Before 1995, the Isle of Skye was cut off from the rest of Scotland. The island could only be reached by ferry or boat, but that all changed when the Skye Bridge was built over Loch Alsh, making the island much more accessible and thus ensuring an increase in tourism.
The bridge connects the mainland village of Kyle of Lochalsh with the first village on Skye, Kyleakin, both of which Brandon and I wanted to explore while we were living and working on Skye earlier this year.
During a day off, we decided to try our luck with hitchhiking to the villages. It was noon and there wasn’t much traffic on the road out of Portree, but it didn’t take long before a guy stopped for us. He was on the way to the mainland and didn’t mind dropping us off in Kyle of Lochalsh on the way! It was really strange being back on the mainland for the first time in almost two months!
A spontaneous visit to Eilean Donan Castle
As we approached Kyle of Lochalsh, an idea started brewing in my head. I realized that we were going to be just seven miles from the famous Eilean Donan Castle, a must-see in Scotland! It was a chance we couldn’t miss. But we hadn’t had any breakfast that day, so we needed to find some food in Kyle of Lochalsh first before trying to hitchhike to the castle. It didn’t go quite as quick this time, but we did eventually catch a ride with a guy from Moldova who was headed further into the mainland. Soon after, we arrived at Eilean Donan Castle. It was just as enchanting as I had imagined!
The castle stands on a small tidal island where three sea lochs meet. It was founded in the early 13th century and became a stronghold of the Clan Mackenzie. The castle was severely destroyed by government ships following the Clan’s involvement in the Jacobite rebellions in 1719. But in the early 20th century, it was reconstructed according to the surviving ground plan of earlier phases, and a footbridge was built to connect the island to the mainland.
Today, Eilean Donan Castle is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the Scottish Highlands, in particular for tourists that are on their way to Skye. However, when we went there on a grey day in late February, we had the castle almost to ourselves!
An otter sighting
We decided not to enter the castle as the entrance ticket was quite expensive. Instead, we enjoyed the exquisite views of the castle exterior. The best view was found on a bridge as we walked towards the nearby village of Dornie. But what I spotted below the bridge was so much better and worth every effort to get there!
Because we saw OTTERS! Two of them, playing in the shallow water! That was my first time ever seeing otters in the wild!
A major hitchhiking fail
Eventually, we had to pull ourselves away from the view of the otters to catch a ride back to Kyle of Lochalsh. Unfortunately, plenty of cars passed by but no one stopped to pick us up.
We walked along the road trying to find a good hitchhiking spot, but there wasn’t one. Car after car whizzed by and two hours passed before two local men stopped for us! Finally!
Over the bridge past Eilean Bàn
They dropped us off in Kyle of Lochalsh by the newly opened café and bar, End of the Line, which is owned by Brandon’s friend Will. We had a hot chocolate and chatted with Will for a while before continuing our journey.
We had decided to walk over the Skye Bridge back to the island that we called home! It was a wonderful 40-minute walk, taking us over the tiny island of Eilean Bàn, used as a stepping stone for the bridge.
The island was originally home to just the lighthouse keepers and their families, but it later became the last home of the author, Gavin Maxwell. Today, it is uninhabited, but it is owned by the Eilean Bàn Trust who run it as a nature reserve and rent out the cottages to tourists. One day, I hope they’ll rent one out to me!
I desperately wanted to explore the island, but the only gate from the bridge was locked. But we did get some pretty great views over the cottages and the lighthouse as we crossed over the bridge above the island.
Soon after, we were back on Skye.
Evening in Kyleakin
We weren’t quite ready to call it a day, so we walked into the village of Kyleakin for some exploring.
Kyleakin is home to the ruins of a late 15th century fortress, the Castle Moil. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to explore the castle ruins as the sun was about to set and the castle was still quite a way away, but it was nice to see the view of it from Kyleakin’s small harbour while skypeing with our family in Denmark.
We decided not to hitchhike back to Portree and instead catch a bus that would leave us with enough time to have a drink and some snacks at the local pub, King Haakon Bar.
We waited and waited, watched as dusk turned to nightfall, but the bus never came. We were stuck in Kyleakin for another hour or so before the next bus came, but we spent that time eating more food at the local restaurant, Saucy Mary’s. The other bus came – thankfully – and we eventually got back to Portree after a long and eventful day!
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