Manchester/Scotland 2025 - Isle of Skye Tour Glen Sligachan and The Cuillin (1/3)

 

After breakfast, we took off on our little bus and head to our first sight of the day the Glen Sligachan. One of the highlights there was the old bridge, as well as seeing the new bridge next to it. I thought it would be a rather boring stop. I mean, how exciting can a bridge be? Besides, the weather doesn't look all that promising either.....

We stopped quite some distance from the bridge, and above is what the old bridge looked like. And the new bridge is just behind it. Actually the first photo on top shows the new bridge better. I think there are some historical significant to the old bridge. You can read more about it here.

After telling us where to head and letting us off the mini bus, we made ourselves towards the center to view the bridge. It was just a short walk, but it was super cold in the morning!

Some official info sign from the spot. Nothing very exciting.

But I think most of us were rather distracted by the magnificent nature's view just opposite us. There is a small viewing platform with info guide here too, so we made our way there. But really, the star of this stop was actually the mountains.

View from the platform, looking straight ahead was The Cuillin mountains. With their white ice capped on the top, as well as mist and white stormy clouds surrounding it, it looked like something out of a fantasy world.

Here is a more closed up look. And if you looked carefully, you can see a man below walking on a path towards the mountains. I guess it's quite a far distance to walk to reach it, but the illusion is like you could really just walk towards it. And it is so tempting to just do so too! The magic and allure of the beautiful mother nature. Can you call this a good thing if it means walking into your death? Cause it seems so cold and unforgiving up in the mountains. 

Here are some of the official info at the platform talking about The Cuillins. 

I love that these mountains have such nice names. The Cuillins sounds like a proper family surname. It actually reminded me of the Cullen from the Twilight Saga. Even the look of the mountain is so suitable for it, cold and dark :P

The terrain surrounding it was just as magical. There were water and small streams everywhere, probably formed from the melting of ice from the mountains or higher level ground. The water was so clear, and probably cold. And it was running everywhere! So the reflection of it makes a very nice shot of the landscape. 

I told our guide Jada that I could just stood there and do nothing but look at those mountains. Cause with the ever changing clouds,  and the defrosting mist that is forever in motion, it was as if you were being hypnotist  by the mountains! If this was the first AND only sights of the day's tour, I think I would have been just satisfied that I have laid eyes on these magnificent views. Even after coming back from Scotland. I often think about these mountains, as well as the landscape of Glencoe. It is so haunting to have seen them in real life. Perhaps that is why I did not hesitate much when I decided I would like to go back to Scotland again in 2026, and perhaps more in future....

View of just the monochrome looking top of The Cuillin.... haunting. When I look at them, I can understand how in stories, people are lured into the wild by beings like Wintersmith or IceQueen. It's so captivating. 

Souvenir selfie of me and The Cullins. 

Manchester/Scotland 2025 - Isle of Skye Tour First Morning at Portree

 

Our first morning in Portree! We woke up early and went for a walk! We just wanted to explore the town. I can't remember whether we ate breakfast first or walked first. Chances are we ate breakfast first. We didn't really know where to head, so we just walked towards a direction we haven't been to.

We ended up at some residential area, but the area overlooked a different part of Skye. And as the sun was rising, with the sky and the reflection on the water, it was a very serene feel to the place, because it wasn't a touristy area. 

There seems to be a town just opposite, but there wasn't any ferry service to get across. You would probably have to drive there. 

Here is the view of the residential area on the left, and the water view on the right. We did walked all the way in. It was pretty quiet as it was still early. After exploring that area, we walked back to town.

Here is the rough map of Portree. 

We did see some other hotel just outside of town. I know some of our group people actually stayed further away at some other bed and breakfast they might have booked on their own. The tour agency allowed you to book your own hotel as well. It was such a weird arrangement for me coming from the East where a tour means they cover everything for you. 

At the town end where the bus stopped, there was also a Bank of Scotland. Must be nice working in a bank branch in a small town like this. You would probably know everyone there. I stay in a small town in Penang island, but even my small town was so much bigger than Portree!

We had our first full Scottish breakfast in our hotel. Because it was included in our room charges, I guess we might as well enjoy the breakfast!

Here is what it looked like. It was super full of protein! And I believe there was also bread and eggs that came with it. We only have two option for breakfast, it was either this or oatmeal. I read that oatmeal is lovely in Scotland, but as an Asian, I guess my Asian genes won't allow me to order oatmeal when I can get so much more protein by selecting this delicious over carb Scottish breakfast. So yeah, this was what we had 2 days in a room while we were staying there. I think the bread might have been free flow too. The drinks was, so I loaded up on orange juice a lot because it was so expensive to buy them from the supermarket :P

Manchester/Scotland 2025 - Isle of Skye Tour First Night at Portree (2/2)

2nd post on Portree, let me show you around this little town (actually it's the biggest town in Skye).

There were only two main road in the town, and our hotel was on one of them. Above is the Portree Hotel. Most of the hotel and pub and shops were on the main road. The other maid road was the one leading into Portree and all the way to the harbour area. 

We stayed at this hotel above, Tongadale Hotel. We had to pay cash upon check in, and it was a bed and breakfast, so breakfast was included. There are no lift inside the building, and I think we stayed on the 2nd or 3rd floor. There are no aircon inside the room either. It was a super old hotel, and the corridors inside was super narrow. But they do have a pub downstairs, as well as a restaurant. We tried having our dinner there. We even made a book as priority is given to houseguest. But unfortunately the dish I wanted was not available on that day, so we declined the table and went elsewhere to look for our dinner.

Here is a look at our room. It was cool enough when we opened the window. The toilet was rather small and I didn't really like it that much. But other than that, it was an old place, so it smells like an old place as well. But it wasn't cheap! I think it was around 150pounds a night!

While exploring the town, here are some shops that was kinda cute.

There was also a memorial house for a poet. But I wasn't familiar with Gaelic Bard. Still, I took a photo, in case in future I become a fan of hers. I am interested in the language. I find it sounds so magical, and it reminded me of elfish language. 

There was one book store on the main road leading into town, and I was surprised they stock the latest Murakami book. For such a remote town, they do have very good collection! The bookstore was actually closed, so I was just browsing their window display. 

I also saw this book under poetry! Damn!

While looking for dinner, we did try this restaurant by the harbour. I think we went around 7pm? There was a queue, but there was also a cut-off. Meaning they stopped serving the last few people and that's it. So we ran to some pizza kiosk we saw early by the harbour, and that too was closed by 7pm..... Man, it was tough finding food in this small town!

Luckily, there was a small co-op nearby which was still opened. So we went there hoping to find some meal deal we could have for our dinner. The price of items inside was very reasonable, so this will be our backup place for food. We also found Irn-Bru! And decided to buy one just to try. It tasted like Fanta Orange, but more medicine-like. I didn't like it at all! Except for coke, I don't really like most soft drinks. I think most of them taste like chemical. I do sometimes drink 100plus or Calpis. 

And lucky me, I think I found some pasta ribbon with pesto sauce. That will do for my dinner. We also got a bottle of milk, because milk is delicious and cheap in Scotland. And it doesn't taste creamy or fatty either. It taste like nice watery fresh milk. 

Manchester/Scotland 2025 - Isle of Skye Tour First Night at Portree (1/2)

 

Finally, we reached Portree around 5pm. Above is the iconic view of Portree with it's little harbour and colourful houses lining it. I managed to take this shot when we were exploring the town after we checked-in to our hotel. 

We also went down to walk around the harbour. There wasn't much to see, really, except for the colourful houses, everything else was what you would expect from a small fishing village. It was a small town, so you could cover it in probably half an hour. 

It kinda reminds me of those British TV show scene though. 

This is teh view looking back to town. You can see some buildings on the right side of the photo on the slight hill area. I wonder if that was where we were supposed to stay. The tour agency initially booked us into a Bed&Breakfast near the hill side where we would have to walked down around 15minutes to get to Portree. But there was a lovely trail there that I have originally planned to explore. But after that, they changed us to a hotel right in the middle of Portree. I guess it was more convenient for us, and for them. 

Here is another view of our potential first lodging. As you can see, it's on the hill by the sea, and it looked like you could walk all the way to the right side of the hill, which was part of the hiking trail there. There was even a small waterfall nearby within walking distance that I had planned to explore. Oh well. 

Here, take a look at the sea and the boats at the harbour to relax your eyes. 

We walked all the way to the other side of the harbour, which looked like a more expensive looking private hotel. There were some fancy restaurant around there, but it was all out of our budget. Strange, when people eat in Scotland, it always seems to be some fancy restaurant or pub. And the prices are always 10pounds and above kinda range. 

Zooming in on some of the houses on the hill area. 

And a wefie of us at the harbour. 

Manchester/Scotland 2025 - Isle of Skye Tour Reaching Skye

 

Road trip vibe! We have now reached the Isle of Skye! How lovely the road view was!

As we made our way to Portree, the biggest town in Skye, our little van drove along the coast line so we always had the sea view just next to us.  We will be spending two nights in Portree. And although our tour does not include accommodation, the tour company has helped us to book accomodation on our behalf. 

Suddenly, from valley and mountain view, we were now seeing sea views!

We drove past some farms and local houses. 

Imagine living on this island! Sometimes I think I should go learn to drive, so that I could live at some remote places far far away from everything. But because I don't drive, I now live in cities, or places that at least have public transport to. I think only in Japan would I feel comfortable living in the country side due to their very reliable bus services and timing. 

Isn't the world a beautiful place? Or should I just narrow it down to, isn't Scotland a beautiful place?

This tour seems to have all the views you want to see. And we're only in day 1!

Soon, the road turned into valleys again, as we made our way through the island. I have no idea how big the island is, but it had so many lovely sceneries and mountains! It was amazing how one single island could hold so much wonders!

I thought the Three Sisters of Glencoe was stunning, but I was about to be proven wrong. As our van drove through the valley, we soon saw something even more mesmerising. 

I couldn't get a good shot as the view was opposite my window, but here is a snap of it. Those are the Cuillin Mountains. Just look how dramatic they looked, almost black and white, with the white being the snow at the top of the mountain. It kinda makes you understand why people believed in Gods and Giants, and Witches and Fairies here, doesn't it? Cause it looked so magical and mysterious. 

Bonus view during our ride to Portree, we got a glimpse of Old Man of Storr above. It's that black pointy stick-like thingy up on the hill in the photo above. We will get a chance to visit it on our next day in Skye. 

I forgot where we took this wefie, but I guess we might have got a chance to get down from the van to take some photos :)  Our guide is after all, super cool!