The opening line of Andy Stewart’s ‘Donald, Where’s Your Troosers?’ seems a great way to start a blog post about a wonderful trip to Scotland to stay on the Isle of Skye. Well it would be if we had just returned, like Donald himself, with or without the troosers. This holiday, however, was in April 2024 and I’m only now putting finger to keyboard to share the details with you. My apologies.
Skye is a hell of a long way from Lincolnshire so we decided to stop off at my mum’s in Newcastle for a bite to eat and then stay overnight in Edinburgh. We plumped for Fingal, a luxury floating hotel permanently moored in Leith harbour. This was our second stay in this extraordinary accommodation. I can highly recommend it for a special treat. But it was also ideal for us as it’s easy to get to from the A1 and has its own (free) car park.
Fingal was commissioned to be a supply ship for lighthouses and spent most of its working years based in Oban. Now, as a boutique hotel, its heritage is not forgotten. The luxury cabins are all named after Scottish lighthouses. The attention to detail in the design and furnishings is quite exceptional, so much so you imagine at any minute you could be waving Bon Voyage to the residents of Leith and heading out to sea.
As we were staying put, we headed back down the gangplank for our usual mooch around Leith. Fingal itself has a very good restaurant but it’s also worth exploring the other restaurants and bars. On a previous visit we had a sensational tasting menu at the Michelin-starred The Kitchin. This time we had a lovely Turkish meal at Kezban.
We still had four and a half hours to drive to reach our cottage on Skye but it was a wonderful drive, made better by some excellent decisions regarding toilet breaks. If anyone is planning a similar trip, can I suggest the very smart facilities at the House of Bruar shopping village on the A9 north of Pitlochry. You can also pick up provisions there from the food hall. The other loo stop was an inspired find, thanks to some Google Maps searching. I give you the Glengarry Community Hall Toilets on the A87. A huge thank you to the community for keeping these facilities going and just asking for donations to keep it funded. We were also lucky to find a pop-up coffee shop in the car park. He was about to close for the afternoon but opened up again just for us, rustling up two yummy bacon rolls and a couple of lattes. What a star!
Skye is a popular island to explore in Scotland, especially since the bridge was constructed. I was going to add the word ‘recently’ to that sentence but have since discovered Skye Bridge opened in 1995. Wasn’t it just a few years ago?
A short 15 minute drive from the bridge to Isleornsay where our accommodation, new property Skuyö Nordic Skye awaits. I’ll tell you all about it in my next post – hopefully now I’m in a typing mood you won’t have to wait months for it.
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