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!

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!