The beginning of May 2018 saw Rose and I start the tough but rewarding Skye Trail starting in the south at Broadford and heading to the most northerly point at Rubha Hunish.

It all started off so well in Broadford bay

The reason we chose the start there was mainly due to transport limitations, as the bus from Glasgow gets into Broadford at 9pm after a long days travel (6hr bus journey) and to get the to northernly start, would have taken another 24 hours. So in an effort to get started without further delay we chose Broadford.

The landscape (and weather) was promising and inviting as we walked out of Broadford
Blue skies and skylarks. Walking perfection
Looking down on the first of the clearance villages at Boreaig. The village is virtually intact

The trail is described as being a walk of two halves. The first half for us should be easy going trail walking and the second half from Portree north, a much tougher mountain walk along sections which have limited escape.

Most of the houses were in this state. The other settlement was nowhere nearly as in good order
Looking back at Rudha Suishnish
The first nights camp at Camas Malag. In between the heavy rain squalls

So this also helped our decision, as we felt the first few days would get us back to being hill fit before tackling the notorious Trotternish Ridge.

This podcast covers the first 2 days as we made our way towards the romantically named Camasunary Bothy.

As you’ll hear the gradual worsening weather made life difficult.

After a lovely start it felt very wrong. However while the rest of the UK was basking in a heatwave, the isle of Scotland were stuck under a heavy cloud which just didn’t budge for the next 2 weeks.

Skye News – Man dies falling from cliff at Elgol

Day 2 looking back at the very unwelcome Blue Cafe at Torrin
Walking from Elgol and the narrow wet path. There’s a sheer drop only 5m to the left
Second camp at Cladach a Ghinnie

Do leave a comment if you enjoy the podcast.

9 thoughts on “No 464 – The Skye Trail – Pt1”

  1. Enjoyed listening to this. And learning about “the clearances”, the history & reasons (greed by scum upper classes, & social engineering, both of which are still social pandemics rife amongst us).
    I look forward to part 2 & your video. Have shared this podcast with my Scottish friends.

  2. Thanks for anither great podcast! I’ve just finished the WHW and this was just the tonic for the post holiday blues!! Sounds like a challenging trail, keen to get the cicerone guide now! Looking forward to the next episode.

  3. Hi Bob/ Rose
    Great podcast made even better as I and two friends started the trail from Rubha Hunish on the 28th April finishing in Broadford on the 3rd May so I reckon we must have passed you guys early on our last day as you camped off the track from Suisnish, we camped on the green patch beside the beach where you spotted the campervan before leaving early before the rain. I laughed when you mentioned the girl carrying loads of gear as I reckon she was the girl who also was camped beside us with a camo rucksack cover. Sounds like we got better weather than you folks, as we only had one really bad day as we started from the top of lough Sligachan down passed the hotel and down the glen to Camasunary bothy. Looking forward to part 2 and your video!

    1. Sounds like we passed like ‘hikers in the night’ lol! Yes that poor German Girl pulled out as we saw her again in Portree getting on a bus and going home.

      Good to hear that it IS possible to complete the trail in reasonable weather. I guess you had ‘views’ too?

      1. Hi guys, I was one of the three that was with Steven. Great to see your pictures which bring back fond memories of our walk. Indeed, we had some fantastic views along the Trotternish Ridge on our first few days before the weather came in. Steven came across this article shortly after our return which unfortunately reinforced your comments about the cliff walk from Egol, so sad…

        http://www.theskyetimes.co.uk/index.php/3241-man-dies-after-cliff-fall

        Looking forward to listening to the rest of the trip 🙂

  4. Yes Bob, views were stunning particularly looking back to Camasunary bay whilst on the cliff path to Elgol, I’ve just finished listening to your part 2, and feeling gutted for you both as we had such blue skies and sunshine almost for the entire 6 days. At least you have an excuse for a revisit in the future!

  5. Hi Bob, I see you are using Gregory Optic and Octal packs. Were they the 48 or 58 litre ones?
    And how would you say they coped with the hike and how did you get on with them for a week?

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