Published in Scotland Magazine Issue 29 on 25/10/2006.

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Skye and the Western Isles

Skye and the Western Isles take some reaching, but the journey is worth it. Dominic Roskrow explores the region

There’s something otherworldly about the road that takes you west and north towards Skye.

It’s a deceptively long and challenging drive for starters, though a stunningly picturesque and stimulating one. But it’s also unnerving as the landscape gradually changes and you move in to the rawest and ruggedest part of the British Isles.

This is particularly so if you arrive in the twilight zone, where day is passing in to night and the light plays tricks, the time of the day when the local wildlife comes out to play. In Autumn and Spring this is at its most acute, but at any time the north west sucks you in when dusk falls, and it’s an intimidating feeling.

We had left Oban in the late afternoon and had misjudged our journey time, so that at 8pm we were still heading towards the island. Tired and hungry, we were desperate to reach our destination. And then the sky started playing tricks on us.

You can’t fully prepare yourself for the first time you see the aurora borealis. It’s a bit like an eclipse; you know what’s going to happen but you’re still awestruck by it. It flickers in pinks and yellows like some psychedelic lightning storm, but it’s altogether more gentle and supernatural.

As welcoming parties go, the Northern Lights take some beating. But they’re a fitting entry point to a part of the country that even by Scotland’s breath-taking standards are outstanding.

These days you can cross to Skye by bridge, crossing at the Kyle of Lochalsh. And from the very beginning it.....

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By Dominic Roskrow

Section : Regional Focus

Page number : 30