Seeking Skye itinerary feedback (5 nights)

Have you found the Walk Highlands website? It is regarded as the Hill Walkers's Bible.

Day 2 - As you are thinking, this could turn out to be a very long day, especially as you are driving from Harlosh. Just driving the Trotternish peninsula and returning to Harlosh is going to take 3+ hours without any stops.

The Walk Scotland website advises 1-2 hours for the Brother's point Walk, although you could cut short as it is an out and back.

Kilt Rock - allow 20- 30 minutes to park up, walk the short distance to admire Kilt Rock and Meal Falls and get back to the car.

If following the circular walk for the Quirang, you need to allow 3-4 hours for this.

This is going make for a very late lunch, unless you are taking a packed lunch with you.

Skye Museum of Island Life is fascinating and you need to 1-2 hours for this, depending on how lon g you talk. If you have time, it is worth doin g the short drive to Kilmuir Graveyard (where Flora MacDonald of Bonnie Prince Charlie fame is buried) for the views.

The Fairy Pools walk is fairly short and will take about an hour.

Looking at this, I'm wondering if this is going to be too far and too much for the day.

One suggestion would be to omit the Quirang and combine it with Old Man of Storr on Day 5. Drive the unclassified yellow road between Uig and Brogaig (near Staffin) to save going round the peninsula. It's slow and narrow so drive slowly and carefully but it is scenically stunning. (It also saves repeating the drive from Dunvegan to Old Man of Storr and then back for Three Chimneys for dinner and Neist Point. )

Day 3 after Dunvegan, the coral beach and Glendale Farmer's Market use the time to explore some of the tiny unclassified roads around the area. Check if Colbost Croft Museum has reopened after damage to the roof. I know you have already done the Skye Museum of Island Life but this is a bit less sanitised... This is the undiscovered part of Skye.

One of the nicest short walks in the Glencoe area is the Lochans walk.

Hi, Avens,

Camusdarach Beach is just east of Mallaig, so you'd want to visit it after you've taken the Armadale to Mallaig ferry. It's probably the best of the beaches along the A830, but it's not well signposted except for the large sign for the B8008 after you pass Morar. The car park is fairly small. Once you cross the little footbridge, turn right for the beach. You can turn left, but it will take you longer to get there.

The nearest public toilets are in Arisaig.

Happy beachcombing!

Mike (Auchterless)

p.s.: If you're up for a real adventure, the eight mile hike from the Loch Coruisk jetty to the Sligachan Hotel is a cracker! You'd need a good OS map, and if there has been a lot of rain, crossing the Scavaig River is not recommended.

p.p.s.: Camusdarach Beach was used as Ben Knox's beach for the filming of Local Hero.

Try to have a full day for Glen Coe. It is a very evocative location, not just scenic but also the site of the MacDonald massacre. We stayed at the Kingshouse Hotel.

A few other random suggestions: near Skye, drive up to the Ratagan viewpoint. ( Location is indicated on Google maps.) Skye is beautiful, but the nearby Torridon area is just as beautiful IMHO. Try to find time to drive the Shieldaig to Lochewe road to see the Torridon area. Also spectacular is the Applecross peninsula. And Plockton is a pretty little village. There's a herd of highland "coos" that graze freely in Duirinish, just a few miles SW of Plockton.

The Harbour Restaurant in Broadford has outstanding food. When we revisited it in June the owner / chef was thinking about retiring, so it may not still be open. For shopping, visit Skye Silver, near the Three Chimneys.

Hello Avens
I live within 5 miles of Harlosh, so pretty local to where you are staying. Your plans are not bad but the suggestion to check out the Walk Highlands website is a good. The hikes you have so far planned are what I call the 'honey pot' sites and will have larger number of visitors than some of the equally amazing, but less well known walks.

Very close to where you are staying is one of my personal favourite walks! Shhh - don't tell anyone about this one. It's Oronsay Island from Ullinish It is a lovely walk through a meadow with wild orchids and then across a sand bar to an island from where we have often seen dolphins and otters. The sand bar is only walkable at low tide so you need to plan your walk, but it's a super place for a picnic and a paddle/swim.

Your lodgings will have excellent views of the flat topped MacLeods Tables and you could choose to walk up one or both of them. It's rough terrain but you're unlikely to see another soul and on a good day the views out to the Outer Hebrides and the Small Isles are stunning.

There are very few sandy beaches on Skye and the walk to and from Camas Daraich with time to enjoy the beach will take a good few hours. For me the Oronsay walk would easily make up for that.

It's definitely worth you exploring the Waternish peninsula where you will find Skye Skyns, one of my favourite shops when I'm looking for gifts for friends. They also have a yurt cafe in the summer so you'd be able to get soup, a sandwich and some cake before heading further up the peninsula to the ruined church at Trumpan, a very atmospheric spot and site of a clan massacre. There's a good walk from there to Waternish Point.

We love both Edinbane Lodge and Lochbay. Edinbane Lodge is more courses but smaller portions and a mix of local meats and fish/seafood dishes. Lochbay is seafood/fish only. Edinbane Lodge is a bigger space in a former hunting lodge, while Lochbay is a cosy and very small restaurant in a converted fisherman's cottage and is right on the seashore. If I only had to choose one of those it would be Lochbay. But if you want my honest opinion, I would do both of them and ditch the Three Chimneys. Even though it's right below my house and is pretty good, both of the others are much, much, much better IMHO.

On bikes - personally I wouldn't want to ride any kind of a bike on the roads here on Skye. Roads are narrow sometimes even single track, very potholed at the moment and it's just not a pleasant cycling environment.

Glendale Farmers Market is more of a craft market and very occasionally there might be some food stalls (but hardly ever).

Colbost Croft Museum is closed and unlikely ever to reopen but you can see the building from the road, next to the Three Chimneys.

I hope this helps.

Jacqui (Skyegirl)

Jacqui (and all), it's helped me. :) I've been taking notes on all of your helpful posts. Great stuff here!

If you are up in north Skye the easy walk out to Rubna Hunish, gives a mind bogglingly good view out the the western isles and the far north of Scotland.
The hikers shelter is a bit of an institution too,had two birthdays up there

Good shout Richard. That's a wonderful walk and not difficult although to be avoided in very wet conditions as the way would be very boggy.

The new improved path is much welcomed.

Been there a good few times seen dolphins and whales and an eagle a couple of times put in his 11 am cruise round the headland ( clockwise),it was Disney like.
On mid summer the sun sets directly behind the mountains on Harris ,30 miles away over the Minch.
Last time I was up there ,I fixed the tables in the bothy and was easing the door
40 mins walk at most, about a mile and a half each way

The film Local Hero got mentioned earlier....it's a magical bit of film making.

Thank you, everyone, for such great advice! And I'm glad this topic was able to serve as a resource for others as well. In addition to some of the very helpful specific suggestions, I've now saved a bunch of walking routes from WalkHighlands, which will help us make some decisions on the day depending on mood and weather.

I also restructured our our Trotternish day to remove the full Quiraing walk and replace Brother's Point with Old Man of Storr first thing, hopefully before it gets too busy. This eases up our schedule to make the day more reasonable, and we'll be able to use other days for quieter walks elsewhere on Skye. I'm so excited for this trip, and you've all helped immensely in making me feel confident in our plan!