Today we are on the Isle of Skye. It is the largest island of the Inner Hebrides It is 50 miles long and some 10,000 people live on Skye, with about 25% living in the largest town of Portree. Most of the land radiates out from the hub of the Cuillin Mountains, which provide some of the most dramatic scenery in all of Scotland. Not only does it have dramatic scenery, it also has a dramatic history.
The island has been inhabited for 12,000 years – Celts, Gaels, Vikings, and most notably the clans of the MacLeods and the MacDonalds. The whole conflict between the Scots and the English played out significantly here on Skye and the clans still run deep here, even though clans were abolished a long time ago. After the breakup of the clans, there was a period called the Clearances when over 30,000 people were kicked off the island so that sheep farming could take over the land starting in the 1840s. That was pretty shocking to learn. The population has never recovered.
The main industries of Skye are tourism,agriculture, fishing, and forestry. It’s a place visitors come for hiking and camping. Everywhere we went today on our tour we saw camper vans and campgrounds. About one-third of the population speaks Gaelic (here in Scotland pronounced GAL-ic) as opposed to Gaelic (pronounced Gay-lic in Ireland). The weather here is mild, wet, and windy. Skye is referred to as the Misty Isle due to the abundance of rain and fog. We were lucky today to have reasonably good weather – no rain. I was surprised to learn that it rarely snows on Skye.
Portree looks a little bit like Portrush on Mull. There is a small natural harbor. The harbor area is lined with brightly painted storefronts and the town center is up the hill.
Our ship was anchored outside the harbor, so we were tendered into Portree to meet up with our guide for a bus trip to Dunvegan Castle. The drive was 45 minutes and we got a fantastic look at the Cuillin Mountains and the Scottish Highlands. Stunningly beautiful!
As were were driving along, we saw a beautiful 3-masted ship coming up the loch. Our guide was so excited that she made the bus driver stop so we could all get out and take pictures of the scene.
There are two separate Cuillin ridges, one called the Black Cuillin, the other the Red Cuillin. The rock is different in these two ridges. The Black Cuillin is made up of igneous rock from lava while the Red Cuillin started out as igneous but over time, the conditions turned the stone to granite. The Cuillin ridges are divided by a glen called Sligachan. The Cuillins are owned by two estates. We headed to the Black Cuillin estate owned by the MacLeods.
The Chief of the Clan MacLeod lives in the castle. To date, there have been 30 chiefs. Interestingly, 2 have been women, the most recent was Flora, the grandmother of the current chief. There was another female chief, but she isn’t really counted because she was just a child when she became chief and so an appointed person ruled for her. The rooms of the castle open to the public are full of artifacts and memorabilia of the clan.
We walked through the self-guided tour rooms and learned a little bit about the MacLeods.
Dunvegan Castle also has one of Scotland’s best gardens. The castle brochure describes the garden this way – Dunvegan Castle’s five acres of formal award-winning gardens began life in the 18th century. In stark contrast to the barren moorland and mountains which dominate Skye’s landscape, the castle’s Water Garden, Rose Garden, Walled Garden and woodland walks provide a hidden oasis for an eclectic mix of flowers, exotic plants, specimen trees and shimmering pools fed by waterfalls and streams flowing down to the sea. All the various sections are just beautiful.
One of the most interesting things in the garden was a tree I’d never heard of – a monkey puzzle tree. It comes from Chile and is the national tree of Chile. It had the most interesting leaves, very tough, thick and scale-like. The edges and tips are sharp. This is an evergreen and these weird leaves stay attached for years.
The other very interesting tree we saw is the Korean fir. It also is an evergreen and its leaves are a beautiful color green. But the coolest thing is that the cones are purplish dark blue before they fully mature. The color combination of the leaves and cones was striking.
It was a lovely garden set below the castle and going down to the loch. While Christine enjoyed sitting on a bench near a little waterfall, I explored the garden and took a zillion photos of many beautiful flowers that you see above.
And all too soon it was time to get back in the bus for the 45-minute drive back to Portree. But again, what spectacular scenery!
Back in Portree, we wandered around the town for a bit and then made our way down to the harbor to catch the tender back to the ship.
There was one view from the ship that really intrigued me. The mountainous terrain was on both sides of the ship. Off one side was an area where sheep were grazing high up among rocks and green pasture. The whole steep hillside had no trees except for one beautiful, full canopy tree halfway up the hillside. I would have loved to hear the story of how that one tree came to be in the spot. Look in the middle of the picture below to see that one tree.
Back on board, we had a late lunch and then rested for most of the afternoon. At 5:00 p.m. we went to see Angie K, an indie artist who leans country, do a short set. She performed last night, but we were too tired to see her then. It was nice to get a sense of her singing.
We then went to the port talk about Kirkwall in the Orkney Islands where we’ll be tomorrow. Our excursion is a walking tour of the town.
We had dinner in our private spot in the Yacht Club with food from the Star Grill, and now we’re back in our cabin and will stay in this evening. This trip is tiring!
I must say the Scottish Highlands are simply stunning and we’re loving see this amazing part of the world.