{"id":10586,"date":"2018-06-16T17:55:00","date_gmt":"2018-06-16T17:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/?p=10586"},"modified":"2019-05-25T10:39:08","modified_gmt":"2019-05-25T00:39:08","slug":"the-road-to-skye-scotland-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/?p=10586","title":{"rendered":"The Road to Skye, Scotland 2018 \ud83c\udff4\udb40\udc67\udb40\udc62\udb40\udc73\udb40\udc63\udb40\udc74\udb40\udc7f"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Date: 15th June 2018<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Travelled: 169 kilometres from Fort William to the Isle of Skye, Scotland<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Visited: Dun Scathiag Castle.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stayed: On the beach near Tokavaig, Isle of Skye, free. N57.13169, W05.97273<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a very quiet evening in our little car-park near Fort William we prepare for the jump to Skye.  Our original thought a few days ago was to try our luck walking Ben Nevis (the UK heighest mountain), but the weather is still misty with scattered showers.  Even the gondala on Nevis is closed due to the weather.  Looking at the forecast its not worth a day hoping for a sunny day.  Did I mention earlier that Fort William has more wet days and total rainfall than anyway else in the UK !<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So we take the easy option, do a load of washing at the laundromat over breakfast, fuel the Hymer and fill with water tank thanks to Morrisons (servos with a tap).  Then hit the road north to Skye.  We go via Neptune\u2019s Staircase a series of eight locks on the Caledonian Canal (with bonus swing bridge) on our way out.  But when as we arrive it starts raining heavily and its not as if we have never scene a series of locks or ecluse as the french call them (note: our Midi Canal posts<\/a>), so we move on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Driving out of Fort William the weather suddenly breaks but not for long.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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We pass Loch Lochy which is linked by the Caledonian Canal to Loch Ness. But we will head west on the A87 before that.  The road surface is generally atrocious, so we do our best to dodge the pot holes.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Mind you the scenery is amazing !<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Shortly after turning onto the A87 we stop near Glen Garry for lunch. Chicken and vegetable soup today (Morrisons). The view  makes lunch all the better.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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It\u2019s been a long slow drive with plenty of potholes, but that\u2019s the Isle of Skye on the other side of the bridge and another one off the bucket list for us.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Michael and Pam's Photo Sphere (91EC43F5-2746-4202-AFC9-AF5FECF95368)<\/a>
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As a general rule we don\u2019t plan a exact route, but look at our options on the day. So given the time of day, when we see the turn for the A851 south along the Sound of Sleat we decide to give it a try.  Rather than a goat track its more of a sheep track.  One lane wide with a passing lane every 200 metres.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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At Teangue (a green dot, rather than a village) we turn west for Tokavaig. This loop road is recommended in the Lonely Planet as some of the best views of the Cullin Hills (Skye) and the Islands of Rum and Eigg (south-west of Skye).<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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We drop down to Tokavaig, it\u2019s not a village, just a couple of very scattered houses on Loch Eishort.  But there\u2019s something odd about the silhouette of the headland in the centre of the photo.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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So we set off for a closer look.  Our first experience at crossing a peat bog, best shoes are not recommended.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Whilst the Lonely Planet recommends the drive down the peninsula and Tokavaig, there is no mention of this ruin castle.  Later in the evening after some googling we find its the ruin of Dun Scathiag Castle, dates from the 14th century.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Looks interesting doesn\u2019t it.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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There was once a draw bridge across this opening.  Now just a piece of rope to hold and a small ledge to shimmy along.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Pam decides against the piece of rope and shimmy !  Once up the top there\u2019s not much to see other than a wonderful view of the Cullin Hills and Rum Island.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Michael and Pam's Photo Sphere (92B24B2A-7F8F-4C9E-872F-0AFFB95C6641)<\/a>
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Back from our adventures walking out to Dun Scathiag, it\u2019s time for a beer and wine.  Another night of wildcamping, but not so lonely as we are soon joined by 3-4 campercars.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Waking to the sounds of sheep outside the Hymer.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Michael and Pam<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Edited with BlogPad Pro<\/span>
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Date: 15th June 2018 Travelled: 169 kilometres from Fort William to the Isle of Skye, Scotland Visited: Dun Scathiag Castle. Stayed: On the beach near Tokavaig, Isle of Skye, free. N57.13169, W05.97273 After a very quiet evening in our little car-park near Fort William we prepare for the jump to Skye.  Our original thought a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":10636,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,25],"tags":[106],"class_list":{"0":"post-10586","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-scotland","8":"category-united-kingdom","9":"tag-archeological-sites","10":"czr-hentry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10586"}],"version-history":[{"count":35,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10586\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18307,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10586\/revisions\/18307"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}