Grand Caledonian Tour -
25 September to 9 October
story Margaret Campbell, additional photos Andrew Green.
Day 7 - Friday 1 October ; Tobermory to Portree
 After
rising early, we packed up, collected our breakfast, which had been
kindly provided by the hotel, in bags, and set off to the bottom of the
hill to catch the 7.20am ferry from Tobermory to Kilchoan.
The dawn was breaking as the ferry arrived at the slipway and the wind
was blowing a bit hard for my liking as we boarded the 10 car ferry of
which we made up half. Two cars had opted for a later start.
The 35 minute journey seemed to take a lot longer as the little boat was tossed about like a cork sending great plumes of spray over all the cars. At last we reached the other side  and disembarked onto the B8007 to head towards the lighthouse at Ardnamurchan. Not
quite sure what happened but I think it was relief that we had made the
other side but we all took a wrong turning and had to retrace our steps
for a couple of miles. Eventually the lighthouse was ahead of us as we
reached the most northerly point on the Scottish mainland. We
then drove north to Salen Jetty on th eside of Loch Sunart, where we
met up with Margaret Betteley and Andrew Green who kindly supplied us
all with coffee and cake and then joined us for the day in their
Jaguar. 
As
we had been told that the Mallaig to Armadale ferry had been cancelled
due to the increasing winds, we had to make alternative arrangements to
get to Skye so at Lochailort we took the A830 and headed back to Fort
William stopping at Glenfinnan on the way to look at the viaduct.  After
a lunch stop in Spean Bridge, we headed up the A82 to Invergarry then
headed west on on the A87 - a quick stop for a photo of Eileen Donan
Castle then over the bridge and onto the Island of Skye.
Taking
the A87 to Sligachan we then headed west on the A863 up to Dunvegan
where we joined the A850 heading back towards Portree. The route
then headed North on the A87 to Uig  and
then on an unclassified road west to cross the Quiraing where the road
drops steeply back to sea level. Most of the crews managed to
complete this part of the route but unfortunately a few were too late
and had to miss the top loop to get to Portree in time for dinner.
Arriving in Portree we had completed the first week of the Grand
Caledonian Tour and after our early start and cancelled ferry, we were
all glad of a good meal and an early night.
Portree
Day
8, we will see a bit more of Skye, before crossing back to the
mainland, to Lochalsh, the Bealach an Ba (pass of the cattle) and
Torridon. on our way to Gairloch. |
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