Me and my wife (Carole) had booked a week’s visit to the Isle of Skye with the aim of having a relaxing time, and to try and secure some decent photography, weather depending.
We were staying in the excellent Cuillin Hills Hotel in Portree, a hotel we have stayed at on several occasions in the past.
We always break our journey into two days, we travel form Cumbria to Fort William on day one, then a comfortable journey on to the Isle of Skye, we find that this reduces the anxiety in travelling and allows us to stop off if we like and even allows some roadside photography if this arises.
The journey up to Fort William was largely uneventful, except for a short stop off in Glencoe to snap a couple of images from the roadside.
We arrived at our hotel in Fort William only to be very unsatisfied with the establishment, our room smelled of damp and was not in very good condition. A complaint to reception, resulted in a move, into a much better room.
However, when we went for our evening meal, we found that the menu was very basic, the service was not good, and the staff were not the friendliest.
I have decided not to name the hotel in this article, as I do not want to influence other people who may be booked into the hotel in the coming weeks and months, however if you would like to know the name of the establishment, drop me a line from where I will update you.
Day 1
The next morning breakfast was skipped for a Morrisons supermarket one.
Once we had eaten, we filled the car with fuel then set off for a leisurely drive to Skye, however our first stop was a quick dash over to Corpach to visit the shipwreck that is beached on the shore, from here I captured a couple of photos with Ben Nevis in the background, and a couple of unusual angles of the ship.
As we arrived at Spean Bridge, we mentioned the Royal Commando Memorial, one which we have drove past on several occasions, so this time we decided to stop off and visit.
The monument is very nice and well cared for gardens with ample parking. Upon visiting the statue, this is a fitting memorial, depicting three commandoes standing on a stone plinth looking south towards Ben Nevis. On the day of our visit there was heavy cloud cover with shafts of light striking the ground around the monument.
We then walked the short distance to the Garden of Remembrance, this really struck a chord with me, firstly there is a ashes scattering area where the ashes of deceased service men and women can be spread. We then entered the remembrance area, where photos, messages and plagues of fallen service men and women are laid. Several of these messages had small bottles of whisky taped to them, very moving. Also, when reading the messages from surviving family members brought home the sacrifice that has been made by the many service men and women of this country, especially in Afghanistan.
We left the Garden of Remembrance in a very somber mood, but this is a very fitting tribute to the fallen.
Our next stop was at Eilean Donan Castle, primely for a toilet stop and to get a lovely hot cup of tea. Upon pulling into the car park, we were surprised to note how quiet it was, not one coach in the car park, only 6 cars parked and no ques anywhere. In the building.
We had a short walk about to stretch the legs, then drove up to the viewpoint to grab a image of the castle.
From here we had the short drive on to the Isle of Skye then up to Portree to check in to the hotel.
Once settled in, we enjoyed an evening meal and drinks in the hotel restaurant, and as usual the hotel staff were very good, always friendly, available to help where they can and always offering advice.
Day 2
The day started with me taking the short drive down to Sligachan to capture some images of the cold and icy conditions that we had.
I had the morning to concentrate on trying to find compositions which captures the icy conditions, I even took a walk along the banks of the river Sligachan to find original compositions.
I got as far has the white cottage, then retraced my route back to the car, and returned to the hotel.
The afternoon was spent strolling around Portree sampling the hospitality and shopping experience.
Day 3
The plans for the second day began with a run up to the Quiraing where I have been trying to get to a location which is south of the Quiraing car park for the last three visits to the Isle of Skye, only to be denied on each occasion by the weather.
The forecast for the sunrise was very promising, sunshine, no rain, but high winds. I arrived at the Quiraing car park an hour before sunrise, got packed and set off following the path towards
Bioda Buidhe, for where I was hoping to shoot back towards the north capturing Cleat, Dun Dubh, and Druim an Ruma as foreground interest.
It took me an hour to reach Bioda Buidhe, from where I continued south over the summit, then turned left down a very steep slope from where I could look north towards the Quiraing. Here I was fighting the very steep slope, I definitely did not want to slip, fall or slide down the slope as there was a very daunting drop of several hundred feed at the bottom of the slope. I was also fighting the very strong wind, this was so strong that it prevented me from extending my tripod to its full height, so here I was scrambling about on my knees to ensure a steady footing for the camera could be achieved.
The light was gorgeous, lovely warm side light, so all I had to do was to pick out the images that I wanted, I also created many panoramic format images capturing all the foreground mountains.
After a couple of hours of being entwined in photography heaven, I decided to pack up and head back to the car park, from where I retuned to the hotel for a late breakfast.
After a relaxing morning in the hotel, we decided to head for somewhere new during the afternoon, this was Coral Beach, which is near to Dunvegan Castle, our plans included a visit to the Dunvegan Castle, but the internet was showing the Castle as being closed.
We soon arrived at Dunvegan Castle, and as advised by Mr Google, it was closed. So, we continued along the single-track road to the car park for the Coral Beach.
We underestimated the length of the walk form the car park to the beach, although this isn’t too far, Carole has mobility issues, which made the walk uncomfortable and hard work for her.
As we rose above the small ridge line the beach came into view, gleaming white sand in a small crescent shape, although we soon realised that the beach is not sand, but shells, these have been ground down to very small size which creates the beach.
As we walked along the beach, a lady headed to the waters edge to do some wild swimming, her turquoise-coloured coat contrasting against the bright white beach, a image I just had to capture.
The tide was coming in, at a rare rate of knots, you could visibly see the water rising along the water’s edge.
We took our time to soak in the views and the location before setting off on the return 1.25 mile walk to the car.
The afternoon was enjoyable, but the length of the walk would come to cause a lot of pain and restricted movement for Carole.
Day 4
The day began sunny, and dry, but a bitterly cold wind blowing, as Carole was struggling with her mobility, we decided to go somewhere close to a car park so that she could get out and walk around quite easily. We decided the Sligachan would be the best place, so for the second time in two days, off we set.
Upon arriving at Sligachan, how the conditions had changed for our earlier visit. The ice had almost all melted, sun was shining on the bridge and surrounding areas.
Once I was satisfied that Carole was OK with her walking, I set off to find some compositions around the old Sligachan bridge, river and the Collie and Mackenzie memorial.
After a couple of hours, we reconvened at the car to call it a day at Sligachan and head back to the hotel.
The plans for the late afternoon were discussed, it was decided that Carole would remain in the hotel, and I would head for Neist Point to try and capture some late afternoon/sunset images.
Whilst travelling west towards Neist point, it was noticeable how quiet the roads were, I hardly passed another vehicle on the road. Upon arrival at Neist point, I was able to drive right to the end of the empty car park, this saved my weary legs.
I wanted to walk to the lighthouse as I have never been there, so off I sent, not sure how difficult the walk would be.
Once at the lighthouse, I made my way down to the cliff edge to capture some shots of the lighthouse, perched on top of the cliff, looking out towards the North Atlantic.
I was busy concentrating on my photography, when I happened to look up and was quite surprised how low the sun was, conscious that I wanted to try and get a sunset image of Neist point, I packed up and began a swift return to the cliffs on the mainland, hoping to see some side light illuminating the headland by the setting sun.
Once at the bottom of the cliffs, a mad scramble along the escarpment to get a viewpoint of the large northern facing cliff face of Neist Point.
I grabbed what would turn out to be the best image of this location within the first 5 minutes, as the setting sun disappeared below the bank of clouds on the western horizon, neve to show its self again.
Day 5
This was a quiet day photography wise, the only images that I took were of a small waterfall which is located near the Portree Hotel. I practiced with differing shutter speeds to final get one that I was happy with.
Day 6
This was the start of our return home journey, again broken up with a stop in Fort William, at the dreaded hotel which we used on the trip up, this had been pre-booked, so we had little chance other than use it.
We eat before we went to the hotel and left early the next morning with the plan of getting a cooked breakfast at the Green Welly Shop.
How the best plans fail, upon arriving at the Green Welly Shop, the restaurant was closed until11am, several hours after our arrival time, so a couple of sandwiches were purchased along with a tea and coffee, and off we set again.
Four hours later we arrive home after a very enjoyable visit to the Isle of Skye in which we had encountered extraordinarily un-seasonable weather, four days of sunshine, albeit battered with high strength, bitterly cold winds.
I had captured several images which I was very pleased with, at least 4 will be going into my portfolio section of my web site.
It took me several weeks to trawl through the editing process of my Skye images, then family matters intervened, and another trip to ASSYNY in Scotland meant that these images remained on my computer for some weeks without being included into this blog.
Until the next adventure, stay safe and I will update you on the next one.
