[The following post is from the archives of my In Search Of Incredible blog, originally published on 6 October 2014]
31 January 2014, Friday
After checking out of Fort William Backpackers, we continued our road trip as we trekked northwest towards our final destination at Isle of Skye, 176km away. From Fort William, we drove 106km to Eilean Donan Castle, Scotland’s second most photographed castle after Edinburgh Castle.
Eilean Donan Castle is located at the small village of Dornie, sitting on an islet at the intersection of three lochs – Loch Duich, Loch Long and Loch Alsh. It is a very small castle, connected to the main land by a footbridge. Due to its location on the water, it is very picturesque and has appeared in many photographs and films. On this cloudy January day, however, we did not have the fortune of photographing the castle at its most splendid moment.
The castle is closed for the whole month of January every year, so we were not able to enter it, but we could still get up close to it and walk around the compound. As it was a chilly day and it had started to drizzle, we hung around the castle only for about 20 minutes before heading back to the comfort of our car. Then on, we continued our journey towards Portree in the Isle of Skye.
Skye is the largest island in the Inner Herbrides of Scotland. The central portion of the island is dominated by the Cuillin mountains, which supposedly provide some of the most dramatic mountain scenery in Scotland. However, as we were visiting in winter, we were not expecting to see the best of what the Cuillins has to offer, so we had already tempered our expectations.
From Eilean Donan Castle, it was a short drive to the village of Kyle of Lochalsh, where the 500m-long Skye Bridge connects the mainland to the town of Kyleakin on the Isle of Skye. As we crossed the bridge, it started to rain. By the time we reached Portree, it had become a downpour.
Portree is the largest town on Skye and it was where we would sleep over for the night. Located on the east coast, it has a natural harbour and is a popular base for exploring the rest of the island.
The accommodation I chose is Portree Independent Hostel. As its name suggests, it is an independent hostel, not affiliated with YHA or HI. The building was once the main post office for the island and had been converted into a hostel. It had been refurbished and given several new splashes of paint. The facilities are excellent and I especially loved the brightly coloured walls and ceiling. It is definitely the most cheerful hostel I’ve been to.
Portree Independent Hostel
Address: Old Post Office, The Green, Portree, IV51 9BT, Scotland
Tel: (01478) 613737
Website: www.hostelskye.co.uk
Rate: GBP17.00 for a dorm bed
As we had arrived at about 1pm, and check-in was between 8am – 12pm and 4pm – 9:45pm, we could not check-in yet. We parked at a carpark nearby and popped into the Visitor Centre to enquire about eating places. The friendly staff recommended a restaurant called Café Arriba, so we ran in the rain to the restaurant.
Café Arriba was located on the second floor and it was crowded with locals, but we were still able to get a table with a small window providing a view of the harbour. It was like a refuge from the cold and rain outside. I ordered a bowl of hot mushroom soup (which was excellent) and mac & cheese.
We were supposed to have lunch and then continue to drive further up north to explore the rest of the island, but because of the dreary weather, we were super lazy and didn’t feel like getting out of the café. We just hung around and surfed the free wi-fi till it became embarrassing for us to stay any longer because of the queue that was forming. We then walked around the small town on foot but most of the shops were closed because it was winter. We also didn’t get to walk around the harbour because it was wet and cold, so we just made our way back to the hostel.
Once we managed to check in, we felt really tired and lazy. It was still raining and the sun was non-existent, so we felt there was no point driving out to explore the sights as we probably wouldn’t get to see anything anyway. We just rested in the hostel till it was dinnertime, and went to the supermarket to get some bread and buns.
When night came, we headed out to a pub nearby just to stretch our legs a bit. There wasn’t much to do in Portree in winter so we just chilled. I love travelling in winter, when it is much less crowded, but you also need some good fortune in terms of the weather, especially if you’re going outdoors for sightseeing. On this occasion, it was really quiet and it was nice in a way, but also a bit eerie because the hostel was so big and there were so few occupants. But we were too tired to really care, and we turned in early for the night.
