June-July 2025 Arran, Skye, Western Isles (Part 8 -- Raasay to Harris via Skye)

Day 8 -- Thursday, the 3rd July

Since our imposed breakfast time is later than usual, JS and I watch Gary Numan's concert at Glastonbury on the telly. His brand of goth rock could hardly be less adapted to rural Scotland, but, if we abstract where we are, it is a good performance.

At 8:30, we are at the table.

Our (non-full) Scottish breakfast

Breakfast is delicious Allt Arais is genuinely a good place to stay: it is comfy, quiet, the breakfast is solid. However, it has perhaps the most-unwelcoming host I have met.

Clearly, with breakfast at 8:30, we missed the 8:55 ferry. The next one is at 9:55, so we can adopt a leisurely pace.

Here is our mean of transportation

At low tide, Raasay Pier presents a blind wall to the ferry passenger

adc photographs the mountain she conquered yesterday

See the result!

We land in Sconser half-an-hour later, as planned. We then drive south towards Broadford. Indeed, JS found a bakery on the way that we are all keen to try: Lean to Coffee.

Inside, a Dutch lass is quadruple-plaiding it

Also, PASTRY!!1

Are we indoors, or outdoors?

From there, we take the road to Kylerhea. Because we could not take the early ferry from Raasay to Skye, we will likely not have time to sail to Glenbeg and back on the ferry we could not use a few days ago, but we still want to see it. The road there is wonderful, if pretty challenging. It becomes even more so when the weather takes a turn for the worse and it starts pelting down. We come across a motorcyclist with a side-car and wonder if the vehicle is amphibious. Perhaps it is a fishbowl in disguise? We reach Kylerhea in a thick fog as well.

We certainly have no time for the crossing, now, but the road ends, with the ferry as a last frontier before the water. No car park, no construction, hardly a passing place to turn around.

The world's last turntable ferry

The crew of the vessel wave for me to climb on board and join the only other car, but that would cost us over an hour that we have not. I wave thanks-but-no-thanks and laboriously turn around. I feel bad for going all the way just to give up metres from the prize, and would love to help keep the operation afloat (pun intended), but the weather also promises a miserable time. This about-turn is certainly the rational thing to do.

As we come down the hills that separate Kylerhea from Broadford, the fog clears up; the rain continues, though. Back on the A87, we stop at The Misty Bottle where JS buys beer. We then head southwest to Torabhaig.

The distillery is a visitor centre that happens to make whisky. The tour that has started a few minutes ago looks good and detailed, even if strangely led by an American. As at Raasay [link to come], there is a bar that serves food and the local whisky. They have a selection of their core range offerings, though none of the distillery-exclusive single casks that are available in the shop. Wasted opportunity again. We leave broucouille (comme on dit dans le Bouchonnois). The sight of Castle Chamuis is a meek consolation: it is so wet we dare not take pictures, let alone go closer.

Not true: we take this one

From there, we head to Sleat. Praban na Linne is there, and their shop is still as welcoming as in my memory, stuck in time, to a degree. As we arrive, we receive a text from Sea Harris: there will be no excursion tomorrow and Saturday seems compromised too. The weather. More on that later.

Ancient bottlings in the Gaelic Whisky Collection

We have a nice, friendly tasting in Sleat. We try the most-recent incarnations of their Poit Dhubh expressions. The lady tells me they are phasing out the 21yo -- a pity, as it is my favourite, today, and they have no bottle for sale. I confirm that Torabhaig is the brainchild of Sir Iain Noble, who founded Praban na Linne, and discover that it was taken forward by someone else, eventually. Here is a man who spent decades setting up a business, buying land, planning and obtaining the necessary permissions to build a distillery, only for someone else to walk it in after his death. That explains why Torabhaig showcase Mossburn Distillers, their proprietor, yet make no mention of Praban na Linne. Ah! well.

We leave whiskyless, but heavy with books. From there, and since the weather is still dreadful, we continue our whisky pilgrimage.

On the way, this out-of-control waterfall near Sligachan
proves a hit with the tourists

Carbost is waiting.

You know...
...to prove to adc that it exists, after she never saw it in 1993

Talisker is another flavour of Disneyland. Groups of twelve visitors follow one another as if on a conveyor belt. The shop is very much in the style of the one at Caol Ila, which is to say very commercial. That said, they have the most-interesting bottling we will see all trip, a Talisker 46yo 1976/2022 (50.9%, OB Prima & Ultima, Refill Hogshead + Butt + Puncheon, 771b). Now, the price stings a little bit, of course.

The busy shop at Talisker distillery

Talisker also has a bar, and what they serve there is very impressive. They feature drams for every purse: most of what they have is available in the shop, and most of what is available in the shop is at the bar, even some of the Prima & Ultima offerings. Nailed it.

We still leave Talisker empty-handed, and the highlight of the halt is seeing two grey herons in Loch Harport.

I mean...

Back in Portree, we call at Isle of Skye Distillers. They are now open. They have a small selection of bottles, mostly local-ish, though no exclusives, despite what they told DH. adc finds a tasting set of Raasay that is exactly what she wanted and that Raasay itself did not have. We return to the car, annoyed that we had to pay for three hours' parking for a twenty-minute shopping trip with virtually no shopping to show for it. At least, I am annoyed. More than I should be, probably. Story of my life.

We head to Uig where we comfortably arrive with an hour to kill. The brewery next to the ferry terminal has nothing that tempts us and the sandwich shop, Skye's the Limit, is closed, despite closing time being thirty minutes in the future. Our choices are CalMac food in an hour, or a rushed meal at The Pier Restaurant. I insist that, "CalMac, c'est pas top, mais le restaurant, c'est Pier." Ha! Ha! In truth, I am the only one who kind of want to go to that restaurant, so it is an easy choice.

We board the vessel, assault the canteen, eat our grub and plant ourselves in a row of seats for some shut-eye. Me at least: I feel as if I had driven hundreds of kilometres, today. Oh! I have.

My CalMac & Cheese -- with chips, just for dom666

adc's Steak & Ale Pie

JS's CalMac & Cheese (note the ketchup)

Around a hundred minutes later, we disembark in Tarbert. Where is the distillery? Well, it is almost on the boat, is it not? More on that later.

An easy thirty-minute drive on excellent roads with killer mountain and sea views takes us to Leverburgh, at the south end of Harris.

As we stop the car, seven families of greylag geese hop into the loch in front of our accommodation. We also spot a dozen mallards and three scaups. Binocs at the ready!

We enter Lingay House, our homebase for the next few days, via the back door as instructed (it is a bit odd, but whatever) and are asked to remove our shoes. It is, of course, not a problem, other than the hosts have theirs on. Double standards. I am offered a whisky while still carrying the suitcases (The Hearach (46%, OB, Bourbon + Oloroso + Fino Casks) 7/10, not sure which batch), only to find out a minute later that it is not complimentary. Quite a contrast with the (cheaper) B&B in Portree, where we were told: "There is a bottle [of Talisker here], help yourselves to it as much as you want, it is free of charge."

The episode leaves a sour taste. All in all, there are weird vibes in this place. Let us see how we feel after a night's sleep. Oh! Here is my whisky... in a tumbler! Luckily no ice. Good thing I specified a single!

The rooms are Spartan: a clothes bar with a few hangers, a couple of shelves too low to put anything other than shoes (which are in the hallway, remember?), and a bedsit. It is also twin beds. adc has bunk beds in her room. Neither of the rooms has any shelf space in the bathroom even for a toothbrush. Now, I am not looking for a palace, let us be clear. But there may be a disconnect between the price and the practicality of the amenities. On the up side, shower gel, shampoo and hand cream. It is not as ubiquitous as one may think.

We are tired enough to not really care. More tomorrow.

June-July 2025 Arran, Skye, Western Isles (Part 6 -- Skye)

Day 6 -- Tuesday, the 1st July

JS gets up early and goes for a run across the Skye Bridge and back.

We then go for breakfast next door, at The Legend of Saucy Mary, which serves as the kitchen for the hostel we stayed in.

The place has a plaque to explain the name: said Mary used to make sailors pay for the privilege of passing the kyle (the sound). To lure them into the kyle and levy the toll, she used to expose her attributes. That got her her nickname.

Eggs Royale [sic] (tOMoH)

Scrambled Eggs and Smoked Salmon (JS)

Eggs Benedict with Smoked Salmon (adc)
(aka Eggs Royale)

The food is excellent. They also have a decent bar with whiskies from Skye and the surrounding islands. But it is 7:30. Not that that would stop us; simply, Scotland will not sell alcohol before 10:00.

Outside, we noticed a collection of scooters. They were there last night (though fewer of them), but, today, the riders are polishing them. They are Mods, part of a club or two. They tell me they are doing the North Coast 400. Whatever that is. I know the North Coast 500, which passes northeast of Skye, not the 400. Nae matter! They seem jolly, and the weather is certainly on their side, today. In fact, the weather is brilliant, which is rather unusual on this island. We decide to change our plans accordingly. Instead of exploring the south of the isle (where we are), we will drive to Storr, in the north.

Because the weather is good, and because we can

Caslte Moil under a heavy glare

A couple of hours later, we are in Disneyland. One has to pay to park at the bottom of the trail to the Old Man of Storr (and the Sanctuary). Not that that changes much: it is full, so we cannot park, there or anywhere in the vicinity. Traffic wardens are issuing parking tickets left right and centre. We quickly realise that, even if we managed to park somewhere, paying or not, the trek to the Old Man, an impressive stack we saw up close in 2010, would be a chore, with that crowd. We give up and continue north.

Looked good from a distance, though

We reach the Quiraing walk around 11:00. It is busy too, but nothing like Storr. The hike is sporty, if not overly challenging, and the majestic view of the Quiraing itself is a good motivation.

adc throws in the towel a couple of kilometres in, and spends a long moment on the shore of Loch Langaig, while JS and I press on.

I can think of worse places for adc to wait

It is quickly obvious that our decision to travel the length of the island to visit the north of Skye today, after leaving from Kyleakin in the far south, will result in our not having enough time to complete the hike -- not to mention adc is waiting for us.

Also, it seems like a very-dangerous hike, all of a sudden!

But we come close enough to enjoy some spectacular views. Views that we feel obliged to augment with a delicious drop of Poit Dhubh 30yo b.2006 (43%, Pràban na Linne 30th Anniversary Edition, b#230), followed by 163.1 6yo 2018/2024 Smokin'! (58.1%, SMWS Society Cask, 1st Fill ex-Bourbon Barrel, 240b).

We cut the hike short and trace our steps back to join adc. Or so we think: we end up on a higher path than we were on on the way up, and that proves more challenging to come down.

On the way, we encounter this marvelous mahpie moth
(abraxas grossulariata)

And some heather

And another magpie moth

We drive around the north end of Trotternish and reach Duntulm Castle, which was not planned, but is too good an opportunity to pass.

The castle is crowded AF. So much so I struggle to enjoy the magnificent site. At some point, while JS is taking a picture, a bloke shoos her out of his frame. No 'please,' no 'thanks.' Just a lack of social manners. I climb behind him and shoo the same as a retaliation. The dick hardly registers it. Sigh.

We continue, southward now, to the Skye Museum of Island Life.

The ladies decide it is too busy to visit, but we stretch our legs. There is an exciting MacBraynes bus from yesteryear in the car park.

There is also a food truck that serves pie.

Only have to get past that trippy coo...

They are almost out of everything, but they do have a couple of haggis pies. Guess what we eat? adc rounds it off with fudge. We sit on two benches outside to eat. It tastes excellent and lifts our spirits. Birds fly by, sparrows, robins, curious, and probably hungry for our crumbs. Slightly further are rabbits.

Whose are these long ears?

A wee rascal with a red facemask

Looking plump and cute to trick us

"Oooh! A Crumb!"

adc gets up to pass me a napkin or something similar -- a nine-second operation, if that. A German dives onto her exact seat on the otherwise empty bench. There is enough room next to JS and me for adc to sit down, but it confirms that tourists' behaviour on Skye is questionable.

We drive to Portree, park the car in a free spot in the centre of town, but it is too tight for comfort and we end up a little farther, just opposite our next accommodation, Rock View Guest House. We check in, then walk to the whisky shop that DH recommended (Isle of Skye Distillers).

The view on our way

The shop is closed. Not that they close on Tuesdays; builders are doing unidentified work is all. Argh.

After a quick tour of Portree, we head home to freshen up, and slowly head to Waternish. Since timing allows, we will have supper at The Stein Inn, tonight, a place we enjoyed very much in 2010.

JS confirms on their Web site that they boast more than one hundred whiskies. We remember at least double that, official and independent bottlings, including some hard to find. This is where we first encountered the Scotch Malt Whisky Society, believe it or not! We are excited.

On arrival in Stein, an SUV is blocking the way and visibly slowing down to deliberately block the way some more as I wait in a passing place for the driver to clear. He almost stops at my height and flags me to slow down. I laugh in disbelief at the audacity of someone willingly being an obstacle while telling others to behave on the road. We were well below speed limits, to be clear. Put someone behind the wheel of a car and see the worst of them. The bigger the car, the worse they become.

Here we are

Once inside, I cannot count more than forty bottles, mostly regional, mostly entry level. I explain I am surprised at the discrepancy with the Web site's promise. The bar lad explains there is such a heavy rotation they cannot display all the bottlings simultaneously. I ask how the Abhain Dearg is. Neither he nor his colleague has ever heard of it. I point it out on the shelf; after three or four attempts, they finally locate it and admit they have never had it. They ask me how it tastes. Flabbergasted, I opt for a Scapa in the new livery (Scapa 10yo (48%, OB Small Batch, American Oak, b.2024) 7/10). It is not local, but it is the only one I have never seen in a supermarket, other than the Abhain Dearg. I feel necessary to specify I want it neat. They bring it to me...

...in this

Later on, it will turn out I should have asked for the price too: £12 for a single pour (they do the 2.5cl English measure, by the way, not the Scottish 3.5cl). One can buy a 70cl bottle for £49.95. I feel completely ripped off. Our food arrives.

Lochbay Crab and Haddock Fondou [sic] (me)

Stornoway Haggis and Isle of Skye Black Pudding Bon Bon (JS)

Fish, Shellfish Chowder (adc)

Whole Seabass served with chimmichurre, fries and salad (me)

Fish and Chips (JS)

Local Skye Smoked Peat Fish Dish (adc)

At least, the food is good, albeit a bit too salty, and the portions are beyond generous. The bar, however, is a mere shadow of its past self. I ask about that. The bar lad (English, as virtually all the staff we see) explains that the current (English) owner bought the place in 2019, and immediately decided to make it a more-upscale place with better food quality and service. He tells us that was needed, since the previous owner would serve microwaved food and serve cheap pints to locals only. We say we visited in 2010 and we were impressed by both the food and the bar. He insists we would have had microwaved food and one cannot make a profit selling only cheap beer. Later on, JS and I clear any doubt: the lamb I had that night of the 19th September 2010 was not microwaved. It was so good we went back the following evening. On both nights, at least one of our group had fish and chips, a dish that does not microwave too well. We washed that down with an SMWS Ardbeg, an SMWS Caol Ila, a Rosebank and a Gordon & MacPhail St Magdalene, none exactly "cheap beer." Now, perhaps there was an intermediary landlord, but I question the current staff's reliability, when they comment on my own experience.

The Stein Inn at dusk

We were already not sure dessert was a good idea (did I mention the generous portions?) That chat helps us decide against it. We drive back to Portree, have a dram of 163.1 6yo 2018/2024 Smokin'! (58.1%, SMWS Society Cask, 1st Fill ex-Bourbon Barrel, 240b) and call it a night.

View from our room