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!

Manchester/Scotland 2025 - Isle of Skye Tour to Eileen Donan Castle

 

Before reaching the bridge to cross to Isle of Skye, we had to pass by Eileen Donan Castle. I think there might have been a brief toilet break, hence we were able to run down and took some photograph of the iconic castle. When posting this blog entry, I couldn't really decide which photos to post as they all looked so beautiful!

So at first we were quite a distance away when the castle started to appear, with the lovely blue lake view behind it. It was amazing that the weather was so lovely at that moment for these photographs to run out! They always say that UK has gloomy weather and it always rain there, but I felt so lucky that I get to experience blue sky!

Getting nearer to the castle. We were at the carpark town area just opposite. Most people might have ran off to seek the toilet. I was still good. I hate using public toilets anyway.

And zoom in view. I love the yellow flowers in front of us that kinda helped frame the photo of the castle. It kinda looked something out of a fairytale! This could have been a painting if I ever get down to drawing! Three years in to 'retirement' and I have yet to sketch or paint a single photo! (DIY Paint by number kits don't count! I've painted a Van Gogh Sunflower last year! )

All too soon, our toilet break was over and we drove on. Our guide said we will visit the castle proper on our 3rd day of the tour when we're on our way back to Edinburgh.

View from a different angle. You could see the lovely arched bridge leading to the castle. 

Here is a closed up look.

There was a toilet sign on the road, and our guide told us to take a picture here, showing the most expensive toilet in Scotland! Lol. Cause you have to pay an entrance fee to go inside the castle. She thought this photo was hilarious. I couldn't agree more with her! Lol.

View while we made our way to the bridge that would lead us into the Isle of Skye.

And finally, we are here! The bridge was built in the modern times. Before that, people used to take the ferry across to the isle. In fact, many of Scotland's island still has these setup. I will get to experience a long ferry ride in my upcoming trip, a 1.5hours ferry ride to Orkney Islands! I am so looking forward to it!

Selfie of me and Eileen Donan Castle. 

And a wefie of us with the lovely castle behind us. This was the best view we got on that stop :)

Manchester/Scotland 2025 - Isle of Skye Tour Glencoe And It's Beautiful Creatures

Onwards with our road trip! Still on day one! And what a road it was! Best place to have a road trip is at the highlands of Scotland!  Weather was starting to look up after we left the Commando Memorial.

If you've ever seen the famous lone house in the middle of nowhere in front of the mountains, you can see it in real life here in Scotland. In fact, many of these houses exist here. Imagine living here, with no neighbours for miles and miles. I guess it might get kinda scary. But if you enjoy living alone in the wild, oh man, what a lovely place to stay!

Mountains, lake, blue sky! It makes you feel very much alive, and thankful that you get to enjoy this moment! It just feels very freeing to be here, even though we were on a tour. At least it was a small group tour. 

I don't want to waste any nice photos I took. So you might see some repeated ones here and there, but always with a slight difference. I love photos of water in them with reflections. 

Or those with flowers that kinda add a touch of colours into the photo.

Or just this lone mountain top against the bright blue skies. This is so Teletubbies land!

Let us also not forget the cute creatures that can be found in this landscape. Most of them domesticated, but roam freely on the land. Above, just cotton balls of sheep grazing on the grass.

Up at the more rocky area, you could spot some dark brown coloured goats. 

Some of them could also be seen here resting by the road. I was trying to spot some baby goats cause I love baby goats. I think they are my spirit animal. The way they behave jumping around so hyper, that's the type of energy I am going for in life. Totally cute and ridiculous! But adult goats, they are just bah, boring. 

We also came by some horses! Our guide says they are wild horses, but they looked pretty tamed to me! We saw them on a windy road up a small hill. 

Put a horn on that white horse and you'll get the national animal of Scotland! The Unicorn! I love the colour of this photo. It has been enhanced abit by me, but it appear so fantasy-like now, doesn't it? 

On our way back down, we saw the horses again, and this time, our guide stopped the van so that the white horse would come nearer. I suspect she does this all the time. She has been feeding them! So they kinda already know to approach the van.

And what a coincidence, she has fruits in the van too! All ready to feed the horse. Our group people were thrilled! I wasn't much of an animal lover, so I was just meh. But it does make the tour kinda memorable. 

On the ride down the hill, I started to study the map. I roughly knew where I wanted to go on the Isle of Skye. So I must make sure I tell the guide! But what if the other people in the group didn't want to go???? 

Here are the places I really really wanted to go, anything with fairies in the name! So this is Fairie Glen, Valley of the fairies! This wasn't mentioned by anyone in the group, but I requested for it personally to the guide if we have time, to swing by this place :P

The other place was called Fairy Pool! Which most people wanted to go. The rest of the spot named was also famous places in the Isle of Skye, so I think I'll be able to see all that I wanted in this trip, except for Fairy Glen. I shall keep my fingers cross for that one and hope in good faith Jada will bring us there!

Wefie in the middle of somewhere  in Glencoe along our trip! We are on our way to the Isle of Skye!

Manchester/Scotland 2025 - Isle of Skye Tour to Commando Memorial

 

The weather started to turn gloomy again as we made our stop at the Commando Memorial. But somehow, the sky make my photo even more dramatic though. So no complain there!

It was another short drive there, with views that mesmerised me. 

Again, it was hard to predict what weather we will get, cause it was all over the place. A different view at a different direction! It was something new for me. 

From the carpark, we had to walk a little to view the memorial statue. I hope lightnings are not a thing here! Look at the clouds behind us!

But as mentioned, the direction we were walking to was just white clouds and blue sky! And in the distance, the memorial appeared. 

Three soldiers standing side by side together.

Here is the sign for your to read more about them. I wasn't very familiar with the history of Scotland here. Apparently the commandos uses the terrain here for training too, because it was so harsh it provided them what they need to learn how to survive as commandos. 

If you have the time, I even took this photo of a more detailed description found on the memorial statue for you to read :)

Photo of my husband with the lovely view behind him.

Another one in portrait view.

The weather was still chilly, and I was surprised to see lovely yellow daffodils (?) growing around the area. They add a touch of warmth to the area. 

Here is a favourite shot of mine from this place, a mountain, a man, and a field of daffodils :)