Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
T
01470 521317,
W
roskhillhouse.co.uk.
Stone walls,
crafts and home-made cake bring charm to this old
crofthouse, whose modern oak furnishings and bed throws
over crisp white line
n len
d understated style to your stay.
Great breakfasts too.
£78
13
The Duirinish peninsula
Much of the
Duirinish peninsula
west of Dunvegan is inaccessible to all except walkers
prepared to scale or skirt the area's twin flat-topped basalt peaks: Healabhal Bheag
(1600ft) and Healabhal Mhor (1538ft). he mountains are better known as
MacLeod's
Tables
- the story goes that the MacLeod chief held a royal feast on the lower of the
two for James V.
With dead ends on all roads, the peninsula traditionally received few visitors to its
broad, green vales and scattered crofting settlements. hen came the
hree Chimneys
(see below), a gourmet restaurant that has made
Colbost
village something of a
pilgrimage for foodies. All but ignored next door is the
Colbost Folk Museum
(Easter-
Oct daily 10am-6pm; £1.50;
T
01470 521 296,
W
glendale-skye.org.uk), a restored
blackhouse which replicates a typical croft dwelling of the nineteenth century; a peat
fire is often lit.
ARRIVALAND DEPARTURE THE DUIRINISH PENINSULA
By bus
Buses go to Colbost and Glendale from Portree via Dunvegan (Mon-Fri 2 daily; 1hr 15min to Colbost).
ACCOMMODATION AND EATING
Carter's Rest
8/9 Upper Milovaig, 4 miles west of
Colbost
T
01470 511272,
W
cartersrestskye.co.uk.
Little touches like a digital radio impress almost as much as
furnishings like the wooden sleigh bed in this luxury four-
star B&B with astonishing coast view
s. It
prepares evening
meals for guests in shoulder months.
£85
Ì
Red Roof Gallery
Holmisdale, 3 miles west of
Colbost
T
01470 511766.
This award-winning little café
owned by an artist-musician couple has a loyal fan base for
its superb lunches (average £5-8) of local cheese or
seafood platters with home-made breads, plus home-
baking with great coffee.
Sun-Fri 11am-5pm.
Ì
Three Chimneys
Colbost
T
01470 511258,
W
threechimneys.co.uk.
A gourmet restaurant at the
vanguard of Skye's foodie revolution which has been
ranked among the world's best dining experiences.
"Seven Courses of Skye" menus (£90) offer exquisite
seafood plus unfussy mains like blackface lamb with
rosemary maize. Shorter, cheaper menus also available.
Reservations essential.
Mid-March to Oct Mon-Sat
12.15pm-1.45
pm &
6-9pm; also open for Sun lunch
in high season.
£295
Waternish
Waternish
is a backwater by Skye's standards. A little-visited peninsula north of Dunvegan,
it is largely empty except for the village of
STEIN
(pronounced “Steen”) on the west coast
and even this is little more than a row of whitewashed cottages, built in 1787 by the
British Fisheries Society. he place never really took off and was more or less abandoned
within two generations. Today it's a little livelier, thanks to its lovely restaurant and pub -
there are few nicer places on Skye for a pint on a sunny summer evening.
Trumpan Church
At the end of the road that continues north from Stein is the medieval shell of
Trumpan
Church
. Its beautiful location belies one of the bloodiest episodes in Skye's history. In a
revenge attack in 1578, the MacDonalds of Uist set fire to the church while numerous
MacLeods were attending a service within. Everyone perished except one young girl,
who squeezed through a window and raised the alarm. he MacLeods rallied and
slaughtered the MacDonalds, then threw their bodies into a nearby dyke. In the
graveyard is the
Trial Stone
- in the fourteenth century, accused criminals were
blindfolded and if they could fit their fingers in its hole they were deemed innocent.
Otherwise, ouch.
