Thursday 11 October - Broadford to Mallaig

The bus ran from Portree to Armadale, although I have interrupted the narrative at Broadford. From there, the route branches off south from the main road which leads to the Skye Bridge, 9 miles to the east at Kyleakin. In October 2004, I spent a week at Kyleakin, roaming the countryside south of Broadford. I also explored the area shown in the pictures as Kinloch and Drumfearn. The road used to be single-track all the 16 miles to Armadale, but now is mainly double-track, except for the last 5 miles into Armadale. That is actually only the ferry terminal, a hotel, a youth hostel and a shop or two. The nearest village is Ardvasar (stress the second syllable). The ferry to Mallaig in summertime is the one on service, Coruisk (or in Gaelic: Coir' Uisg', Valley of Water).

Coruisk is a valley in the Cuillin Mountains of Skye, from where the peaks rear straight up a mere 3,000 feet or more. The rock is of a very rough type called gabbro. You can reach Coruisk on foot, if you don't mind teetering 100 feet over water. Alternatively, there is a boat.

The ferry boat has a checkered history, even though it has been in service only since 2003. First of all, it cannot sail in anything over force 6, due to its high superstructure. Secondly, on its third voyage into Mallaig, it took a turning too wide and lost a propellor (the prop is shown below, being recovered). Read more here in West Word.

I have fond memories of this crossing, as it is the place where my affiliation with the Highlands & Islands took off. Meanwhile, back to 2007. The tide was high, so the gangway from the vessel was at quite an acute angle. It presented problems for the elderly passengers, who just managed to get down it. Our accommodation was about 10 minutes' walk away along the harbour front.