Monday, June 24, 2013

Skye Discovery - June

Guide - Jon
Customers - Jamie, Carole, Greg, Katha, Illya, Susan, Nick and Marie-Noelle.
Conditions - Summer arrived at long last to the Highlands this week. Long days to walk in the sunshine, Minki whale watching from Macleod's Maidens and one brave soul even took a dip at Glen Brittle beach.  

Looking out from the Quirang.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I want to tell you how beautiful i found skye and thank you for the programm of hiking you made which gave us a good approach of this Island.

It was good also to have such a guide as John in the way he was accepting us as we were and rather soft and whithout shouting at anyone.

But nevertheless i must tell you that i have been desapppointed by two points of organisation mainly:

Hotels: How can we be separeted and not all in the same Hotel as you know when you do these hikings and even the number of people in advance enough not to run after rooms.
Nick has to be separated from us at each hotel ; It made a lot of difference between the two moments when we were nearly all together and the second when we were four( counting John) by one's self.
And for my self my bathroom at the second hotel had no bath while the others had bathes.

Dinners:
you mentioned "on all our tours we make a special effort to ensure you that your evening meals are a highlight of the trip and seafood is a particular speciality on this trips."
Apart from salmon we did not have fresh sea food . Even John failed in booking a restaurant of real sea food the last night. How can you not to think of booking in advance . We were all disappointed .

I talked with others about these two points. Sun was shining and landscapes beautiful so it helped to support the situation as it was the most important for us.


I must at last say that we all appreciate the couple holding the Hotel in Broadford . They are very very nice and make all for us to be happy!

Hoping not having been too rude with you and that will help you to make the next tours a little better not only for some people but for the whole group.
Skye wille be one of my best souvenir on earth for what i saw there.

Katha said...

This was, hands down, one of the most amazing trips I've ever been on. The landscape was really incredible- even going back and looking at pictures, it's amazing to me that these places actually exist, and that I've walked there- the terrain is a work of art. The walking itself was a bit harder than I had expected- just a bit- but I'm so glad that it was, otherwise we wouldn't have been able to see the things we did! Just make sure to bring lots of water!!
John was a really great guide- and super zen- with a real knowledge of, I feel, just about every nook and cranny of Scotland. And probably the rest of Britain as well.
I have to disagree with the previous commenter on her disappointments- you just can't fit everyone into these small bed and breakfasts- there's just not enough room! The hotels were very charming, with beautiful views- and I think that if one of the rooms had a shower rather than a bath, that's really more of the hotel's problem than Walkabout Scotland's. And for the record, we were NOT all hopelessly disappointed that we couldn't get 'real seafood'- because all of the restaurants featured seafood anyway, and it was really quite excellent. I'm an insanely picky eater, especially when it comes to seafood, so, trust me. It was excellent. We even made a little stop at an oyster shack in Tallisker (?)- the oysters were literally right out of the ocean, and the farmer shucked them for us right there at his counter- and we slurped away. SO GOOD. You have no idea. There was also some opportunity to try home-smoked salmon, which was delicious. The mussels, also, were fantastic!

Enough on food, though- you will not regret booking this trip! Walkabout Scotland is a wonderful little company- Cheers!

Anonymous said...
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Nick said...

The Walkabout Scotland Isle of Skye Discovery tour was indeed a great experience and one I won't soon forget, and meeting everyone on the hikes was a great pleasure. When I travel I don't usually like doing "tours" but when I do I like to look for something unique which this very much was. Small groups are the way to go and having a knowledgeable guide such as Jon, made those sometime "moderate" hikes even more enjoyable.
In regards to the accommodations the website does state "small B&B and larger guest houses" are used. I didn’t feel uncomfortable at all even when I was staying at a separate B&B than everyone else. I can see how this could be difficult for some, but after it was explained to me the circumstances behind the cause of it I really didn’t mind and rather liked it.
I must say the day 3 hike from Elgol to Loch Coruisk and over the mountains down the valley to the Cuillin Brewery is my type of hike. Beautiful scenery along a long trail and knowing there's a cold pint at the end of it is very motivational.
I look forward to the next time!

Sincerely,

N