Hiking and vies of The Storr, Lealt Waterfall, Dunscaith Castle, and the Fairy Pools. October 2024. Isle of Skye is a large island in the Northwest of Scotland, Great Britain. You can get there by bridge or by a ferry that transports vehicles.

Day 1: The Storr & Lealt Falls

The Storr

This hike was 3.5 miles long round trip. Here’s the link to the trail on AllTrails app.

“The Storr is a prime example of the Trotternish landslip, the longest such feature in Great Britain. It is the type locality for the mineral gyrolite.[2]

The area in front of the cliffs of the Storr is known as the Sanctuary. This has a number of weirdly shaped rock pinnacles, the remnants of ancient landslips.” (Wikipedia)

The day we hiked The Storr, it was raining. The trail was wet and muddy. Visibility was low. However, the view of the famous rocks was powerful against the fog and clouds. The trail was fairly busy but not overly crowded.

We hiked up to the rock formation then past it to get the above view. We hiked a little more and got a great view of the other side of a ridge.

It was very steep and a tough walk up!

We got lunch afterward at Columba 1400 and we couldn’t decide if it was a church or a cult (or both). But the food was good!

Lealt Falls

Stopped at Lealt Falls on the drive back. The Falls are right off of the road. There is a parking area. They are beautiful and the sound of rushing water is soothing. Sheep were grazing on the hill beside the falls.

Day 2: Sleat Peninsula

This day we stayed on Sleat Peninsula, where are Airbnb rental was located—this way we avoided hours of driving.

Armadale Castle and Gardens

This was a paid visit to an estate with the ruins of a “castle” (< 200 years old), a museum about Scottish history, and grounds with beautiful trees from all over the world. The trees were the best part.

Armadale Castle website.

Dunscaith Castle

“Dunscaith Castle also known as Dun Scaich, Dun Sgathaich Castle and Tokavaig, is a ruined castle on the coast of the Isle of Skye, in the north-west of Scotland. It is located in the Parish of Sleat, in the Highland council area, and in the former county of Inverness-shire, at grid reference NG595120. Also called "Fortress of Shadows", it is the legendary home of the warrior maiden Scáthach, after whom it is named.[1][2] It is protected as a scheduled monument.[3]” (Wikipedia)

We parked on the road and walked to the castle past sheep grazing in a marshy bog area and some little white houses.

From the top of the castle, overgrown with a soft bed of grass, there was a view of mountains across a bay of water.

We had dinner at Eilean Iarmain restaurant and it was very good! We tried some local whiskey and tried to order locally popular dishes such as guinea fowl over scalloped potatoes, langoustine, and a toffee bread pudding for dessert.

Day 3: Fairy Pools

Fairy Pools

“The Fairy Pools (Scottish Gaelic: Glumagan nan Sithichean[1]) are a series of natural pools and waterfalls in Glen Brittle on the Isle of Skye, Scotland. They are in Coire na Creiche ("corrie of the spoils"), on the Allt Coir' a' Mhadaidh ("burn of the corrie of the wolf/dog"),[2] at the foot of the Cuillin mountains. The pools are a vivid aqua blue[3] and are a popular place for wild swimmers who brave the frigid waters.[4]” (Wikipedia)

This was a gorgeous hike, one of the most popular in Skye. We were told it would be way too crowded, but because we were here slightly off-season and because it was very cold and windy, it didn’t seem too crowded. We were lucky.

The trail on All Trails app is called Coire an Creiche and the Fairy Pools—here’s the link.

We walked up the entire Fairy Pools trail, following the river, which creates these beautiful bright blue pools of water, then we walked at the bottom of the mountain ridge, turning left at the top of the Fairy Pools trail.

Here it was so incredibly windy that we thought we would tip over at times and had to lean towards the mountain, putting our hands on the side of it for stability. The wind through the yellow grasses were beautiful, though. It was worth the intense effort! This part of the hike, even though it had no water features, seemed even more beautiful than the Fairy Pool part of the trail.

Hiking down the final part of the triangle, we had to walk across some boggy, marshy parts. I got my socks a little wet because I was only wearing Altra trail sneakers. It would be better to have waterproof hiking boots in this part.