Skye Trail
In May 2021, I introduced my girlfriend, Vilde, to trekking. There were some necessary up front negotiations, but with an agreement of no more than three consecutive nights’ camping, we could ‘see how it goes’! We would largely follow Cicerone’s excellent guidebook, other than a few diversions.
We started by taking the bus towards the fantastic Rubha Hunish peninsula. It was a short walk to get down onto the headland, beneath magnificent basalt cliffs. Most of the area is grassy, so we just had to choose which sheltered dip had the finest views.
Our first proper day of walking was almost entirely along clifftops, with an abundance of kittiwakes and great views across The Minch. We were also constantly aware of the imposing Quiraing ahead of us. Europe's largest landslide was our destination for the night. The climb into the guts of the landslide wasn’t as challenging as we feared, but there was no running water around despite passing two lochans. I had to return to the bottom in order to replenish our water supplies before finding another lovely, sheltered camping spot. The first rain arrived just as we pitched the tent.
Having slept very poorly the night before I wasn’t great company for Vilde, especially as I napped for two hours as soon as we were out of the rain! The sky cleared for an evening stroll but it was not to last.
The next morning, we found ourselves in a very wet cloud. We had almost 30km of the Trotternish Ridge ahead of us. This was supposed to be a very tough but spectacular hike, but not on this day. We decided to skip this stretch, with the possibility of coming back at the end of the trip. We descended the same route (again) and caught a bus. We spent the day enjoying warm food and did a couple of short strolls, to Neist Point Lighthouse and through the Fairy Glen.
We had booked accommodation for this night and the following one, in Portree. This inflexibility was the main reason we skipped day 2, rather than just holding off a day, but the poor weather hung around Trotternish Ridge for a couple more days anyway, so it was probably for the best.
We absolutely made the most of our airbnb's drying room and enjoyed an excellent dinner at Dulse and Brose. The next day we had a lazy morning and a yummy breakfast at Cafe Arriba. We also picked up lunch from Isle of Skye Baking Company before getting the bus to Old Man of Storr carpark (where day 2 should have ended).
We trudged up rough and very boggy moorland for an hour or so, until a sudden improvement in walking surface. From here on, the walk was on wonderful, springy turf - definitely the best surface of the whole trip. We ate lunch in the sunshine with fantastic views across to Raasay. As we got higher, the views south opened up and Ben Tianavaig looked mighty. We had just sheep for company and spotted a couple of sea eagles flying beneath the cliffs. We only left the grassy terrain for a short path around the bay back into Portree.
Cue beer and burgers at The Isles Inn and we were both extremely satisfied with our day.
On day 4, we walked along The Braes to Sligachan. We had planned a couple of detours, including up Ben Tianavaig, but the thick, low clouds convinced us otherwise.
We were largely walking on a quiet road this day, but it was quite dull, not helped by the weather. One of the few highlights included a red phone box converted into a book exchange. At the end of the road, we followed a path along the shores of Loch Sligachan. This was again, extremely grey, but at least we saw some seals leaping like dolphins.
We set up camp beside Sligachan Old Bridge and ate at Seumas’ Bar. The portions were huge and the Cuillin Brewery beer was delicious. When we came back outside, the clouds had lifted and we finally saw the Cuillins looming ahead of us.
The next morning, we ate breakfast in the Sligachan Hotel bar and headed off in the sunshine! We made easy progress along Glen Sligachan before turning up Sgùrr na Strì. The few lingering clouds around the Cuillin cleared as we climbed and we were thoroughly rewarded for the effort. The views from the summit were unbelievable.
We walked back down the ridge and descended to the west. After dipping our feet in Loch Coruisk, we skirted underneath Sgùrr na Strì. This involved navigating The Bad Step which was no trouble, at least in dry conditions. Despite the beautiful views out to sea, the rocky terrain was taking its toll and we were shattered as we approached Camasunary.
Tomorrow’s objective (depending on the weather) was extremely clear to see! We just had a shallow river left to wade across, before pitching our tent on the grassy shore. We had our first midges of the trip, but they weren’t too bad once we had donned our fetching midge nets. There’s an appealing new bothy at Camasunary but it was still closed due to Covid-19 restrictions.
We awoke to some clouds, but they were high up and no excuse for avoiding the big climb. From Camasunary, we took the South Ridge up Blà Bheinn. The first 200m or so of ascent was very tough, with no breeze at all, and feeling every kilo of our bags. Things improved steadily after this and we gained the south top three hours after setting off.
There was a tricky little descent to the bealach but we made it to the true summit without much more effort. There was still nobody around and although it wasn’t as clear as the previous day, it was great to be able to see most of the Skye Trail beneath us.
The descent to the east was hard work. There was a lot of scree and it was occasionally difficult to find the best path. We passed plenty of people on their way up, many struggling with the steepness and loose footing.
We were relieved when we reached the car park but still had a road walk around Loch Slapin to finish for the day. Our feet were really struggling but this was much more than made up for by our early arrival time. This meant we could feast on milkshake and slabs of delicious cake at Amy’s Place and get burgers from the van on the shore. It was hot enough that Vilde even went for a swim in Torrin Pools, where the water was (apparently) nice and warm.
Day 7 of the Skye Trail took us south from Torrin, along the coast. There was a bit of rain and we were both fairly tired from the previous couple of days, so it felt like a slog. The views were decent, if not spectacular, and the path was good. We passed through the former settlements of Suisnish and Boreraig, which were forcibly cleared in 1853, to make way for more profitable sheep.
There was a small climb up from the coast and then we followed the Marble Line round to Broadford. We were very relieved to be on a smooth, grassy, slight downhill into town. Whilst waiting for the bus back to our car in Portree, we had a pizza - only one day of the whole trip had we exclusively eaten food that we were carrying.
From Portree, we drove to an airbnb overlooking Fiscavaig Bay. After a cosy and tasty dinner at Taigh Ailean Hotel, we watched a breathtaking sunset over the bay. The B&B was fantastic with delightful hosts, amazing views and a great cooked breakfast.
With the weather forecast looking good, we decided to complete the Skye Trail by going back for Day 2. We drove to Old Man of Storr car park and took a taxi to Quiraing Car Park. From here we walked north away from our end point as we had decided to follow the Quiraing Hill Circuit before continuing along the Trotternish Ridge to the south.
We only had to carry enough for the day which was a pleasant change, but the 2000m climbing over 30km was still a huge challenge. Whilst the terrain was constantly undulating, the going was good, almost all on short grass. We carried four litres of water and were lucky it wasn’t any warmer as we got through all of it. The last climb up the Storr was extremely tough, just over 200m ascent, but we were already exhausted and it was on rough ground. Thank goodness the views across the island made it worthwhile (at least for me).
Although it was a long and hard day, I thought it was fantastic. We only saw 5 or 6 people once we were south of Quiraing Car Park, but the route deserves to be much more popular. Of course the Old Man of Storr makes for a very satisfactory ending, to say the least.
The next day we avoided doing too much walking. We went into Portree for another breakfast at Cafe Arriba, before driving down the full length of Sleat. It was a beautiful drive and seemed like an entirely different island to the rest of Skye. The landscapes were extremely lush and there were several families cycling on the quiet roads.
We drove as far as we could, then walked the rest of the way to Camas Daraich, the perfect place to rest and be thankful for a wonderful adventure.
