The Scottish Highlands are place of immense beauty and somewhere you could certainly spend forever exploring if you had the time. Recently I took a trip up to the Highlands but unfortunately it wasn’t actually a leisurely trip and involved a lot of hard work out in literally the middle of nowhere. While it was more of a work trip that a sight seeing one I thought I’d share some of the awesome views and also our adventures of a day trip to Skye on a sneaky day off.
It might have been the end of summer but it is Scotland so my week in the Scottish Highlands was a little wet and wild at times. I was based near Drumnadrochit (yes, I swear that’s a real place name) partaking in environmental fieldwork which meant lots of time outdoors.
For those interested in the environmental side, we were doing vegetation monitoring, invasive species management and some restoration ecology but for those that aren’t too bother about that side it meant spending my week pretty much in the middle of nowhere with some awesome views.
Despite the grey skies the rain was never too bad and the views certainly made up for any muddy treks we had to endure to get to work sites. Being so lost in the Scottish landscape and helping protect it through the tasks we were doing was a great experience even if it was a lot of hard work.
Of course we couldn’t come all the way to the Scottish Highlands and not do a little more exploring so on our final day my group decided to head out a bit further to see the beauty that is Skye!
The Isle of Skye is thee most popular island to visit in Scotland but we found very few visitors during our day trip. We managed to get some truly wonderful sunshine which was amazing as we drove across Skye. Coming from the Highlands we passed the famous Eilean Donan Castle at Kyle of Lochalsh before journeying over the Skye bridge and past the Cuillins of Skye.
We stopped several times to take photos before stopping in Portree for lunch. Another beautiful place to visit and one that will certainly be on my must return list, Portree has plenty of places to eat and to stay as well as a lovely little harbour.
Of course no trip to the Isle of Skye is complete without a hike up to the Old Man of Storr. It was little hard going at times but I think that was mainly as our group was exhausted after a week of hard labour. The views towards and from the Old Man of Storr are breathtaking and it’s clear to see why Skye is always a must visit in Scotland!
With such an action packed day we had to draw our adventures in the Highlands to a close but such a wonderful part of Scotland needs plenty of time to explore. Will my trip north was never intended to be a sight-seeing trip it was great to be able to incorporate a day trip to Skye into our environmental work week at Dundreggan.