Wednesday, January 13, 2021

A Photo Diary From Skye

The Little Magpie Guide to Skye, Scotland and Sligachan Hotel Eilean Donan
Why hello! Happy hump day.

Firstly I wanted to say a big thank you for the lovely messages - it feels good to be back at ye olde blogging! I'd missed it so. And secondly I wanted to say... Holy. Heck. I didn't realise I had quite so many photos from Skye - my left hand's actually gone a bit numb from all of the uploading there (I really should have known from the first sign of tingling that this was crying out to be split into two posts) - but here we are, a photo diary from Skye! This was one of my favourite ever trips; I've been grinning like the Cheshire Cat on a sugar high looking back through all the photos whilst I was putting this together. Skye's somewhere I've wanted to visit for YEARS (unnecessarily capitalised to emphasise just how long), I was lucky enough to visit back in January 2019 but it was a very brief visit for a shoot and we didn't have time to do much exploring, so last year was the perfect time to get out and see some more of our b-e-a-utiful homeland. We booked to go for 5 nights in mid August and, in between watching Tiger King, I got cracking on with my massive list of 'Everything I Want To Fit In'. I'll keep the writing in this post to a minimum since the photos are already enough to see you through at least one cup of tea, but if there's anything at all I've missed out please feel free to pop me a wee email or a message on Instagram!

The Little Magpie Guide to Skye, Scotland and Sligachan Hotel Applecross (3) The Little Magpie Guide to Skye, Scotland (35) The Little Magpie Guide to Skye, Scotland and Sligachan Hotel (5) The Little Magpie Guide to Skye, Scotland and Sligachan Hotel (4) The Little Magpie Guide to Skye, Scotland (37) The Little Magpie Guide to Skye, Scotland and Sligachan Hotel (3) The Little Magpie Guide to Skye, Scotland and Sligachan Hotel (3) The Little Magpie Guide to Skye, Scotland (38) The Little Magpie Guide to Skye, Scotland and Sligachan Hotel (2) The Little Magpie Guide to Skye, Scotland (15) The Little Magpie Guide to Skye, Scotland (33) The Little Magpie Guide to Skye, Scotland (27) The Little Magpie Guide to Skye, Scotland and Sligachan Hotel (2) The Little Magpie Guide to Skye, Scotland
We started off our travels in Dornie at this beautiful airbnb, which is located right next to (and I really do mean right next to) Eilean Donan castle, made famous by movie classic 'Made of Honor'. Ok, maybe not - but that film was the first place I'd ever seen the castle featured so 16 year old Amy was giddy at the thought of seeing it in real life. It's also located right next to Manuela's Wee Bakery, a family run bakery which I'd absolutely recommend stopping in at - it feels like you've stepped straight into a fairytale. We were so incredibly lucky with the weather so spent our time getting to know the area, walking lots and even managing a few swims in the sea. We visited the beautiful Plockton (which is often, and very rightfully, referred to as the 'Jewel of the Highlands') and had a wander and a Harris gin or two in the sun. We made our way up the very famous windy road that leads to Applecross - one of my highlights of a trip that was pretty much packed to the brim with highlights, you're so high up it feels like you could step out onto a cloud - and sat and had monkfish (gluten free, I almost wept with joy) in the sun at the Applecross Inn.  We walked along to Eilean Donan and saw one of the most beautiful sunsets I've seen - there's a photo of it above that was snapped very quickly on my iphone and is totally unedited. The one where it looks like the sky's on fire* and, last but not least, shouted 'I don't want to go home' an average of seven times an hour.

*Will I ever be able to type the word fire without starting to sing 'Ryan started the fiiiiire' in my head?

The Little Magpie Guide to Skye, Scotland (14) The Little Magpie Guide to Skye, Scotland (32) The Little Magpie Guide to Skye, Scotland (2) The Little Magpie Guide to Skye, Scotland and Sligachan Hotel (6) The Little Magpie Guide to Skye, Scotland and Sligachan Hotel (7) The Little Magpie Guide to Skye, Scotland (3) The Little Magpie Guide to Skye, Scotland (30) The Little Magpie Guide to Skye, Scotland (4) The Little Magpie Guide to Skye, Scotland (40) The Little Magpie Guide to Skye, Scotland (5) The Little Magpie Guide to Skye, Scotland (31) The Little Magpie Guide to Skye, Scotland (6) The Little Magpie Guide to Skye, Scotland (7) The Little Magpie Guide to Skye, Scotland (39) The Little Magpie Guide to Skye, Scotland (26) The Little Magpie Guide to Skye, Scotland and Sligachan Hotel (4) The Little Magpie Guide to Skye, Scotland (29) The Little Magpie Guide to Skye, Scotland and Sligachan Hotel (9) The Little Magpie Guide to Skye, Scotland and Sligachan Hotel (8) The Little Magpie Guide to Skye, Scotland and Sligachan Hotel (7) The Little Magpie Guide to Skye, Scotland and Sligachan Hotel (11)
And from there we headed over to Skye! We stayed at - and had to be dragged from at the end of our visit - the amazing Sligachan Hotel, which I honestly couldn't recommend more; I'm not exaggerating when I say I loved every single minute of our stay and that I still have dreams about that big beautiful bath. There was an incident which involved me falling into the fairy pools whilst fully dressed (good one, Amy) and that bath was there waiting to greet me when I got home, no questions asked. It was there waiting when we got back from a cold, misty hike and it was there in the morning for a pre-breakfast soak. I'm really not a bath person but I believe I managed to have four in a very short stay. The hotel is perfectly located for exploring Skye and they've done so well with social distancing and making sure everyone feels safe. If you don't manage to book for a stay at the hotel, make sure to visit for a meal as it's worth it for the view alone (you can see it above in the photo of Rob at a table with the mountains behind him and then again in the photo where the mountain has a little Christmas hat on) and the gluten free fish and chips. Right next to the hotel is the Cuillin Brewery, where you can try local beer, and Seumas's Bar, the perfect place to relax after a hike, which stocks a whopping 400+ malts. 

The Little Magpie Guide to Skye, Scotland and Sligachan Hotel (6) The Little Magpie Guide to Skye, Scotland (34) The Little Magpie Guide to Skye, Scotland and Sligachan Hotel Applecross The Little Magpie Guide to Skye, Scotland and Sligachan Hotel Applecross (2) The Little Magpie Guide to Skye, Scotland (13) The Little Magpie Guide to Skye, Scotland and Sligachan Hotel (10) The Little Magpie Guide to Skye, Scotland (12) The Little Magpie Guide to Skye, Scotland (11) The Little Magpie Guide to Skye, Scotland (10) The Little Magpie Guide to Skye, Scotland The Little Magpie Guide to Skye, Scotland and Sligachan Hotel Plockton The Little Magpie Guide to Skye, Scotland and Sligachan Hotel fairy pools The Little Magpie Guide to Skye, Scotland and Sligachan Hotel fairy pools (2) The Little Magpie Guide to Skye, Scotland and Sligachan Hotel The Little Magpie Guide to Skye, Scotland and Sligachan Hotel (5) The Little Magpie Guide to Skye, Scotland (36) The Little Magpie Guide to Skye, Scotland (8) The Little Magpie Guide to Skye, Scotland (17) The Little Magpie Guide to Skye, Scotland (18) The Little Magpie Guide to Skye, Scotland (20) The Little Magpie Guide to Skye, Scotland (19) The Little Magpie Guide to Skye, Scotland (21) The Little Magpie Guide to Skye, Scotland (24) The Little Magpie Guide to Skye, Scotland (25) The Little Magpie Guide to Skye, Scotland (22) The Little Magpie Guide to Skye, Scotland (23)
We managed to squeeze in a lot in Skye (although not quite everything we'd hoped - that's for the next trip) including somewhere I've wanted to visit for a long time: the fairy pools! The first time we visited - when I, um, fell in - we went about 3pm and oh my... it was very, very busy. So the next day we came back around 5pm and it was much quieter! Whether this would be the case in non-Covid times, ie when international travel is back up and running however, I'm unsure. It has been 26 degrees that day - I know, I still can't believe it either - so we managed to swim and paddle in our bikinis and trunks which, if you'd told me pre-visit, I'd have laughed at. You guessed it, that's another one of my highlights right there. Whilst we're talking highlights, somewhere else I'd pop on your 'must visit' list (if you're a seafood fan that is) is The Oyster Shed. We sat out in the sun and had the best mussels I've ever had, followed by scallops and chips, and that is genuinely where I've gone to in my head for my happy place in recent months. 

Another few things we did that I'd recommend are, drum roll, a trip to Portree for a wander and to see the colourful houses - about a 15 minute drive from Sligachan - and, although we didn't manage to try it ourselves, I've heard Sea Breezes is a great place for a delicious seafood meal. We also hiked The Old Man of Storr which I LOVED (I've heard Quiraing is another amazing hike too) and stopped in at Kilt Rock/Mealt Falls. You won't run out if things to do or see, even just driving around the island is magical - those views don't stop giving. Right, I'm going to wrap it up there as that's one almighty post but, like I say, if I've missed anything out please just pop me a wee message! And for everyone who asked about what camera/film I used for these and the last post, 't'was Kodak Portra 400 and the Olympus Mju ii and a wee Pentax Espio point and shoot - I hope that helps! 

Oh my goodness, sorry, one more thing - take midge spray. Vats of it. 

Amy