

[gumpt1oo]

Skye is a much bigger island than I thought, we programmed a circular route around the island and it was just over 150 miles.
We set off through Broadford and on to Dunvegan. There are little crofts dotted all over the hill side.

Crofts near Dunvegan


Dunvegan Bay


From Dunvegan we continued on to Uig around the very north coast to Staffin. There are some really unusual rock formations on Skye.

These were taken on the north east coast near Staffin.




The rain was never far away as we headed south to Portree.


we then returned to the hotel at the Kyle of Localsh for a good feed!

Continued............

 

[gumpt1oo]

Friday morning arrived and it was time for the ride home. We left the Kyle of Localsh and headed through Glen Shiel passing Eilean Donan Castle on the way.





From the castle we continued heading towards Fort William passing Loch Garry on the way, calling in at the Commando memorial at Spean Bridge


From here on the weather was pretty bad, we travelled through Fort William in torrential rain and southward through Glencoe.

Glen Coe






We then continued south in torrential rain, and the camera stayed wrapped in the tank bag!
By the time we got to the English border, the rain had stopped and i just about dried out by the time I got home!
All in all a very enjoyable trip, even if it did rain! At least it was warm rain!
994 miles in 3 days, and Tiger never missed a beat.
Looking forward to the next trip.

 

[shanered6]

That was a fair old trip and quite a few miles too ! I recognised all of the picks and places apart from the ones in Galloway , Skye is a much bigger place Than people think ! And takes some getting round in a day .
Skye is a magical place that even in bad weather you can't help being inspired by its rough bleak beauty, it's a one off place that gets under your skin and you just have to keep going back .

AWSOME pics !

 

[shanered6]

DAMN ! I'm going to have to go back to Skye this year now !


DAMN YOU GUMP

 

[keystiger]

Have ALWAYS wanted to go there. Thank you for taking us along wonderful pics!

 

[Thumpy]

Beautiful pictures of your trip there Steve. Thanks for taking the time to post them. Looks like your buddy Kieron was pretty lucky when that peg snapped. That could have gone bad in so many ways.

 

[Mad On Triumphs]

As ever brilliant pictures. One day I'll get up there.

 

[DaveM]

Steve another brilliant road report and the are sure does look stunning, thanks for sharing

 

[Rocky]

Great pictures and a great trip in spite of the wet weather