Scotland – Day 5 – Old Man of Storr, Kilt Rock, The Quiraing and Portree
We woke up in Portree and were ready to hike! We ate a fantastic breakfast at the Portree Hotel/Antler’s and layered up (hats, rain jackets, thermal long sleeved shirts and insulated pants) for the much anticipated hike up the Old Man of Storr!
The drive was easy and the weather was looking moody and gloomy – which for us, was perfection for visiting this beautiful place! Although, I will say, we were very happy the rain held off and allowed for us to be comfortable and not worry about slipping or getter too wet.
Upon arrival, there were really nice bathrooms in a very cool and almost Scandinavian looking building. I was already loving the scene and hadn’t even hiked yet!
The hike on Old Man of Storr is an out and back 2.4 mile hike and it took us about 2 hours. The kids did great and the views were phenomenal!
Starting our hike…
If you’ve been reading along with our other Scotland and London adventures, you already know who Edna is! Lol! Our son thought it’d be funny to pretend to be an elderly lady, Edna, and join us on our adventures. Teens are funny!! Oh, Edna! Bahahaha!
So many giggles!
Heading up…
The wind was something fierce and we had never really experienced anything like it!
This is one of my favorite pictures of Jane! She was trying to stand against the wind and just loved it! There is so much joy on her face… 🙂
Smiles all around!
The trail was all uphill, but it barely felt like it with what our eyes were taking in!
I was loving Jane’s coat contrasting with the mountains.
He couldn’t help himself!
We were getting there!
We befriended some fellow hikers from Wisconsin on the way up! We also ran into some fellow Michiganders and since Henry was wearing a Michigan hat, they told Henry, “Go Blue!” What a small world!!!! They later had to rush down the hike to get back to their hotel to check out! Lol! Love it!
We only stayed at the top for a few moments as it was insanely windy and rain was off in the distance!
Actually, it was so windy that I lost my balance hiking down for a moment and a fellow traveler held out her hand to help me – there was so much good here!
Edna! 😉
Our hike down was just as stunning as the hike up!
Definitely a favorite hike of mine!!!!
Jon ran to this part to go touch it!
We took an alternate route on the way down and hiked for a bit with the people from Wisconsin. The woman (my age and a school teacher) helped calm Jane because it definitely became overwhelmingly windy. She also gave Jane little ducks that she kept on hand to pass out while on her travels. I loved that!
The Scots bring their schools here for field trip. It was so cute! They also witnessed my chasing after Jane’s hat after it had blown off of her head. Her winter hat wouldn’t even stay on because of the wind! Wild!
Daddy doing what Daddy does… My Highlander carrying his wee bonnie lass…
Holding hands with my twin for the day. She’ll always be our little girl. 🙂
High fives for completing the Old Man of Storr!
Jane with her ducks…
Lots of fun stuff inside the visitor center.
We made a quick stop at Kilt Falls…
Next we ventured up the windy, narrow and way up high roads up to The Quiraing!
We were loving all the homes – mostly all white and absolutely like a dream!
We hadn’t planned on hiking much of this, but we still wanted to get our feet on the ground on The Quiraing Trail. It was even colder here and, you guessed it, sooo windy, too. Someday we’d love to hike this, but we just weren’t prepared for it and the kids were pretty tired, so we walked a bit of it, took in the most beautiful of views and headed to our next location…
You can tell how cold we all look! Hahaha!
At one point, Jane walked with her hat over her face. Haha!
Some awesome photos! Look how far down that car/bus is in the second picture!
We loved this sign!
Earlier in the morning we had spotted a café – The Hungry Gull. We decided to stop in and warm our bones. It was the cutest little place with the best hot cocoa, delicious soup and warm and strong lattes!
The cutest little merchandise. I kind of regret not getting something in here!
We had some happy kids!
Once back in Portree, we headed to another coffee shop! Bahahaha – how much coffee is too much coffee?! We had heard of, The Birch, via YouTube videos and internet searches, so we stopped in and had some little treats and another late afternoon latte!
Near the coffee place…
Why yes, I do. Funny, I don’t remember taking this picture at all – I was probably too caffeinated! Ha!
We ventured to the picturesque location in Portree for photos… a quick walk from where we had been shopping…
I loved this little ceramic house, but I had bought a really small one with blue windows to pack in my suitcase (limited space)! Also, I now want our house to look like the white houses with blue shutters just like in Scotland!
Loved this! I didn’t get it, but I bought a packable wool blanket instead!
Kind of kicking myself for not buying this!
More exploring…
I’m telling you, Portree was a dream!
It was hard for me to leave this place, but at least I have a blanket to snuggle up with to remind me up our fun times!
Dinner time at Antler’s and we loved it again!
Back in the room we organized and received our laundry back that we had sent out for cleaning. When Jon had asked about when to expect it to be done, the woman at the front desk said something about the woman who was doing our laundry and that she was probably getting dinner around for her kids and getting them to bed – such a great area and cool community! Also, Skye Laundry was worth EVERY penny and having it sent out allowed for us to keep moving!
My girl, Eliza, truly helped with so much! But also, look how this was all folded for us!!! We were so impressed!
With some fresh and clean clothes we were ready to start heading south through Scotland! But first, we had some Highland Cows to say, “Hello,” to and one more Outlander location visit.
Thanks for scrolling through our hiking and Portree adventures!
Marie 🙂
