Day 7 Exploring Skye's Waternish Peninsula

We spent the morning driving around the Waternish peninsula.  Scottish superstar folksinger Donovan lived here in the 70's in the village of Stein.  His home is now a restaurant, and is adjacent to the oldest pub on Skye, the Stein Inn.  Tried to get a coffee or pint at the pub, but unfortunately we arrived too early.

There are more sheep on the peninsula than people, and most of the sheep roam anywhere they please so you need to pay attention as you drive along the narrow roads.

This bridge is said to mark the place where a faerie wife of a MacLeod chief said her final farewell to her husband before she left him to live amongst her own people. The story goes that the chief of the MacLeod’s wanted to marry a Faerie princess. The king of the Faeries, Oberon, agreed to the match, but only on condition that after a year and a day had lapsed the princess must return to her own people. So the marriage took place, and a son was born of the union, but after the allotted year and day was over, the princess had no choice but to return to the Land of Faerie. She parted from her husband and child at the Fairy Bridge. But the story does not end there; one day the infant son began to cry, as children do. The Faerie princess, upon hearing her child’s cry, returned from the Land of Faerie and comforted him, wrapping the child in a Faerie shawl. This shawl was preserved; it is the famed Faerie Flag of the MacLeod clan, which can be seen today at Dunvegan Castle.

The tiny village of Stein.  Donovan's home is the last on the far left.

Skye's oldest pub, the Stein Inn

Grazing on the bogs at low tide

One of the few commercial businesses on the peninsula is Skye Skins, which is one of only two active tanneries in the UK.  The skins come from male sheep that are raised and slaughtered for human consumption.   We were treated to a fascinating explanation of the tanning process the former guitar tech/roadie for the British 60's rock band, Uriah Heap.  Talk about taking your career in a different direction.

Displaying the hides at Skye Skins

Looking toward Loch Bracadale

Isle of Skye is covered in moors with a wind turbine here and there.

We loved the tour of the distillery, not to mention the tasting room too!

The common room at the Loch Eyre Guest House

Portree Harbour

For dinner we returned to downtown Portree and had a delicious dinner of Atlantic cod in a white wine sauce with broccoli, mussels, and new season potatoes.  We were treated to a beautiful sunset as we drove back to our B&B and the most amazing thing about this picture is that I took it at 10:20 PM.

Loch Eyre sunset