Kyle of Lochalsh life

We do like this place, no matter what the weather does really. A little wander towards the Skye bridge gives you a nice panoramic view back down Loch Alsh itself:

We pretty much had the little pontoon to ourselves, bar one very ugly glass bottomed trip boat that berthed astern of us. Have a peek at  Seaprobe Atlantis website for more information. We chatted to the skipper who told us that the boat is a pig to helm (reassuring when they berth astern of us) but that they do get some good views of the old World War II minesweeper wreck at low water.

The fish farm invasion has kind of spoiled this area too. One of their workboats came and laid alongside the visitor pontoon and we did think that it was a tad heavy for the rather sad infrastructure:

The  classic view of the Skye bridge was still there when the commercial guy left (they had to visit the Co-op for supplies) and looks as good as ever from this distance with no zoom lens involved:

However, when you use the zoom function on a proper camera, things deteriorate a bit:

When you walk over the bridge you get to see the new fish farm pier and buildings which are visible under the bridge arch in the last picture. A local told us about the uproar caused when the planning permission was underway because it really blights the area but the commercial opportunity won:

In real life it is uglier and so visible as you approach the bridge. 

Kyleakin, the old ferry port on Skye which is opposite the Kyle of Lochalsh is dying quietly. Pretty much everything was shut on a Saturday bar the little local shop. Covid seems to have killed the few tourist businesses that survived the closure of the ferry service when the bridge was constructed. The ruined castle kind of sums up the feel of the little village now: 

In theory there is a small pontoon there which visitors can use and one that is sheltered from the SW or W winds that prevail up here, unlike the Kyle of Lochalsh setup. However, it is always full of local fishing boats and a couple of local yachts.

Our liner curse continued when this anchored off and sent the ugliest tender / lifeboats we've ever seen ashore. They use the same pontoon as us so the local Harbour Master has to be around to ensure "Port security". That was a real joke, one guy standing there or sitting in his Defender watching folks wander about:

The Fillipino crew running the tenders seemed to struggle handling them.  Berthing  alongside the pontoon was a long winded thing and their shouting at each other did not inspire confidence. We did wonder if we would fancy being one of 100 passengers crammed into it during an emergency evacuation of the liner with the same two guys crewing it.....

The Scotrail "emergency timetable" only provides two trains a day from the Kyle to Inverness. Again, helpfully, they leave at around 6am and then too late to make a run to Inverness and back worthwhile. However on Sunday things are better, a train just after 10am which we opted to take. The route is spectacular. Read the  Kyle line website

Here is Plockton from the not too grubby train window:

and the rest of the lovely bay which is a good anchorage too:

We greatly enjoyed the views, remoteness and relatively empty carriage on the trip until a rather large fake tanned (the palms of her hands were awesome) young lady joined the train and sat on the other side of the aisle to us. Somehow her mobile phone managed to keep a connection through most of the remote highland area so that she could chat to various mates and give them her view on life, the universe and everything in a wonderfully thick accent. Funnily enough, the most discernable words were the swearwords which peppered her conversations liberally. 

An excellent lunch in Inverness followed and a good wander around the place too. Luckily the return train was not cancelled at short notice - we felt safe though as we knew the driver and conductor lived locally to the Kyle and so would want to get home from Inverness too, after sitting for nearly 6 hours doing nothing, because the earlier return train was cancelled as part of the emergency timetable....

If you fancy a little investment and running a highland hotel, then this one is amongst the many on the market and right alongside the moorings and little village centre:

A most uninspired building that was pretty much closed but the views from it are just wonderful - you get a panoramic view of the bridge and Loch Alsh. We have a feeling that you would need to budget for a full refurbishment too though. We were less than tempted.