Over the sea to Skye…

It was sad to leave North Uist and, indeed the Outer Hebrides itself.  Off to Skye today on the appropriately named ‘Hebrides’ which is a much older boat than normal, looking a bit tired internally and it doesn’t have wifi.  Most of the more modern ferries do these days, although it’s often pretty useless.

The ferry workers didn’t seem as efficient as normal at Lochmaddy.  Peter had to go and find one to show our tickets and fill up a boarding card.  However, the voyage was smooth and we were pleased that the stiff winds of late had calmed down.  Peter took up position on deck to do the usual photography while I spent the trip on a comfortable reclining chair in the lounge, snoozing, eating a large Twix (!), drinking coffee and reading my latest Mairi Hedderwick book, Highland Journey.  Beautiful illustrations.

Peter wasn’t very happy with the photos he took but saw Guillemots, Cormorants and Gannets for the record.

We arrived at Uig in bright sunshine – what a lovely port this is.

There is a long and winding hill out of the town and lovely views to be had from the top.  We then decided to take the high moorland route across the island which, at this time of the year, is fine to use.  In the winter, maybe not!  It has a spectacular finish when you reach the Quiraing range of mountains which you descend in terrifying hairpin bends.

Then it’s down the east coast with spectacular coastal scenery.

We drove down to Portree harbour – still a beautiful sight.

 

The harbourside was as busy as ever…

We had booked in at the Kinloch campsite at Dunvegan and were thrilled with our pitch – looking straight out over the bay.  It wasn’t long before I was out there painting!  Not this scene (that’s for tomorrow) but Traigh Mhor (the Barra airstrip) for old time’s sake.

The sunset was lovely and we were amazed at the reflections of the houses round the bay as the tide was going out.