The Isle of Skye is absolutely breathtaking!! Turn after turn it’s just filled with so many beautiful wonders of nature that it’s almost just too much to take!! I’m so glad that I had the chance to get there!! The tour itself was so-so, but what it lacked was made up by the beautiful surroundings. But I’m getting a tad ahead of myself…
I’ve already mentioned that I booked my ticket at the tourist info center in Inverness. When asking the employee at the desk about this specific tour, a 12 hour tour by WOW Scotland that cost almost 70 pounds (about $118 US), she seemed very hesitant to say anything about it… It was really kind of odd. I wasn’t sure if it was just her or if she just didn’t want to say anything negative about the tour. So because of her hesitation, I hesitated too. Then she went on to explain that she had never been on this particular tour from WOW Scotland so she couldn’t say too much about it one way or another aside what was advertised on the brochure. But she had taken others that she enjoyed from WOW Scotland (though again she wasn’t very enthusiastic in her descriptions). Against all the other tours of the Isle of Skye, it covered much more of the Isle and seemed to take us to more places. And the tour itself was longer than any of the others…
My largest concern though was that we would simply be in the bus all day being carted from one site to the next, only let out for little breaks and to snap some shots. I wanted to be able to spend some amount of time at each place. And though there were numerous stops listed on the itinerary, I figured “heck, we have 12 hours and the Isle isn’t all that big. I’m sure we will get some good time at each place!”. So despite the lack of salesmanship by the tourist office employee, I talked myself into buying the tour. Later I went on TripAdvisor and was further assured by my decision to book the tour because of the 5 star rating the tour had received. Fast forward to the day of the tour…
All started off well, we were picked up in front of the tourist info center (nice central and easy location!!) in a mini bus that was quite comfortable and suited for our needs. There were about 20 of us in total. Though he didn’t show up in a kilt (a comment that a fellow tour-goer made later in the day that she was kind of hoping to see since we were on a Scottish tour) our guide was a local, was friendly and humorous and all. He was knowledgeable and had stories to tell about each area…
But here is the kicker… Perhaps it was simply that the tour was as long as it was. Or because of “the event” that happened later in the tour that sort of unfortunately out-shown the rest of the tour (for the better in my book, lol!!). Or perhaps though funny and witty the guide wasn’t THAT memorable in the way he presented the info. Or perhaps the pure natural beauty of the Island simply made everything else about the trip null and void in my mind… I simply just don’t know… But what I’m getting at here is that again, while our guide did have lots of history and stories to tell, I can’t recall a single one of them aside from a little disturbing statistic about Loch Ness and that the leopard man lives on the Isle of Skye…
No, I wasn’t drunk… I wasn’t hung over… I was completely present and alert and aware and listening just as I had on every tour prior (and all those after) yet I just can’t recall any of the stories he told.
And honestly I was a bit disappointed by the amount of time that we were allotted at each spot. The original itinerary only allotted on average 15 minutes at each place, except for our lunch spot- 1/2 hour- then we were supposed to have an hour in one of the little towns. Mind you, the brochure never mentioned how much time would be spent in each place so it was unknown at the time of booking. Personally I would have given the little town less time since we weren’t there for a town!! We were there for the sights!!! We didn’t even get out of the van to walk around or near Loch Ness!! We simply drove by it and had to take pictures out of the van window!! That was kinda disappointing!! But luckily or unluckily, as fate would have it we ended up having almost 3 hours in one of our locations… More on “the event” in a bit!
I know I’m going back and forth on how the tour actually was… Sorry for that! But I guess if I had to be pinned down I would say yes, the tour was worth it if only for the sights of the Isle of Skye alone. And having basically a chauffeur to take us around was quite nice (until “the event”). Had it not been for the sights and being chauffeured around, well I wouldn’t say I would have been that crazy about it.
Oh, but for anybody planning on doing the trip, one word of advice: eat your lunch IN the van!!!! Don’t wait for the break!!! The only reason I say this is because you may otherwise be sharing your lunch with the midges!! Or rather will also be eating the midges as part of your lunch! Not to mention, if you eat at the lunch spot you will get less time to walk around!
Midges… for those who don’t know they are itty bitty teeny tiny little gnat like flies that come in swarms and will bite the absolute life out of you! Before I went to Scotland I was warned about them but had never encountered them until the Isle of Skye. Though they thankfully never actually bit me, they were so darn annoying!!! They would swarm all around your head and mouth and body and hands and basically anywhere where skin was exposed just buzzing!! So needless to say, as I tried to eat my sandwich they swarmed all around it and me and I ended up eating more midges I think than sandwich! Needless to say about half way through I lost my appetite… So yes, eat your lunch ON The van!!!
The sights included: Loch Ness, Urquhart Castle, Hairy Coos, Eilean Donan Castle, Strath Bran & Strath Carron, Slighachan, Faerie Glen, Quiraing (sight of “the event”), Kilt Rock, Trotternish Ridge & the Old Man of Storr, and finally Portree.
Yes, as mentioned before quite a bit was covered so perhaps I should have expected just a few minutes at each place and should stop complaining about the lack of time spent at each location… Not to mention, the majority of tourists really aren’t into walking around much or hiking on tours. Most are happier being taken around so they can snap their shots and say they’ve been there (not me obviously). It’s unfair to expect everyone’s needs to be met so perhaps I shouldn’t take it out as a fault of the tour so much…
In any event, enjoy the pictures of each place and a story of “the event” via the below links:) Oh one last little bit about the Isle of Skye in general: it was the first place where Gaelic became basically the prominent language. Road signs turned to Gaelic only (some also had the original or “English” names as well)!! And about 8% of the population of the Isle of Skye still speak Gaelic today!
Loch Ness, Urquhart Castle & Hairy Coos
Eilean Donan Castle, Slighachan & Faerie Glen
Quiraing (site of “the event”)
Kilt Rock, Trotternish Ridge, the Old Man of Storr & Portree
Ramblintraveler 