Isle Of Skye

My trip to the Isle of Skye last week was so magical. We were staying in a part of the island that had no internet and limited phone signal so I was completely unplugged for five days which was incredibly relaxing. I really noticed how de-motivated I felt when I came home, turned on my laptop and checked my social media. It can be hard to go back to the real world after a good holiday! I’ve wanted to go to Skye for a while so I organised a trip with a group of uni friends. It’s such a dramatic island and it did not disappoint. We saw all of the big sites: the Fairy Pools, Talisker bay, coral beach, Dunvegan castle, the Old man of Storr, the Needles, Kilt Rock, the Cullins and Portree. The reason the landscape in Skye is so pointy and rocky is apparently because it’s the newest part of the UK, so the weather hasn’t smoothed out the edges yet – isn’t that cool! It’s quite a long drive from Edinburgh to Skye so we stopped off in some pretty cool places on our way – Eilean Donan Castle, Glen Coe, Fort William, Ben Nevis and too many lochs to name. I usually like to power through long journeys but all of these breaks made the travel day feel like a part of the holiday itself. I would definitely travel that way again! For some reason I had imagined that Skye in May would be beautifully warm but it was pretty cold and windy. Most of the other tourists that we came across were cyclists or climbers and it looked miserable to be cycling through the rain for days on end. The coral beach is amazing because the sand is white and the sea is turquoise and it looks pretty tropical, but believe me, it’s blummin’ cold.

The above photo is of the whole gang on a mountain next to Fort William. I’m the one that’s dressed the most garishly – as always! My favourite part of the whole trip was definitely swimming in the fairy pools. The fairy pools are a series of pools (duh) and waterfalls that run down from the Cuillin mountain range on the south side of the island. They’re famous because a photo of them went viral on Pinterest. The water is seriously turquoise and inviting and the mountains are some of the tallest in the UK (I found out that most of the mountains in Scotland are bigger than the biggest in England, Wales or N.Ireland… Scotland wins again!) They’re pretty much just bare rock face so you can unfortunately only climb them with proper climbing gear… despite my best attempts. They make a pretty impressive backdrop to the fairy pools though. We picked a sunny day for swimming and although the water was freezing at first, I got used to it quickly and I felt amazing when I got out. I was so warm and energised… I think there must be some fairy magic at work! I loved Skye and I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking to experience a wild part of Scotland. I just wish I lived a bit nearer to those fairy pools…