As the kids get such long school holidays and we had recently bought a tent I decided that I was going to take them away for a couple of weeks on an adventure and chose the Isle of Skye. I had booked the camp site (together with some Travel-lodges/Premier Inns to break up the travel time) and we headed off on the first Monday of their holidays – whilst poor Stu had to work as he was keeping his holiday for August when we were going to Iceland for 3 weeks.

Day 1 – Drive from Gloucester to Glasgow.

The Isle of Skye is about 11 hours from our home in Gloucester so our first stop was a Premier Inn at Glasgow Airport, 5.5 hours away.

Waterworld

To break up the journey I stopped at Waterworld – a massive indoor waterpark with loads of slides which Tom and Izzy loved. It was also really quiet as most other schools hadn’t yet broken up. What I thought would be 90 minutes ended up closer to 2.5 hours. We then ate our lunch in the car before continuing our journey.

Gretna Green

Next pit stop was Gretna Green. I was so excited to return here but unfortunately most of it was closed – including the outdoor maze which we had loved on our last visit.

We had a short walk around before finding a nearby Pizza Express for tea (where I decided to be healthy and order a chicken salad) and then headed to our hotel for the evening.

Day 2 – Glasgow to Skye

We still had another 5.5 hours to drive so made an early start (after enjoying breakfast – the beauty of Premier Inn is that the kids eat free with an adult) and made it to Fort William by lunch. We picked up food in the supermarket and continued to Eilean Donan Castle.

Eilean Donan Castle

This is a gorgeous castle on a loch and is so picturesque. We went round the castle and the grounds where there were amazing views of the loch. It also dawned on us that we were now 500 miles from home!

^{Eileen Donan Castle}

We didn’t stay too long as I knew I had to put up the tent when we arrived at the camp site so didn’t want to arrive too late, however as we approached Skye I did have to pull over in a layby to admire the view of the bridge.

Camp Site

We arrived at the camp site which I had booked through the Camping and Caravanning Club and it was situated on the banks of Loch Greshornish. Our plot was looking out over the loch which was stunning. When I went to pay, the owners said I should just pay for a few nights (not the full 7) in case I didn’t stay which at the time I thought was a bit strange but went along with it.

^{Loch Greshornish Caravan and Campsite}

Day 3 – Neist Point & Coral Beach

We woke up and it was a beautiful morning. We made breakfast then headed off quite early to explore the island.

Neist Point

Neist Point is the most westerly tip of Skye and there is a lighthouse (and fog horn) there. We arrived at about 11 am and the views were spectacular, especially with the blue sea and sky. You could even see the islands of Uist in the distance. We did a short walk to the lighthouse and the kids played.

^{Neist Point Lighthouse}

Coral Beach

We then decided to spend the afternoon on the beach so headed to Coral Beach. I had read that it resembled a Caribbean beach and was a must visit. We parked up and it was a 1 mile walk but worth it. It looked like white sand but it is fossilised algae but the sea was so blue and clear and some seals came and played in the distance.

^{Walking towards Coral Beach}

^{Beach time!}

We then returned to the camp site and I did a BBQ for tea – although when I sent Stu the pictures he was a bit grumpy about how close I’d put the BBQ to his car!

Day 4 – The Storm Came In!

We woke up and it was grey, wet and very windy! I was too scared to go out for the day as I genuinely belived the tent would blow away! At one point one of our camping neighbours came and used her hammer to hit the pegs back into the ground for me.

The wind was due to get worse so I phoned Stu and he spent the best part of a day trying to find me some accommodation on the Island. The problem with Skye in the summer is that all accommodation tends to book up months in advance – however he found a brand new AirBNB property which had just been released and was able to get it for me.

I packed up the tent in the wind and rain and we headed to the cottage – stopping off at the supermarket in Portree first to get supplies. (now I know why the camp site owners didn’t think I’d stay the week!)

The cottage was beautiful – it had 2 bedrooms and we were all glad to be in a house rather than a tent!!!

^{Our AirBnb for the next few nights}

Day 5 – Fairy Glen, The Quiraing, Kilt Rock & the Fairy Pools

Having wasted the previous day I was keen to get back to exploring so planned a loop around the north of the Island.

Our first stop was the fairy glen. It is an area full of little hills which looks like the fairies could live there. We did a short walk around the pond – I think there was more to see but we were not up to climbing the hills!

^{The Fairy Glen}

Next we continued to the Quiraing. The scenery was stunning and luckily we found a parking space. We got out of the car to have a look but it was freezing cold and Izzy had put her flip flops on so we didn’t walk very far! Leaving The Quiraing we had to drive down quite a narrow steep road with lots of bends so I got the kids to record the drive on the Go-pro.

^{The Quiraing}

The final stop on our north island loop was Kilt Rock – a waterfall off the cliffs – which was only 10 minutes away. As we arrived we were greeted by a bagpiper which we thought was quite cool.

^{Kilt Rock}

We returned to our cottage for lunch and then headed out to the Fairy Pools for the afternoon. The Fairy Pools are made up of a series of waterfalls at the bottom of the Cuillins mountain range. You can swim in them but it was far too cold for us so we just went for a short walk.

^{The Fairy Pools}

Day 6 – The Old Man of Storr

I decided to be adventurous with the kids and we set off to climb The Old Man of Storr. I wasn’t sure how busy it would be so we arrived quite early and were able to get a parking space. It was quite a windy day again but not raining and we followed the path and made it to just under the rocks.

We returned to the cottage for the afternoon as the wind really picked up and the rain came in!

Day 7 – Sligachan Old Bridge, Kylerhea and Talisker

Today we were exploring the south western side of the island. Our first stop was to see Sligachan Old Bridge. It was over a rocky river and you could see the Cuillins mountain range in the distance.

We then headed to the Otter hide at Kylerhea. We parked up and there was a walk that took us passed the otter hide and gave lovely views over the sea towards Scotland. We also watched the Skye Ferry going back and forth between Scotland and Skye.

We didn’t see any otters but we did see some seals lying on the rocks below.

Our final stop of the day was Talisker where there is a whiskey distillery and a beach. We popped into the distillery to buy a bottle of whiskey for Stu and then walked to the beach.

It is a black sand beach and there is a waterfall flowing over one of the cliffs. It was also joined to a grassy area with sheep grazing.

It was far too cold to go in the sea but Tom and Izzy played for ages throwing the wet black sand at each other.

Day 8 – Elgol and Loch Coruisk

I booked a boat trip for us to go and see some seals and visit Loch Coruisk – a loch you can only reach by boat unless you hike through the mountains. The boat was quite small and set sail from Elgol

The boat took about 1 hour to cross the bay and then there was then a short walk to reach the loch. We also passed some rocks with seals on them.

^{Boat trip to the loch – passing lots of seals}

We had about 1 hour to explore the loch so we did a short walk and then the kids found some massive rocks which they played on for ages.

We returned to the boat where we all had hot chocolates and then we sailed passed the seal colony and saw some porpoises in the water. Tom even got to sail the boat!

This was our last day in Skye so when we got back to the cottage I packed and was also treated to the most beautiful sunset.

Day 9 – Skye to Perth

I wanted to take the kids into Northumberland on the way home so I booked us a night in Perth to break up the journey. It was about 4 hours to get to Perth so we stopped off at The Hermitage for something to do.

The Hermitage is a forest with lots of walks in it. The one thing we noticed when we were there was how big the trees are – it wasn’t until later I googled them to find that they are Douglas Firs – some of the tallest trees in the UK.

We made our way into Perth for some tea then found our hotel for the night as it had been a long day.

Day 10 – Perth to Newcastle

We had about 3 hours of driving to do but wanted to do lots of stops so we headed for Lindisfarne first. I had checked the tide times (you can only get to Lindisfarne at low tide) so knew we could visit. We drove across the causeway and parked up and we headed to the beach. Tom and Izzy played for ages collecting rocks. We also went for a walk to see the priory before heading off.

The sun was coming out so our next stop was Bamburgh beach. It is such a sandy beach with loads of sand dunes to play on. There is also a castle to visit but it was quite expensive and we were just happy to play on the beach. As it was warm the kids also got to go for a paddle – something we hadn’t been able to do in Skye!

We then headed into Newcastle for tea. We drove passed the university where Stu and I went and our first halls of residence. We then went to the river to see Tyne bridge and I took them to tea at Marco Polo’s where Stu and I ate on our first Valentines Day together.

Day 11 – Newcastle – Gloucester (Home)

Our final day of trip was to drive home. It is about 4 hours so we stopped at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park to break up the drive.