More from Isle of Skye

So the journey on Skye continues and now we were off to The Old Man of Storr which is 'simply' a steep wall of rock that has been formed by landslip. Perhaps most famous for its strange formations of the rocks and pinnacles. Few hours here spent here trying to take pictures but as I mentioned in the previous blog the light was just to harsh. Strong sunlight and blue sky are not good for photography. Well it 's better than rain anyway :)
Next stop on the journey was the famous Kilt Rock, a sea cliff in northeast Trotternish. It's said to resemble a kilt, with vertical basalt columns to form the pleats and intruded sills of dolerite forming the pattern. There is also the Mealth waterfall that free falls 60m into the sea. After that rather quick visit, the parking was just meter away from the waterfall, we were off to The Quirang that also is a landslip. The land there is still moving, thus constantly damaging the road. The surface of the Quirang varies from the flat valleys to the steep pinnacles and cliffs. The area is said to be supernatural. It indeed amazes one greatly, who stands above the Quirang, approaching its dramatic scenery. The site is 'a must see' once on the Isle of Skye.
Neist point was the evening destination with its Lighthouse located on the west coast and the scenery is pretty amazing here.
When it got dark we drived to Portnalong located on the west coast and there we stayed our last night. There was one more thing and that was to shoot Skye famous night sky. Skye is as far away from major cities as its possible in UK, but unfortunately both the half moon and the faint aurora appeared far away in the horizon which is not helpful when we tried to take pictures of Milky Way.
Odd to complain as many would pay a lot to see aurora, but being a swede that has lived in Northen Sweden for many years. This time I just wanted to see the Milky Way :))
Still it was fun that we saw the northern lights, which does not happen too often on these latitudes. Last day, on the way home, we stopped to take pictures of 'Eilean Donan Castle' that is just few miles south of Isle of Skye. It has actually featured on couple of big movies, such as 'Highlander', the Bond-movie 'The world is not enough' and Astrid Lindgrens 'Mio min Mio'.

Until next time, I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Eilean Donan Castle

                                                                       

Highland Cattle

 

Views towards Cuillin mountains

 

Neist point

 

The old man of Storr

 

 

 

Mealth waterfall fall and Kilt rock in the distance

 

Aurora and milkyway

 

Quirang

 

Quirang

 

Quirang

 
         

Wonderful Isle of Skye

During the Eastern weekend we were off to Isle of Skye, which is known for being windy and rainy.
Gladly, not photo wise, the weather was amazing. Two out of three days were pure blue sky's with occasional fluffy cloud. I know I shouldn't complain, but blue sky on pictures is rather 'boring'.
Arriving on Friday evening we were off to an fishing village southwest called Elgol to take sunset pictures. Why there? Well, it has stunning views towards Cuillen mountain range that is quite impressive with its gray / black stone. Highest peak is at 992meter and it is considered as difficult to climb as the Alps and the Rockies peaks due to its sharp and steep edges.
The day afterwards we went even closer to Cuillins by visiting the Fairy pools that attract visitors from all over the world to see, hike along and swim in the crystal clear turquoise waters. To be honest, I'm rather disappointed. There was not much water, and maybe for those who have not seen anything similar before its great but there are fancier places.
That night we camped at the foot of the Cuillins with the sea just few meters away. What an amazing place, I'm not surprising that it is considered the prettiest campsite in the UK. Off the grid with just sound of the rolling waves.

More pictures to come in the next blog

                                                                             

Elgol

 

 

Elgol and cuillin mountains

 

Elgol

 

Cool cliff at the sea

 

Elgol and cuillin

 

Fairy pool

 

Fairy pool

 

Fairy pool and cuillin mountain

 

Fairy pool

 

Glenbrittle camping

 

The Cuillins

Last part of the road trip to Scotland

On sunday morning we left a sunny Isle of Skye to drive towards Loch Ness, but we did not see the Loch Ness monster so we drove on towards the Cairngorms National Park.
We went to Glenmore Forest Park which is located near the village of Aviemore and from there we took the mountain railway up to the mountain cabin which is located at 1024 m above sea level, I was surprised how much snow there was and what a great ski resort it was.
We went up here mostly to take pictures of the view, but my wife and our friend walked the last bit to the top of the mountain, which is also the highest peak in the Cairngorms NP (1309) m above sea level.
I was too thinly dressed and it blew very cold so I stayed near the cabin :))
Lift ticket prices and the like was same as in Sweden, expensive in other words.
Then we drove to Aberdeen that was our last overnight stop. 
But because it still was bright outside, we went to the coast to take photos at a place called Nigg Bay.
On Monday it was just to drive home again, and we also drove through a National Park (Northumberland) but now it was just low hills, and as we have seen everything nice before it felt very boring;))

Loch Morlich and the ski resort in the background

Mountain Cabin 1024m

It is always dangerous with snow



Road Trip To Scotland (Part 2)

We had planned to have the whole day Saturday on the Isle of Skye, which is needed because even though the island is small it takes time to drive around in order to see all the interesting stuff. We did the round trip starting along the east coast towards the north and then down along the west coast.

Along that stretch were 5 top tourist attractions;
- Old Man of Storr, which is known for its weirdly shaped rock pinnacles. But here we just took photos from far way, because we wanted to hike at the next place...
- Quiraing. Here we stopped for a couple of hours to go hike along the pillars and the mountains. The view from here was amazing.
Unfortunately one of the places that we missed after Quiraing was Kilt Rock. We were relying on mobiles a bit to much, and we actually didn't have connection at all except crappy one during lunch on wifi at a pub.
We had a map reader (me) but he missed it ;))
- Anyhow, next stop was Coral Beach, which despite its name is not actually coral but pieces of dessicated and sun-bleached algae's. This is the only "nice" beach on Skye, but who wants to swim here when the average temperature during summer is +14C and approx. the same in air :))
- Just before Coral beach there is a castle Dunvegan, which we also visited. Very nicely located at the sea and have amazing gardens.

Now, it was late afternoon and we had one more visit left 


- Neist Point, which is a lighthouse at the tip of the west side of Skye. Very cool too.
From here you can see the outer Hebrides, which are the last stop before Greenland and Alaska. We stayed here to watch the sunset and again got disappointed when it disappeared behind the clouds.

So that was our day, and now the only thing that remained was to drive back to the hostel and dinner.

To see and do everything should on Skye, you need at least a week. We now just drove around most of the time. There is still so much more to do here, like hiking, fishing, scouting for wildlife as otters, sharks, dolphins, orcas and a lot of birds.

Quiraing

Quiraing

Quiraing

Do u see me on the top the rock formation ;)

Coral Beach

The Old Man of Storr

Neist Point

Neist Point

The Black Cuillin hills

Black Cuillins in the distance

Road Trip To Scotland (Part 1)

Last Thursday (skärtorsdagen) after that wife and a friend finished the work for the day, we started with our trip to Scotland. 
Not drive all the way to the Isle of Skye (which was our most northen destination) but stay the first night at the Lake District NP, to then early on Friday morning drive the last long stretch.
The journey from Sheffield to Skye took about 12hr, but as we slept in the Lake District we only had 8-9h driving on Friday.
The long drive didn't matter as the sceneries were breath taking. Passing through among others the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs NP. The journey goes through valleys and mountain, and sometimes it was down to sea ​​and then again up the mountains. Amazing!
On the mountains the snow was very nicely placed just on the highest peaks, and the weather was beautiful with sunshine and just few degrees above zero.
We arrived to Skye in the afternoon, and as our first stop was Talisker Whisky distellery for a guided tour. Maybe not one of my favorites, as its one of the smokier whiskey on the market, but still a lot of fun to see how its made.

We just had few hours before the sunset which we spent on the southwestern parts of the island. The roads are very very narrow in some places, but as there very little to no traffic it was still fine driving there. Plan was to take sunset-pictures, but unfortunately it was not as nice as it could be.
The trip for the day ended at the hostel after a fine spanish meal :))

Kirkstone Pass, Lake District NP

Ullswater, Lake District NP

Loch Lomond NP

Loch Lomond NP

Highlands

Highlands

Royal Forest, Three Sisters

Isle of Skye west coast (achnacloich)

Achnacloich