Highlands day 2: Fort William → Skye — Isle of Skye, United Kingdom
Where I stayed
Skyewalker Independent Hostel Portnalong
Skyewalker Independent Hostel Portnalong
Our first stop was for breakfast at "The Dining Car" diner, just off the highway in Inverness Shire at the Glenfinnan Station Museum. It was very nicely restored, and overlooked a valley of pine trees. We watched the birds at the feeder outside and had sandwiches, salad and tea for brunch.
We decided against visiting the railway museum, and it's a good thing we did; we pulled up to the ferry terminal in Mallaig and were told to run to buy tickets because it was leaving in 3 minutes. We managed to get the tickets and we were the last car on the ferry (and the last one that could fit)! So different from BC Ferries’ time cut-offs. On the 15 minute ride to Skye (that we were told would be a half hour), we saw some beautiful views of the Scottish seaside, with villages of white houses along the forested hills. We also bought a viking-esque Scottish “driving hat” for Snorre and Jamie from the gift shop.
We decided to go for a hike before stopped at the hostel. Other than a few very main roads, all the roads on Skye are one lane for both directions, winding through the hills and fields of sheep, with small pull outs for passing. We drove around searching for the “Fairy Pools” walk, and after a few false starts, finally stumbled upon the parking lot. The Coire na Creiche and the Ferry Pools Circuit was meant to be an easy walk, which it would have been but for the fact that we spent half of the time walking through bog that was meant to be a “trail”. It started with a gorgeous trail in a very wet field tucked in the moors between mountains. The trail took us alongside waterfalls and cascading pools of clear, blue water. After that, we don’t quite know whether we followed the wrong path, or if the path was just very swampy. One theory is that the sheep had created a path by walking in a line through that part of the field, since there were lots of sheep around and the sheep do tend to walk around in lines. Regardless, we ended up with some pretty wet feet and one of us (who I won’t name) had a bit of a slip in the mud. All in all, the hike took us over 3 hours, and we could see the car the whole time, but both the Fairy Pools and the rugged Scottish terrain around us made it well worth it.
By the time we finished we were all wet and very hungry since it had been 8 hours since brunch and we’d gone on the hike, so we quickly checked into our hostel and went straight to dinner. We were staying at “Skywalker” hostel (get it? a Star Wars-themed hostel on the Isle of Skye) just outside Portnalong. We went to the Old Inn in Portnalong, where we had some wine and fish and chips for dinner—and they tasted great after the long walk. One thing I really don’t like are the “mushy peas” that always come with fish and chips here. They are mashed peas, sometimes with mint in them, and they are truly terrible. It seems to be a Scottish staple, but one I could really do without! Speaking of Scottish foods, Jamie ordered haggis for dinner and I tried some. It’s honestly pretty tasty, but I think the grainy texture (from the oats) and the richness would make it a bit much for a whole meal. We ended the night with an hour of “Big Two” and “Who’s Who” card games at the hostel.