Na rathaidean fada, lùbach tro Chuimrigh agus Alba

Today’s trivia is on Skye’s capital Portree:

• Portree (Port Rìgh in Gaelic) means “King’s Port”. It was named after a visit by King James V in 1540.
• Before the Royal visit, the town was called Ceilltarraglan (or Kiltaragleann), which means “the chapel at the bottom of the glen”.
• The vibrant, pastel-hued houses on the harbour are a relatively modern development aimed at brightening the shoreline. Bit of work to do on that!
• It was officially developed in the early 19th century as a planned fishing village, with many improvements later designed by engineer Thomas Telford.
• The area is the ancestral seat of Clan MacNicol, which holds annual gatherings nearby.
• Evidence: Archaeological evidence shows a settlement existed at Portree as far back as 2570 BCE.
• Bonnie Prince Charlie spent his last night on Skye in Portree before escaping to France in 1746.

Seriously, interior designers and bean counters shouldn’t be allowed to design hotel guests bedrooms and facilities . . .

We set off on a tour of the top north-east of Skye.

First stop was The Fairy Glen and  astlr Ewen.

Next was a few non descript spots such as Lewis and Harris View and Iron age Souterrain, which was a bit more interesting.

The Kilvaxter Souterrain is a stone-lined chambers built approximately 2,000 years ago, they are found in found in Scotland(✔️), Ireland (✔️✔️), Cornwall, and Brittany.

Next it was onto Duntulm Castle, a ruined castle.

Duntulm Castle is a ruined 14th-century fortress and is formerly a stronghold of the MacDonalds of Sleat, it was abandoned around 1730 for nearby Monkstadt House.

The Shulista Phone Box, is a typical K6 class phone box with double doors. It’s been made famous by fb.

Along a steep, single track and winding road with lots of campervans causing nightmares, arrived at Quiraing. It has a ☕️ van, no 🚽, although signs posted has one.

The carpark was packed and not even peak season yet.

Then it was off to the Kilt Rock Waterfall.

The Lealt Fall View Point highlights the 90-meter waterfall plunging into a narrow, tree-lined gorge.

A view of The Storr

The closed off Bride’s Veil Falls

and finally Portree . . .

In the 1700s, Portree was a popular point of departure for Scots sailing to America to escape poverty and later during the famine in the 1840s. Bet they’re sorry now.

In the local estate agent’s window we first read it as 27 Windsor Crescent and wander if Ariane was selling our place before we got back.

Woollen Mill has open till 5pm and sign says it too. But at 4pm woman attendant said closed and wouldn’topen the door. Think she thought she was in Spain!

Council have recently decided to beautify the town. Colours look a bit faded already, or it just might be the drab weather.

We saved $360 doing this tour ourselves by not going on an organised one.

We had dinner at Tongadale Hotel but sign outside said dinner fully booked so went to dinning area to see about tomorrow night. Girl said, come back at 5. I said sign says full. #@$%, that was last night! Turns out this is Dawn’s daughter, Kaitlyn. Told her, her mother wanted to know that you’re brushing your teeth before going to be at 9pm. She looked at me blankly and showed us a table. Actually she knew about us, she must talk to her mum everyday.

The weather was pretty good, not too cold or windy.

Today’s travels . . .