TechnomadicsVagabonding Europe

Today we drive to the Isle of Skye. We’ve been looking forward to the Isle of Skye since before we left Australia. Don’t bugger it up Scotland! The weather has cleared up a bit today, and we’re rewarded with an impressive mountain-scape as we drive to Portree, where we’re meeting Keith and Sarah. Our short drive through the little town of Portree (also the “capital” of Skye), gives us a glimpse of a spectacular harbour surrounded by impressive lush green cliffs, little boats bobbing around on the water and pastel row houses lining the shore-side.

Portree, Isle of Skye

The campsite we’re staying at — Torvaig Campsite — is pretty nice too. So far so good.

Torvaig campsite, Isle of Skye

For the rest of the week we make the most of the time Keith and Sarah have left in Scotland, before they head home to the States. We catch up with a decidedly dejected looking Keith and Sarah in Portree. The unbroken string of bad weather has hit them hard given that Sarah only gets a few weeks off a year. It really is hard to convey the bitter disappointment of being drawn to a place for its exquisite beauty and only getting enticing glimpses of it once there! Keith and Sarah have visited the Isle of Skye several times and each time they have been foiled by the weather. Sarah’s had enough and swears this is the last time she exchanges her precious annual leave for a couple of weeks of sogginess.

Eschewing the initially exciting-sounding Accordion and Fiddle Festival, on accounts of it having too much accordion and too little fiddle, we instead grab some vitals and head back to Nettle where Keith regales us with comedic horror stories about cabbage-scented carnies and an old man running a shady BnB on an isolated island in the Orkneys.

The next day, Keith and Sarah take us out to a pub for some much anticipated fiddle-dee-dee music. Since being in Scotland we’ve gotten nicely tipsy more frequently than we would in a year or two or three. Faced with an afternoon in another pub, Mike and I shame ourselves and our companions and order two pots of tea. It was possibly the most satisfying tea I’ve ever had.

We spend a quiet night in Nettle with Keith and Sarah teaching us how to play a card game — the name of which slips my mind. Keith and Sarah gift us a beautiful bottle of 16 year old single malt Scotch whiskey, with some truly beautiful packaging and thoughtful, clever branding. Thank you guys! It was so so good meeting you!

Jura Whiskey, Scotland

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One Response to Portree, Isle of Skye

  1. Margaret Tyson says:

    Love the new format. The brown is a surprise, but it looks great. I love the big photos. Nice to be able to really see them in context. Maybe the font could be one point bigger, (for aging eyes). I think it’s the paler colour of the font against the darker background that makes it a bit harder to read. That photo of the harbour with the rainbow and shaft of sun is a knockout!