PART NINE - Glenbrittle, Neist point and Coral Bay.


Glenbrittle, Neist point 
and Coral Bay.


The day dawned warm and clear, so we set off to tick a few boxes. Glenbrittle is a good place to access or view the
southern end of the Cuillin, and on such a lovely day, we were keen to see it!

This is Glenbrittle bay. Yesterday, we went to the Fairy Pools and today we passed them on the road here. One thing we DID miss (we didn't realise it was there until after we came home) was Glenbrittle waterfalls. There's a track opposite the youth hostel that allows access to it. Ah well - next time!


This is a lovely place, with a HUGE sweeping beach. There's also a very good camp site here (with the BEST coffee of the whole trip).



This view forward just made us shudder with anticipation. How wonderful do the Cuillin look today?



This is looking back to the bay from higher up the path.


 We both wished we had younger legs - as the Cuillin drew us in.

Still, this is more than a lot of people our age do :-)
We also wished we had time to walk the headland to the left, as there's a Viking settlement ruin (Rubha an Dùnain)
 there we would have liked to have seen.

Looking down to Glenbrittle beach.



We made our way back down, as we wanted to get off to our next place - Neist Point. 

On the drive to Neist Point, we could see this landmark, McCleod's table. This flat-topped mountain is a nature reserve. It's distinctive shape can be seen for miles.

The brooding coastline near Neist Point. Although it looks cloudy, the day was improving all the time.

Our first view of Neist Point.
WHAT a spectacular lump of rock, jutting upwards
in defiance to the sea.

Looking across to Waterstein Head, a no lesser dramatic piece of the coastline.

The lighthouse viewpoint - we'd be going there after visiting the lighthouse.

A wild and windy Neist Point.


As you'd expect with such steep cliffs, there were plenty of seabirds nesting here.

The precarious ledges made for ideal nesting sites.

Walking forwards, we got our next view of the lighthouse.


Up close and personal - Neist point lighthouse.

We've seen a LOT of this rock balancing abroad, but not so much in this country, however - HERE people had gone to town with building little towers (some of them not so little).

I was almost like some kind of outdoor art exhibition!
Some were obviously built to resemble known structures, like Stonehenge, others as just a balancing act.

One of the taller ones.

For perspective.




A small, detached one on the perimeter.

Neist Point lighthouse and fog horn.
(I wouldn't like to be standing at the side of that when it goes off!!)

You can see the improvement in the day here.

Time to make our way to the viewpoint, quite a walk away 
from the lighthouse.

Well worth the walk though.

After that, we left Neist Point to head to a little bay, famous for being made up of millions of small coral fragments.

After a long drive down a narrow, twisty, potholed road, we got to a small car park where we got the LAST space (it's a very popular place, and on many tick lists).

You can see how it stands out against it's surroundings.
A white slash in a stony environment.

Happy bunnies.


That's MacLeods table in the distance.

Sue decided to check for coral.

Yep! Millions of little bits of coral - like snowflakes, 
no two seemed to be the same.

Always an artist - this stone circle had been 
done by a previous visitor.

Dunvegan castle.

As it was late in the day, we decided not to go inside Dunvegan, as it wouldn't be worth the £14 entry fee.

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