17, 18, 19 July; Sun, Mon, Tue

On Saturday evening (16th July) I went to see Harry Potter & Deathly Hallows Part 2.  A bit silly for two reasons – I still haven’t seen HP & DH Pt 1 and the Aros Centre, Portree sells popcorn and other noisy crap for people to eat rather than watch the film.  I was amazed at how the kids and adults of Portree/Skye could chomp their way through the rubbish, make so much noise doing it, keep it going for the whole of the film and the state of the floor and the seats afterwards.  The film was OK, may have enjoyed it more it better and calmer surroundings.

Saturday night was wet and windy as was Sunday morning.  I decided to drive down to Armadale and the Sleat peninsular.

Armadale had changed a bit but not so much that I couldn’t recognise it.  I visited the MacDonald visitor centre, gardens and ruined castle, the latter two between the showers.  There was an interesting slant on the clearances given in the MacDonald visitor centre – if they hadn’t bred so much there would have been much less need for emigration – no reference to  sheep making the MacDonalds more money than people (so they could build fashionable castles).

Wild camped off the road, south of Armadale.  I think I saw eagles but wasn’t quick enough with the binoculars or the camera.  Wet and windy night but it started clearing in the morning. 

Busy road

Decided to go to Elgol.  A seemingly long and tortuous road; we must have been quite fit back in the early ‘80s.  Now I’m really feeling the need to take some decent exercise!

I got to Elgol pier in time to catch the boat trip across to Loch Coruisk.

Elgol

The Cuilin

You can be dropped off there, picked up 1.5 hrs later or walk back to Elgol (over the “bad step”

 

which from the sea doesn’t look that bad).  I didn’t go to investigate it as the river from the Loch to the sea was in full spate and it would have meant wading through it up to my knees.

The mooring by Loch Coruisk

On the way back from Elgol the curse of Skye and Raasay struck again – the power steering belt started fraying and finally disappeared.  Apparently I could have driven the Van without doing more damage but I would have needed Popeye muscles.  I was fortunate that I was in a generous passing space and on an open section of the road and, though I had no signal on my mobile, the nearest house was inhabited and they were in and very helpful.  Within a couple hours I had been towed to Kyle of Lochalsh and spent the rainy night parked outside the garage.  They had to order a new belt from Inverness but by 2 pm on Tuesday afternoon I was back on the road.

In the morning I explored Kyle and the toilets next to the Tourist Information had a shower facility.  The shower cost £1 but he threatened that if I used the toilet without paying (a further 20p) he would turn the shower off.  So I parted with £1.20.

The toilets, Kyle of Lochalsh

Rather than go back to Skye I decided to head north to Applecross, stopping off at Plockton on the way.

Plockton

Plockton is a pretty village, chocolate box pretty, full of holiday homes – famous for “Hamish Macbeth” being filmed there.  The road from Plockton weaves along lochs and the railway line to Inverness.

There are two ways to Applecross, over the “Pass of the Cattle” and around the coast to the north.  The Pass of the Cattle (Bealach) started life as a cattle drove and the building of a road of just under 12 miles along the same route was commenced in 1818 and completed 1822. In 6 miles it rises from sea level to 2,054 feet.  It was the only way in until 1976.  It is frequently closed because of ice and snow.  The worst was December 1950 until the following May 1951.  In 1955 it was tarred.  The hairpins have been widened and metal barriers have been in place.  Driving it in the Van was seriously scarey – not helped by the low cloud i.e. fog (and therefore none of the stunning views from the top). 

A postcard of the view

I will go back along the coast.  The coast road is “new”.  A road from Shieldaig to Kenmore was opened by Princes Margaret in 1970.  Then the MoD decided to build the British Underwater Testing and Evaluation Centre torpedo range at Sand and extended the road to there and on to Applecross and Toscaig – and so Princess Margaret was busy again in 1976.  By this time the community had all but failed.  Now it is more or less given over to tourists.