My last full day at the Isle of Skye it rained almost the entire day. And not just a light rain, a steady soaking rain. I had plans to drive somewhere but it was raining hard when I awoke and it kept up until the mid afternoon. I began to get restless and decided to go out and do something even if I got soaked. The Sleat Peninsula was relatively close to where I stayed so I looked for places to go there, got in the car, and drove in the rain.
The first place I chose was a hiking area down on the SouthEast end of the peninsula. There was free parking and it seemed like the hiking trail would lead up in the hills. When I got to the trailhead it was drizzling and the carpark was empty, so I would probably have the place to myself, though there were a couple of local ladies (I presume) walking along in their rain jackets having a great conversation. Anyway, I headed up the trail and immediately noticed that there was a lot of logging that had occurred here, but the views further down the trail seemed to be worth the trip. I did get brief periods during which the rain stopped and there was actually some sunlight getting through the clouds. The photo below shows a bench among the remaining flowers along the trail as the sun broke through for a few minutes.
After this it rained heavily for about 20 minutes. I put on my rain jacket and put the rain cover on my backpack and stood there on the hillside waiting for it to pass as there was no shelter to be had. The image below shows the view looking South at the Isle of Rùm, I think, as the rain moved in to soak me.
The clouds were blowing by quickly and the rain did eventually pass. With the clouds blowing in from the sea and traveling in the opposite direction of the sun, I thought for sure I’d turn around and see a big rainbow at some point. I never got that rainbow, but I could look across the loch and see the town of Mallaig in the distance getting some sunlight, along with the rocky cliffs in the foreground. This provided me with a photo of the scene that I am kind of pleased with.
It was getting later and I had decided on being on the other side of the peninsula at a beach for sunset. So, I plodded back down to the car and drove a narrow single-lane road across Sleat to the other side. Even though it was a single-lane road, I didn’t pass another car the entire way, but did pass a rather beautiful lock amidst the hills that I would have like to have had time to visit. But I just made it down to the beach a few minutes before sunset.
I picked this beach as it was near an old castle that I thought might make for some scenic photos. I saw that there was a trail out to the remains of the castle, but read that it was very boggy, especially in the rain, and there wasn’t much of the ruins remaining. In the photo below taken from the beach, you can see the remains of Dunscaith Castle on a tip of land jutting out into the sea. There is the arch of a bridge remaining leading to the ruins on the cliffside. Might have been a nice hike on a sunny day.
With the fast moving clouds, I thought maybe I’d get some good sunset action at this beach near Tokavaig. Looking directly West toward the setting sun, I didn’t get much of anything. But looking a bit North toward the castle ruins, the tops of the clouds caught a lot of bright orange light as the sun was sinking. So, I got nice color with an interesting landscape feature with the castle ruins. I was happy with this photo as well.
The light didn’t last long, but I was lucky enough to be there to enjoy it. After this, it was a dark rainy drive back to the inn on dicey one-lane roads. Fortunately, there was very little traffic to worry about. This was my last evening on Skye. There were still things left undone and paths left unhiked, but I feel fortunate for the time I had there. I knew to expect rain, but you never know what conditions you will find until you are there. After this, I spent some time in Glasgow and Dublin. I got a few photos, but nothing compares to Skye. Thanks for reading.
