Isle of Skye: Scorrybraec & The Old Man of Storr
The first of the blogs about my time on the Isle of Skye goes through the Scorrybraec walk and a visit to the Old Man of Stor.
Scorrybraec
The Scorrybreac walk started at the town of Portree, Skye's largest town. Parking is free and is available right next to the start of the walk. This was a fairly gentle and relaxed walk that takes you round the bay of Portree
Up in Scotland, be prepared to any type of weather, regardless of what the forecast says! It can change in an instant, so I recommended wearing/taking with you multiple layers of clothing that you can easily add/remove, as well as wearing some walking trousers and a raincoat.
The walk takes you to various viewpoints and follows the bay around. Scorrybraec was the stronghold of the highland Clan Nicholson for over 800 years, and on the way a memorial pays homage to this. We spotted a salmon fish farm, a Sea Eagle and lots of sheep as usual! The walk is well marked out, and makes for a nice half day adventure. I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking!
The hike stated that it should take 45 mins to complete, however it took us around 2 hours. I would advise that you always give yourself plenty more time than stated, as you'll probably be stopping for photos and breaks along the way.
Link to walking route used:
The Old Man of Storr
After grabbing some lunch back at the cottage, we set out in the afternoon again to The Old Man of Storr - one of Skye's most iconic landmarks. It is a massive pinnacle of rock, and is one of the features in the Trotternish area. It was created by a massive landslide leaving this distinctive and interesting landscape.
Parking once again wasn't an issue - the site has a large car park that was built in 2018, with public toilets. The hike itself took around 3-4 hours to complete, and was well marked out. This route is popular with tourists on Skye so it's hard to get lost - follow the people! It got quite steep at times and some scrambling was required near the top, but the views were well worth it!
Link to walking route used:
After completing these walks and having settled into Skye, there were two things that came to mind:
- You need a car (or equivalent) to get round here - The remoteness and rugged nature of Skye means that to get from one place to another, the most convenient way to do so is by car. Public transport is very limited and doesn't take you to all these hiking locations. The road network is well built but the smaller single lane roads require some careful driving!
- It can be quite off the grid - Don't expect to always have mobile reception on Skye! Where we were staying the connection was very poor. So if you need to get in touch with someone try to do this as one of the towns (Portree etc) where there is better connection. I quite liked the fact that I was disconnected from the world, it was nice to have a break and live life in the slow lane, which was much needed. :)
That's all for the first couple of hikes on Skye. Thanks for reading and feel free to get in touch here.
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