The Rest of Skye & Beyond, Scotland, Autumn
Happy Boxing Day everyone.
One of the nice things about editing these photos from Skye is that I get to revisit this wonderful place all over again. I can send my mind right back to October 2020, place my two feet in the scene, and immerse my visual memory in the whole experience.
That’s also why this post and series of photos saddens me.
These are my last lot of photos from our 2-week trip around Skye.
This post is a sort of mish-mash of photos from various different parts of Skye that we didn’t get an awful lot of time to properly explore. As a result, rather than publishing multiple posts with only 2–3 photos in each, I thought I would combine them all in this Farewell Skye post.
In this post you’ll find photos from the famous Neist Point, with its remarkable cliffs, coastline, and—in our experience—a dramatic storm system; Talisker bay, including its sea stacks, cliffs, waterfalls and mountains; and assorted shots from around the Sleat peninsula, which we managed to nab before constantly getting drenched.
There’s a couple of little extras too, that I hope you’ll like.
Thank you for visiting my website and experiencing my visual memories of Skye with me over the last couple of months.
Here’s to more UK travel if, and when, circumstances allow, in happier times.
Sleat Peninsula
The Sleat peninsula of Skye is arguable one of the least explored places on the island. The peninsula is the southernmost point of Skye and geographically different from much of Skye, which is why it’s often referred to as the “garden of Skye” for its rolling land and rich soil, compared to the rest of the island’s jagged peaks, craggy land, and cliffed coastline. Our first stop on Sleat was Tarskavaig Bay at Gillean Beach. A view across the sea allows you to pick out some of the peaks of the Black Cuillins. The drama in this photo is testament to the stormy conditions we experienced on this peninsula.
My eye quickly round some rather interesting rock formations around Gillean beach. I endeavoured to make some compositions whilst it was vaguely dry enough to shoot. The hill on the left is Sìthean Beag.
Lots of formations of volcanic origin around Gillean Beach.
A hint of the Black Cuillins in the distance as a break in the thick cloud cover allows some dramatic spotlighting.
Moving further north and east around the Sleat Peninsula, we stop off at another small settlement, Tokavaig. Lots of proper Viking names around here. At Tokavaig one can find what’s left of Dùn Scaich castle. This was once a fort belonging to the Clan MacDonald of Sleat, before being wrestled for power many times over the centuries. Clan MacDonald eventually abandoned the castle in the 17th century. It’s named after a mythical figure, “Scáthach the Shadow”, a legendary Scottish warrior woman and martial arts teacher, who trained the hero Cú Chulainn in the arts of combat.
Talisker Bay
Further to the northwest of Skye, beyond the Black Cuillins, is Talisker Bay, a favourite of ours. You may be familiar with the name as one of Scotland’s well-known whiskies is named after it (in fact, Talisker Whisky is made further inland at Carbost).
The northern side of Talisker Bay features sheer cliffs and a delightful waterfall dropping right into the sea. The waterfall is the outflow from a small loch just above the cliffs, Loch an Sgùirr Mhòir.
On the southern side of the Bay is the sea stack known as Talisker Point, here catching some morning light.
This is the path one takes to reach Talisker Bay from further inland. The remarkable knuckly hill is Preshal More (324 m/1,062 ft).
Neist Point
We managed a brief visit to Neist Point during a day spent running away from various wet weather systems. The area is known for its views towards the Neist Point cliffs and its lighthouse, but one shouldn’t ignore the vast cliffs of Waterstein Head, reaching 882 ft high.
With my 9mm ultra-wide Laowa lens I was able to capture this vast panoramic view of Neist Point, its lighthouse, as well as the Ramasaig cliffs. We watched as a weather system approached us from across the sea, absolutely heaving it down into the waters.
Another ultra-wide composition, shot vertically, showing Neist Point’s cliffs and lighthouse, with the storm quickly approaching us.
Bonus
One of our “bookmarks” for October 2020’s Skye holiday was the Falls of Rha. These are a pair of powerful waterfalls located near Uig, north Skye. The falls are found in a wooded glen—relatively rare on Skye—and are almost disappointingly easy to get to. Nevertheless, they are an impressive site.
As we left the Isle of Skye on the final day we hopped back onto mainland Scotland and took a small detour to capture this incredible view. These are the Five Sisters of Kintail, a 5-mile long pointy mountain ridge. They are Sgùrr na Ciste Duibhe (1,027 m/3,369 ft, meaning “Peak of the Black Chest/Coffin”), Sgùrr na Càrnach (1,002 m/3,287 ft, meaning “Peak of the Stony Place”), Sgùrr Fhuaran (1,067 m/3,501 ft, meaning “Peak of wells/fountains”), Sgùrr nan Saighead (929m/3,048 ft), and Sgurr na Moraich (875 m/2,873 ft).