Day 4: Lochs & Lumps

Skye is an assault on the senses.

That is to say that on nipping in to pub opposite the campsite last night I saw more people that I’d seen in total in the past 2 days. To be fair it was a busy pub. But you get my point. 

Whilst there, I took the opportunity to plan the next 24 hours. What to do with this day which had been given back to me thanks to the high winds of Mull Sound which seemed like a lifetime ago. 

My first thought was to take a loop around Skye on a route which just so happened to pass the door of the Talisker distillery. Then I realised that it was impossible to do a tasting tour without at least 2 weeks notice. 

My next plan was a loop of Loch Alsh and Loch Dutch. A cunning plan indeed since it would provide an opportunity to dump my tent & luggage at a campsite 30km away and continue the rest of the loop without carrying it all, and it would put me 30km nearer the ferry to Mallaig the following morning, meaning longer in bed. Lovely.

That sorted, I decided to investigate the bar, since i couldn’t help but spot 1 or 2 single malts lined up. In fact they have over 400. 

I got up at a leisurely rate, “enjoying” another feast of rehydrated porridge and black coffee, and set off to Broadford, the dramatic scenery taking the edge off the camper vans and lorries thundering past me.

Camping Skye campsite (why make things complicated) welcomed me in, reminding me that it was before the permitted 2pm check in but so long as I didn’t use “the facilities” they could probably let it slide this once. 

I thanked them and got the tent up quickly, chucked all my excess baggage in the tent, then set off on my new lighter bike. Oooh that’s better…

Feeling like it may be time for coffee, I found a nice looking cafe in Broadford and parked my bike up. With that, a window opened and a very eloquent gentleman shouted that they didn’t open until 1pm. It was currently 11:30am. 

I thought it would be churlish to ask what sort of time 1pm was to open somewhere which one would assume would do a nice line in breakfast and lunch. So I didn’t.

I also thought it would be churlish to point out the big sign on the door saying “open”. So I did. I didn’t quite make out what the super friendly chap said next, but I suspect he was offering kind wishes to me and indeed to all other cyclists in this world.  

I decided it may be best to leave Broadford, since I was due to come back here later. On the way out I stopped to buy some haribo at the petrol station / Asda express, wherein I encountered a stand up row between a customer and shop staff regarding the inconsistent pricing policy between actual Asda and Asda express. 

Quite an odd town…

Time to leave. I headed towards the Skye Bridge and Kyle of Lochalsh before heading east along the shores of the Loch itself. The sun was out, but on the hills on the opposite side of the loch, where I was headed, it looked very wet indeed. 

The miles ticked by as the road gently rose and fell, and before long I found myself at Shiel Bridge. Time to head upwards. 

The climb started almost immediately, just after I was able to readjust to single track roads which I had loved in the outer Hebrides. The ascent over Bealach Ratagan was just over 2 miles long, but had cheeky stretches over 15%. Fortunately the rain held off and I was able to enjoy great views from the top. I started down towards Gleneig (genuinely twinned with Gleneig on Mars, according to the welcome sign). Not weird. 

By this time, I was getting hungry and was delighted to find a beautiful cafe overlooking the ferry slipway. Pasty and a Latte, then 10 minutes later, same again please. 

The ferry itself was a fun piece of engineering. According to the shop in the little lighthouse by the slipway, it’s the world’s only turntable ferry. So you drive (or cycle) on, the turntable turns you around, and you get off the other end. Sorry if that sounds obvious, but it blew my tiny mind. 

The ferry journey itself took less than 10 minutes and landed me back on Skye. Immediately the road went up a fairly identical climb as the first. The view from the top was better still, with the isle of Raasay and the rest of Skye stretching out behind it. I could have ridden that road all day; unfortunately it was only 4 miles long. 

At the bottom I rejoined the A87 and rode the 4 miles back to the campsite. For the first mile I watched the rain coming towards me; for the last 3 miles I enjoyed its deluge. 

Back at the campsite all seemed calm. I had a shower, hung my clothes in the drying room (posh!!) and researched where to go for some dinner. Assuming that is that I didn’t fancy the yummy looking emergency 5 bean cassoulet and custard apple crunch…

Tomorrow - Mallaig then Fort William. I am expecting rain.