Day 6 - Eilean Donan Castle and Skye (including Planning on Skye)

Glengarry Castle Hotel 

Invergarry, PH35, 3HW

We are leaving Glengarry Castle Hotel for our next destination - Skye. Before leaving, we told Glengarry to keep our luggage if it is returned by B.A. There was no news from B.A on our lost luggage and it is impossible to contact them (they have machine operated phone who refer you to their email instead). Glengarry Hotel lady staff is such a nice person and she agreed to keep for us (if it was ever returned by B.A), since we will be returning to this area after our 4 days of Skye. I was told by the locals that we can do purchases and claim for the lost luggage contents.  But upon checking online, we realised that that will apply if we are of the EU citizen. As SG is outside of EU, we can only rely on our own travel insurance for such cases. I was still relying on the 2 existing luggage which I have spread everyone clothing throughout all cases, and it will run low if we still do not receive the lost luggage in another 2-3 days. 

Glengarry Castle is a really nice and quiet place to stay. We check out, keep our existing 2 luggage at the counter and spent the early morning exploring the old castle in front and the castle grounds. 

Glengarry Castle

A small lake in the castle grounds

The old castle ruins

We originally intended to go to Glen Roy to see the Parallel Roads but M decided to skip due to our tight timeline to Skye. Glen Roy is a short drive from Spean Bridge (turn left after Darwin's Rest), but the glen stretches quite a long distance down a narrow road that winds through a small village up into the hills.

Eilean Donan Castle

Dornie, Kyle of Lochalsh

IV40, 8DX

From Glengarry, we stop over at Eilean Donan Castle for lunch and sightseeing. Based on reviews, there is nothing much to see inside the castle but the outside is a scenic place for photo taking. In addition, the cafe food is nice and gift shop has many interesting souvenirs. 

One of my most favorite photo

One of my most favorite photo

Foxwood on Skye

11A Ullinish, Struan

Isle of Skye

IV56 8FD

After lunch, we drove on the bridge to Skye to our accommodation, Foxwood on Skye. It is a small B&B with 3 rooms. We booked the largest room (Cullin View with Spa) which has a huge King size bed, a single bed, a Jacuzzi, steam room and bathroom. 

Most accommodations in Skye have small rooms and cater to couples. For families with kids, book either B&B (can book 2 rooms) OR the whole cottage (there are some cottages at seaside/lochside). Note: to book entire cottage, you will need to stay minimum 7 nights - 14 nights or more. There is one hotel at Portree that offers larger accommodation but booked out super fast, and is quite expensive. 

We enjoyed our stay at Foxwood and the owners are really nice. They like to offer many advice on places to go and cook fantastic breakfast (with huge mushrooms) with some options, and great for vegan or lactose-intolerant (they have soy and rice milk choices). The furnishing may not look fantastic, but it is homely. The Jacuzzi is a joy after a day of walking. The location is also very central (almost middle of Skye) and will save time in driving to different places. 

It is a bit challenging to find the way to Foxwood. From the main road, turn in a small one-way road until you see a red telephone and white pebble road (which is in contrast to the other road colour). Drive along the white pebble road (see photo below) all the way in and will reach Foxwood. 

The white pebble road

Skye

Here, I will do a bit of introduction on Skye based on my own viewpoint, not from any tourist website. 

Driving and weather:

Skye is an island and is very scenic. There are 2 ways to go to Skye - one through the bridge (newer mode) or by ferry at Mallaig. There are a lot of one-way track in Skye and some can be quite twisty and narrow, but due to the low traffic it is still manageable. There are parts of the road where we were not be able to see what is beyond, as we drove up and down the road, therefore do not rush and drive carefully. I always cater 30-60 minutes for driving from one point to another point, to cater for photo stopping, unexpected traffic and twisty roads. 

Sheep roam all around and there are usually no fence around one-way roads. So expect sheep to roam in front of your vehicle and sheep dung everywhere. The sheep are mostly shy and will run away when they see us alight from our car to take photos. My little girl mentioned that Skye is "the sheep's toilet". Many places also do not have toilets except at cafes, Portree (small town). 

It is rather cold especially in the late noon onwards. On 2 days, it was freezing cold and it showed 7 degrees, and that is late spring/early summer. 

See the twisty "up and down" road ahead, and sheep on the road

Attractions:

Skye is very scenic and is a must go especially for nature and photo-taking lovers. You will see more scenic photos of the places we went in Skye in the next few posts. However be prepared that the walks are also more rugged and challenging than main land. The roads are uneven, hilly, many of the places do not have signboards and GPS is almost nonexistent. It was describe as somewhat kids friendly from some of the blogs I have read, however from my view - especially for City Dwellers the walks can be quite challenging. All of us have fallen few times during our walks, due to the slippery roads (as it always rain in Scotland) and uneven terrain. 

A good book to buy - Isle of Skye 40 Coast and Country walks is a small booklet (easy to place in bag or big pockets), easy to read with directions to the walks, and is the cheapest Scotland travel book. I bought at Bookdepository.com before I travelled. Otherwise you can buy in Scotland or in Portree stores. If you are staying in Foxwood, there is no need to buy as the owners have the same book for loan. Sometimes when I missed my way during walks, I will refer to this small booklet (easy to carry) to refer to directions. 

One interesting and informative website https://www.isleofskye.com/ Do Read the Top 10 walks 

Out of the 10 walks recommended, we went to 3 walks (Neist Point, Fairy Pools and Coral Beach). Other walks we have selected from the Isle of Skye 40 Coast and Country walks, which some are off beaten path. Most are rated medium to low difficulty. 

However as Skye is not big, the issue with planning is on the time spent on the walks, and the stamina of your family and co-travellers. When planning where to go, time in the following:- 

1. Driving time + 30-45 minutes buffer (for photo-stops, lost your way, toilet break etc)
2. Time spent on walks - You need not cover the full length of each walk. You can walk halfway, enjoy the scenery and come back. Cater for stops in between for resting etc. 
3. Difficulty of walks - Do not plan 2 difficult walks on one day. You will kill the joy of walks and your family/co-travellers as well. Plan a easy one together with a difficult one, if you want to go 2 places on one day. 
4. Absence of toilets - most of the popular walks do not have toilets, no kiosk/eatery, no gift shops. Go toilet breaks at cafes, petrol, hotels/motels/inns if you can. Otherwise, you may have to consider to do it in the wild. 

We have skipped the top 2 walks / attractions - The Quiraing and Old Man of Storr. The slopes are steep and may not be suitable for our stamina and with 2 kids. We also do not have climbing equipment except trekking sticks. Fairy Glen is a "replacement" to The Quiraing as it is said to be a mini version. 

The Quiraing - Photo from web

Old Man of Storr - Photo from web

Most of the places are quiet and some hardly any other travellers to help to take photos. So bring along a mini tripod (foldable) if you like to take some family photos. 

Dining:

Portree is a small town and has the most souvenir shops and bigger motels (they call it "hotel" but is more of a motel size) and restaurants. However, it get booked out really fast as most travellers will book in advance. Please DO NOT head to Portree for dining if you have NOT pre-book any restaurant. In Scotland, it is pretty common to book restaurants in advance for dinner, and small towns and particularly in Skye, they get booked out fast and will reject guests at the door. And there is no chance to wait outside because their dinner course usually will take 2-3 hours. Best time to book is in noon time by phone. 

Bear in mind that their typical dinner involves at least a 3-course meal and they will serve from soup to dessert one by one. They will only serve the next course after everyone on the same table has eaten. This is usually not a big problem. However, my little girl ate quite slow, and many time we help her to finish her food so as to "quicken" the serving. There were times when the kids fall asleep in the restaurant while waiting for next course. In SG, the restaurants serve really quick, sometimes I think it is almost like fastfood. Anyway, a typical dinner at restaurant in Scotland will take about 2 hours and people dine early at 5pm. The kids meal is really huge serving, usually less than 10 pounds and really worth it. 

There is NO fastfood in Skye and the fastest is a kiosk which sell take-away fish & Chips. Not knowing the importance of restaurant booking (as in SG we usually do not need to do that unless in certain popular restaurants, but there is always plenty of choices similar to most cities), we did not book any place even though our B&B owner has recommended to do so before coming to Skye. 

We ended up being turn down at the row of restaurants at Portree, along with many other tourists. Hungry and not sure what to do. In the end, we found the take-away fish and chip kiosk, buy back and eat at our B&B dining table. 

Being turn down at all the restaurants along here, the most popular street in Portree for dining

So, if you are reading this, don't make the same mistake as us! Book your dinner early (call around noon) if you are visiting Skye.