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Isle of Skye on 2 wheels

Off season touristing the Scottish highlands with bikes and big smiles

By TheBikepack

December 20^th, 2021

Isle of Skye on 2 wheels

This is an adventure report of a long awaited adventure across the sea, amongst the ancient castles and majestic mountains of the Scottish highlands and our quest to get to the very tip of the notoriously beautiful cliffs of Brothers Points. You can expect great cycling, mind boggling views, off-season tourist tips and a guide to make your next trip to the highlands an instant success!

Ready, set, go?

Friday morning, mid November, adventure time and we are enjoying the calm before the storm as today is the day we are off to Scotland and the Isle of Skye, flying and all that…This use to be an easy affair but what we did not know was the magnitude of additional red tape and forms that were needed to fill in to get there.

Hence, the morning started with a great calm breakfast and ended in a “next to perfect”/very fast packing of bags, a myriad of paperworks, visiting web pages and a hurry to get it all done. Here’s our greatest tip, as you, just like us, may be traveling abroad for the first time in a long time - plan ahead, way more than you are used to!

The good news was that we did make it on time and the weight of the luggage was next to perfect as we clocked in at 19,5kg with a whooping 0,5kg to go on our limit. This after a long conversation with our bag who at first notably had decided to not shut close.

The flight itself was effortless and offered an accelerating feeling as the aircraft levelled out just above the clouds and we got to enjoy the pastel sunset on the horizon in the good company of friends.

Scotland blessed us with a slow drizzle up on leaving the comfort of the aircraft as we stepped onto foreign soil. We shuffled over the wet tarmac with a smile on our faces and a metric ton of good vibes in the air. This was the start of a great adventure!

Edinburgh at this time of year is much like what we are used to in Sweden as it gets dark quite early in the winter but also holds the big benefit of midnight-is sun in the summer. So if ya ask us, kind of worth it!

We left the airport as the dusk settled and headed our way to a much anticipated visit at Bunkcampers.

This was the RV rental company that we after much consideration and research got in contact with for the trip. These guys are not only super friendly and amazingly easy to deal with but also the only RV rental company in all of Scotland (as far as we could find) offering 4-wheel accommodation with the possibility to also bring 4 bicycles. A total deal breaker if you ask us, long live Thule bike racks and bring the adventure with ya!

Jess at Bunkcampers welcomed us with a great big smile and a Scottish accent that was impossible not to love. We got a tour of our future home on wheels and a good intro to what to keep in mind when “living life on the road”. Sign some papers and the keys were ours and with it the RV super duper home and the open road ahead.

Easy like Saturday morning

Saturday morning and we got started early. We had stopped the camper next to the most authentic pub we had ever seen and across the road from a loch (lake in Scotland). Mist over the lake and some perfect scrambled eggs made our morning better than most when we set off to pick up our bikes in a good mode.

The road took us through Loch Lomond National Park. Unfortunately our travel itinerary was way too crowded for any extended stop but this is for sure a place we would like to revisit and explore much more in the future. The dramatic scenery, the spectacular embracing mountains made for the perfect hiking adventure. We will let the pictures do the rest of the describing:

We were heading to the down hill mecca, Fort Williams - this is a place you will want to visit during the “in season” as all the lifts for downhill cycling were shut down in November when we arrived. We found ourselves looking towards the world cup mountain with a silent promise to soon return and conquer the slopes.

Nevis bicycle rental is the one of the biggest bike shop in town with a wide selection of rental bikes and great knowledgeable staff that helped us to get settled with four nice mountain eating monsters aka mountain bikes.

As Scottish as is gets!

Next stop, and this is a must see and definitely worth the drive if you are anywhere close, the Eilean Donan Castle. This is a true movie castle, featured in amongst others James Bond and the Braveheart movie - does not get more Scottish than this folks! We pulled up our RV to an empty parking lot and got to enjoy this place alone, and on bikes as the sun set over the ocean - Two things that few people probably can claim. A drizzle of rain convinced us to pack up and continue our long drive for our final destination Isle of Skye.

Short about the Isle of Skye

Isla of Skye is the second largest island in Scotland. Famous and very popular for its scenery and landscape that will take your breath away. Made even better by the cozy fisherman's villages, among them the town of Portee with its colourful houses hugging the water. July to August should be the best time of the year to visit Skye if you ask the Internet but we still stand firm with our choice and were amazed by the vibrant popping autumn colors and the absence of competing tourists at the pub and the sights.

Night out in Portee

Our second evening of the trip was spent in the beautiful town of Portee. The biggest town on Isle of Skye but still a cozy and picturesque place with a lot of nice pubs and people. We found a great spot for the RV right down by the water and on “crawling distance” to the nearest pub. Traveling during off season also means that less places will be open but we found a free table at the restaurant Dulse and Brose and enjoyed a great evening with lots of laughter and traditional locally sourced Scottish food.

The evening then brought us to the West Highlands Bar on the town square of Portee where we continued the night with some well deserved ale, accompanied by great local live music. We even got to the dance floor and showed the locals that hips do indeed not lie, ea. We are terrible dancers but a whole lot of fun nevertheless!

Brothers Point - Isle Of Skye

Sunday morning and we sprung up to the sound of the alarm and forgot all about yesterday's festivities in the excitement of the day's adventure, as the sun was slowly rising over the rooftops of portee. Coffee, rock’n roll music and a full blown “hotel style” breakfast later, we were on the small and winding road towards today's cycling highlight, the cliffs of Brothers Point.

Brothers’ Point, also known as "Rubha nam Brathairean" in Gaelic, is a dramatic headland in the Isle of Skye which jumps out into the Atlantic ocean. This is a “up and coming” attraction on Skye but stil what we would like to think of as a “hidden gem” as it is rarely featured in the travel guides and “must see” lists of Skye. We just love the challenge of riding a less explored area. We also had a symbolical motive in visiting Brothers point together as a monumental milestone to our friendship and The Bikepack.

The visitors parking was in fact more of a road pocket with room for three cars. We parked the RV and got busy gearing up and unpacking the bikes. The view gave us butterflies and a bubbly feeling. I don't throw around the expression “beautiful like a postcard” lightheartedly but this was one of these moments for sure. We had traveled far by plain and RV to get to this one spot and it did not disappoint!

We crossed the main road, turned off on a small farm road, no sighs no nothing, through a gate and past someone’s house. But we were definitely on the right path, the view ahead gave it away once we passed the house and found the trail swerling down the steep hill. We had the great company of some cubby sweet cheep that looked at us like we were insane as we were maneuvering down the muddy slope on our bikes. The path descends to the pebbly beach, it's thought that monks lived here hundreds of years ago, some say that this also is what gave it the name Brothers Point.

The outlet from a small mountain stream stood between us and our way forward and we had to carefully place rocks to build a path to safely take us over the stream. We all made it over the waters dry and happy and the adventure could continue. Onwards to a flat meadow in between the roaring ocean to our right and the steep cliff line on our left, aiming for the only place giving us access to the next dramatic section.

Brothers Point -A pebble thrown into the sea, upwards and outwards along a fast-narrowing ridgeline, only curious sheep for company and a long drop all the way down to the crashing weaves below. This called for some climbing with the bikes, climbing as in throwing the bikes between us and up the very steep mountainside and narrow trails, definitely getting our adrenaline going.

Once at the top you forget all the troubles as you find yourself on a plateau, with the breathtaking views from the epic Mealt Falls and Kilt Rock in the north, sweeping across the grey waters of The Minch, to the dark silhouette of the Isle of Rona in the east. But it gets better, once you turn around and away from the mainland and move your gaze towards the seas you see the rolling meadows of Brothers point, guarded by the natural rock tower we just climbed, named Dun Hasan.

We rode our bikes through the meadows past the grazing sheep to the very tip of the cliff and turned around to fully soak up the beautiful views in front of us - simply breathtaking and an amazing plaze way beyond the ordinary and what we have experienced before!

The wrap-up

This is the short version of a very long weekend, full of love, great friends, breathtaking views and adventures. We left Scotland with a strong desire to come back and to continue our exploration of Isle of Skye, Fort Williams Downhill paths and the beautiful Highlands. We hope you have enjoyed the read and that you are as excited as us about more adventure and Scotland in the future! Thank you for taking your time and joining us on our adventure and we hope we meet again!