2026 Skye Autumn

September 2026

At the end of September we packed up the car and drove from Edinburgh to the Isle of Skye, taking the scenic route over on the little Glenelg ferry. When we got to our accommodation near Sconser we met up with the kids' grandma and grandad, who were staying with us for the week.

The weather the week we were in Skye was mixed (25+ mm rain some days) and windy others (gusts of 40+ mph) which wasn't ideal for outdoor activities, but we made the most of it.

Edinburgh to Skye

We stopped at the Green Welly Stop and Fort William, then headed over to Glenelg to catch the ferry across to Kylerhea. A quick stop in Broadford for groceries and we drove up to the accommodation.

The ferry was fun, and we've now "checked off" all methods of getting over to Skye, having done the road and ferry from Mallaig.

Portree

We got brunch at the Isle of Skye Candle Co. Visitor Centre before heading to Portree first walking up to the viewpoint overlooking the harbour, getting soaked. And then we walked around town, looked in some shops, and got coffee at Birch Coffee.

Trotternish Peninsula

We did a loop of the Trotternish peninsula, starting at the Fairy Glen, then a quick stop at Rha Waterfalls, before visiting the Skye Museum of Island Life. Heading down the east coast we stopped at An Corran beach to see the dinosaur footprints, Kilt Rock, and Lealt Falls.

This was Rachel and my 5th wedding anniversary, so after we tucked the kids into bed we left them with the grandparents and got dinner out at the Sligachan Hotel.

Photoshoot, Eilean Donan, and Plockton

We got up early for a photoshoot with Penny Hardie who took our couples photoshoot and our wedding in 2021 - really lovely session and we're so happy with the results. We then we crossed the Skye Bridge to Eilean Donan Castle with the grandparents. Then we drove up to Plockton and went to the coral beach there since we knew it would be a bit of a trek in the poor weather to do the coral beach on the Waternish of Skye later in the week.

Waternish Peninsula

We got brunch at Café Cùil in the morning, we spent the afternoon in Dunvegan, stopping at Stein for a bit of shell collecting on the beach before looking in the Skyeskins tannery.

Raasay

All week we've been watching the ferry go back and forward between Sconser and Raasay from the windows in our accommodation. Today we got the ferry as well. The kids enjoyed taking the car onto a ferry. We drove up the island to the start of Callum's road, walked down to the ruins of Brochel Castle (we didn't go any further as the kids were ready for a nap in the car) then we had some lunch at Raasay House, which was interrupted by a fire alarm, causing everyone to evacuate the building. But we did get to see the island fire brigade in action.

Sleat and Elgol

With the weather being quite poor and the kids being tired we drove down to the bottom of the Sleat peninsula in the morning, stopping off at An Crùbh for brunch on the way. Then we headed over to Elgol while the kids slept in the car, we didn't see any of the highland coos we had hoped to see, but we did enjoy some more cake at Amy's Place on the way. As we headed home we decided to get our waterproofs on and take some family photos in the hills around Torrin.

Heading Home

We drove home via Garve and the Highland Wildlife Park.

We had a lovely trip to Skye, enjoying the autumn scenery and spending quality time with family.