Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
TROTTERNISH
The Trotternish Peninsula to the north of Portree has some of Skye's most beautiful - and
bizarre - scenery. A loop road allows a circular driving tour of the peninsula from Portree,
passing through the village of
Uig
, where the ferry to the Outer Hebrides departs. The
following sights are described travelling anticlockwise from Portree.
Sights & Activties
OLD MAN OF STORR
The 50m-high, pot-bellied pinnacle of crumbling basalt known as the Old Man of Storr is
prominent above the road 6 miles north of Portree. Walk up to its foot from the car park in
the woods at the northern end of Loch Leathan (round trip 2 miles). This seemingly un-
climbable pinnacle was first scaled in 1955 by English mountaineer Don Whillans, a feat
that has been repeated only a handful of times since.
| Rock Formation
QUIRAING
Staffin Bay is dominated by the dramatic basalt escarpment of the Quiraing: its impressive
land-slipped cliffs and pinnacles constitute one of Skye's most remarkable landscapes.
From a parking area at the highest point of the minor road between Staffin and Uig you
can walk north to the Quiraing in half an hour.
| Rock Formation
SKYE MUSEUM OF ISLAND LIFE
( 01470-552206;
www.skyemuseum.co.uk
; adult/child £2.50/50p; 9.30am-5pm Mon-Sat Easter-Oct)
The peat-reek of crofting life in the 18th and 19th centuries is preserved in the thatched
cottages, croft houses, barns and farm implements of the Skye Museum of Island Life in
Kilmuir. Behind the museum is Kilmuir Cemetery, where a tall Celtic cross marks the
grave of Flora MacDonald
; the cross was erected in 1955 to replace the original monu-
ment, of which 'every fragment was removed by tourists'.
| Museum
FAIRY GLEN
Just south of Uig, a minor road (signposted 'Sheader and Balnaknock') leads in a mile or
so to the Fairy Glen, a strange and enchanting natural landscape of miniature conical hills,
rocky towers, ruined cottages and a tiny roadside lochan.
| Natural Formation
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