I have always heard about how beautiful and amazing Scotland is.  A well travelled friend once described the Highlands as being one of the best places in the world for nature and picturesque landscapes.  Having visited both Glasgow and Edinburgh for work trips, I had never had the opportunity to venture out of the cities and experience Scotland in all its glory.   The fact that I live in London, going up to Scotland felt too close to home to regard it as exotic or culturally interesting.  I was wrong…

I planned a trip to Inverness, hired a car and covered a large amount of miles across the Highlands of north west Scotland.  Before returning to Inverness, I planned to visit the Isle of Skye and drive around the whole Island in one day.  I was staying in the mainland town of Kyle, a small but pleasant town right on the coast where the  bridge is located to take you to the Isle of Skye.

In the evening I walked to a viewing spot on a hilltop to watch the sunrise over the bridge and Loch Alsh- the inlet of water between the Isle of Skye and the Mainland.  There was not much else to do in this town but interesting enough to walk around to explore.

An early start the next day I drove over the bridge to get to the Isle of Skye, Scotland’s 2nd largest island.  There were many places to see but top of my list were the Fairy Pools.  Have you ever seen a picture of a place online that looked so good that you had to visit it? Well that’s what happened to me when I was researching my trip-

I came across this photo on google images:

 

With an image this beautiful, I made sure that visiting the Fairy Pools was one of the first things I did once I reached the Isle of Skye.  With narrow winding roads, filled with sheep at times, it was an adventure just to get there.  Luckily I had google maps on my phone which I trusted to take me to the visitors centre- a small carpark with a couple of signs.  At times it seems like I was driving in the middle of nowhere and I started to doubt google.  With a few more miles of driving on a narrow road, and a hundred sheep later, I finally arrived at the location for the Fairy pools.

 

After parking up, I followed the arrow directing me to the pools.  I thought it would be a short walk but it was actually a 1.5km  trek through some beautiful countryside to reach the first waterfall.

 

I had arrived very early in the morning so there was no one else in sight which was perfect to take some great landscape photographs.   Alone and surrounded by such beautiful nature and the sound of water trickling it was the perfect place to clear my thoughts, refresh and meditate in the moment of tranquility.

 

 

I could hear the sound of water become more intense as I got closer to the Fairy Pools.  The water was a clear bright blue emerald colour that gave full visibility to the bottom of the pools.  I understood why people visit in the warmer months to go wild swimming here.  The water was so inviting that I considered taking my clothes off and jumping in.

 

 

As I climbed higher, there were more impressive waterfalls.  The colour of the turquoise water became more intense and the rock formations more varied.

 

 

 

 

 

This part of the Pools were my favourite and a reason for me to return on a warmer day to swim.

 

On the way back to the carpark people were starting to arrive.  I was glad that I got to experience it alone, in peace- just me, the sheep and nature.

 

 

 

Video

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I had realised that the photo from google images that enticed me there seemed quite inaccurate.  The waterfalls from that image were very small and had been taken at an angle to give an illusion that it was bigger.  That did not take anything away from the Fairy Pools though, they truly were one of the most memorable natural places I have been to in the world.

Sometimes I wonder what life would be like living somewhere like the Isle of Skye, away from the grid, the hustle and bustle of city life- its definitely something that plays on my mind a lot …and probably something that will become my future….