Reach for the Skye!

what can i say, i just have to smile all through those photos ~ its so lovely! the mountains that seem to go on and on, the sky that stretches to forever and a rainbow to finish it off!
beautiful!!
i walked from morar to camusdarach beach last year ~ camusdarach beach is where 'local hero' film was shot.

Looks idyllic....beautiful photos, GDad. The last photo of the beach looks so calm and peaceful...and lovely sand too.

i think that last one is known as 'the silver sands' of morar ~ the hogwarts express goes past it in the harry potter films.

Agree with both my friends above. Amazing pics, every one! Skye is stunning, I love it. So much variety as well. I would love to go back there again soon.....so glad you had a lovely time geraniumdad. I know you love Scotland and it's clear from your photos! Thanks for sharing. :)) brought smile to my face which was not easy today!!

Thank you for the lovely comments. Hope all is well Karensusan: glad to have made you smile!

Stunning photographs, it looks a beautiful place, I love your evening shot......

Other than plant photos, my lovely, talented wife Sonia takes the photos. I am getting better with the camera though!

I´d love to live in the cottage.

Spectacular scenery. It looks an interesting place ti have a holiday.

Wonderful spectacular scenery! Just my cup of tea! One of our local mountains has heather growing all the way up so we refer to it as 'Purple Top.' Love the beach pictures - they could be any of the 'secret' coves here.

there is a steam train that goes across from which you can see this beach and the river that flows into it ~ the train that was used in the harry potter films ~ its a famous train ride because from it you can see Britain's highest mountain [Ben Nevis] and the deepest loch [LochMorar or Nevis???] and the shortest River!!! i think thats right?

Yes, Sticki, that is the famous 'West Highland Line'. It has been voted the most beautiful rail journey in the world. Goes all the way from Glasgow to Mallaig. We did it in May. You follow spectacular scenery all the way. The Train splits at Crianlarich and half goes to Mallaig and half to Oban. The most spectacular scenery (I thought) is after the split on the route to Mallaig. The Harry Potter association is with the Glenfinnan Viaduct I think. That part of the journey is the highlight. Once you get to Mallaig you can get a quick ferry across to Skye (which we did) and spend the day there. There is a lovely garden at Armadale, just a ten min. walk from the ferry and it was there we saw the sea otters playing. Fantastic!! We also saw dolphins and seals on the crossing. The Steam train only runs from Fort William to Mallaig in the summer time, and I'm sure that's wonderful, but when the trees are in full leaf you wouldn't see all the spectacular lochs, so I would recommend April/May as we could see everything and all the freshness of the spring as well......bliss! The whole journey from Glasgow to Mallaig takes five hours if I remember rightly, so.....take a picnic with you and a nice bottle of wine!!

We visited Armadale Castle and the gardens. They were superb. Couldn't afford to get the train though: it would have cost over £100 for the 5 of us!

Beautiful scenery thanks for sharing them with us.

Wonderful photos.. :o)

What a pity the trains are so expensive Geraniumdad!

Stunning pictures ! :)

i visited the skye gardens ~ and grumpy georges photo studio [he isnt grumpy ~ he is very entertaining] the gardens were great too but we didnt see anything on the crossing cos it was thick fog!!!
i couldnt afford the train journey either but i did see it in the distance ~ i only wanted the photo!!
but it is certainly an amazing journey

We will do the train journey one day. However, the drive was amazing! The scenery was fantastic.

yes i think its on my wish list ~ one day!!!

Skye is a magic place GD. We arrived once in the middle of Skye week. Not intended. Staying in a beige bungalow that had not been decorated since Disraeli PM. Two weird spinster sisters in charge. There were celihds galore and lots of guys who seemed to prefere resting on the pavement. Tossing the cabre and throwing the hammer any old where. No H&S in those far off days!!!! Lots of lovely pipers. That heart tugging sight of them facing the loch and piping away to the beautiful views, to practice for the competitions, or just to be on their own with the skirl. Everyone quite naturally in the kilt, plaid over the shoulder. Ah nostalgia.....must be neary 50 years ago. Been a few times since but never such magic as that visit.

Marvellous pics, Gd. :-)). I love visiting Skye, which I can do as a daytrip (only just, and due to the connecting bridge rather than the ferry crossing). I instantly recognised your pic of the beach, lol!

Lovely to see the White Sands of Morar, again (almost right, Sticki! :-)), as had many great childhood hols in the area.

I love the Glenfinnan Railway Viaduct (21 arches), think it is a Victorian engineering marvel, and a very close rival to the Forth Rail Bridge. My heart seems to skip a beat every time we see it in some of the Harry Potter movies - LOL!!!

Sticki, you are "spot on" with your "statistics"! Ben Nevis is Britain's highest mountain; Loch Morar is its deepest freshwater loch/lake (also, in the past, reported sightings of a "monster", so, a rival for Nessie?); the shortest river is on Skye - River Scavaig. :-))

We will be visiting Skye briefly next year as we have to get the ferry across to Harris/Lewis (from Uig Bay where we stayed this year). My children said it was the best hoilday ever! My wife and I were stunned at the landscapes the island presented to us. Living in a relatively flat area of Britain (Hull in East Yorkshire), but no less beautiful in its own right, you don't realise what this island has, in the terms of beautiful countryside, scenery, villages, etc until you have seen it in real life. HD television is great but no substitute for the real thing.. As a keen walker, I have not ventured further than the NY Moors, but seeing Scotland really whetted my appetite. The West Highlands Way is one of the walks on my list for the future.

how lucky are you david ~ skye for a day trip!!?? how amazing.
i must look up that west highland way ~ sounds very interesting. lewis has an almost lunar landscape in some places, very barren and in others the most incredible views. should also get some fantastic sunsets as you will be facing west! its a wonder i had any spare capacity on my camera at all ~ i was on the beach until 10 and 11 at night still taking photos ~ its not so far from the land of the midnight sun!!

lovely blog & photos too...

Superb blog. I've alwaysfancied a trip to Skye.

Fab blog and amazing photos too, thanks.Gdad.

Your photos are just amazing. I spent a couple of weeks in a mosquito swarm just opposite Skye in a place called Glenelg. Very beautiful...if not itchy. :)

Great photos from a truly wonderfull place, i took the wife for a suprise holiday for her 40th in 2004 and we stopped in the lighthouse on neist point, just us alone listening to the waves crashing in to the rocks as we drifted off to sleep and the same when we woke, the sound of all the sea birds, and skylarks, the beautifull sunsets, we sat on the cliffs one evening the sky was tangerine, coral and yellow, the sun was going down it was 11.30 at night, we sipped wine as we watched over the minch, it was like a millpond, wow it was the most magical moment in my life.

An interesting & fantastic blog, GD! Those views are just the most fabulous! Never been further north than Whitby & that was back in '71 or '72! Used to sing that lovely song "Fly bonnie Prince, over the sea to Skye"!

always liked that song balcony [skye boat song ~ used to try to play the music.

Thank you all fro the lovely comments about this blog.
As always, you ahave been very kind!
For those of you who have never been to Skye: it has everything for everyone. Mountains, hills, cliffs, wonderful birds and insects, fab flowers, great people, beaches, plenty of walks, gardens, castles: definately a place to visit.

also sunsets and good food.

Lovely blog and stunning pictures GD! :~)).

No wonder "Bonnie Prince Charles" liked the place then! :-D