The Quiraing

Today is the day we conquer the Quiraing, weather permitting obviously! 

The Quiraing loop is a 6.5km/4mile hike in the north of Skye in the area known as "Trotternish." It is part of the Trotternish Ridge and was formed by massive landslips over millions of years. The walk is really not suitable on days where there is wind, rain or fog, so that is almost every day in Scotland!

We left our bed and breakfast around 10am, after filling ourselves with a full Scottish breakfast and various other bits and pieces. The drive took around an hour, with the final 4 miles of single track road being the most challenging part. So far the weather was holding up....

We managed to get parked in the car park, although it was already pretty full. We decided to put on waterproofs and pre-empt the rain as we were sure it was going to come at some point! The initial route was gravel and pretty rough but it was totally do-able; it only took 10 minutes to change my thinking though. There is one difficult part of the route, and it really is the hardest part, but its the part where you have to scramble over a rock gorge to cross a small stream; we made but one woman sat down and said she wasn't moving!

After that, there were good and bad parts, but the views were spectacular. As I mentioned earlier, the Quiraing is a loop, and after a solid 90 minutes of walking we were nearing the turning point when the weather started to close in; within 15 minutes, it changed and we could hardly see ahead of us. We got to the point where we would have seen an area called "the table", but we couldn't see anything. One of the experienced walkers said he was turning back and going back the same route so we decided it was better to be safe than sorry. I was now delighted that my waterproofs had come in handy after all! After 2.5 hours of adventuring, we made it back to the car, slightly relieved as I was starting to see "Mountain Rescue" in my future.

Here are some of the pictures Iain took before the weather turned...

Once we had taken off all our wet gear, we decided to drive back to Uig as we had noticed a sign for "Skye Brewery." It was only really a shop, with a window into the brewery, so we decided to buy a selection of bottles to drink on our travels around Skye. 

Then we thought we would drive back to Sligachan, and Seumas' Bar, as they have over 400 malts behind the bar. Unfortunately, it was shut as it was Monday, but we did manage a visit and a very quick tour of Cuillin Brewery. It is literally the size of our flat so it didn't take very long, but as you can imagine, we left with a few bottles and cans for the road!

We arrived back at our hotel with plenty of time to get ready for dinner. Our hosts, Tracey and Ted, had managed to secure us a booking at the Taigh Ailean Hotel and Munros Bar. Ted helps out at the bar if they need it, so I think we were lucky as every eating place seems to be booked out on Skye for the rest of the month. As an aside, we also learned that Ted helped setting up the Carbost Community Shop which sells everything from milk and bread to car parts and other weird and wonderful items!

The drive to Portnalong was interesting; it was only 3.9 miles and past the Talisker distillery, but most of it was single track road; it takes much longer than you anticipate (unless you are a local!). We arrived at what looked like a big house, but we eventually noticed the neon sign of the bar. It was nothing fancy, but the food was great. I had Skye Rock Turbot which was delicious and incredibly filling, but it was the side of onion rings which made it...you can tell why from the picture! 

Unfortunately, I was driving so didn't get a drink but at least I have tonnes of beer chilling in the fridge in the hotel.

Hangover tomorrow? Perhaps!