Skye Adventure – Down a Skye Gorge in a Wetsuit
A day.
The route
Gorge walking is a wet, lively way to see Skye's rivers: in a wetsuit and helmet, you follow the water down through a gorge, jumping into plunge pools and sliding down waterfalls.
Skye Adventure's guides usually meet you at Sligachan, under the Cuillin, and Seumas' Bar is waiting there for lunch afterwards. It suits fit teenagers and adults who don't mind getting soaked.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
Book Skye Adventure's gorge walk online for a morning or an afternoon on one of the dates its booking page offers (it publishes no season), at £70 a person at the time of writing; the meeting time and place come with the confirmed booking.
The day
Sligachan
A morning in a wetsuit following a river down through a Skye gorge, then a hot lunch under the Cuillin.
About five hours
Skye Adventure
An attraction
Skye Adventure's gorge walks usually meet at the Sligachan Hotel, at the foot of the Cuillin, and the meeting time and place come with your booking. There's a small car park by the old bridge on the A87, about 250 metres from the hotel. From the meeting point it's a half-hour walk up to the get-in point, then the whole way back down the gorge with the river: you jump, climb, slide down waterfalls and swim across plunge pools. The guides fit the session to you, so a first-timer needs only normal fitness and the confidence for short swims. They hand out a 5mm wetsuit, rash vest, buoyancy aid, helmet, neoprene gloves and socks. A half day takes three to four hours with the travel and changing, and costs £70 a person at the time of writing. Book online, choosing a morning or an afternoon from the dates offered; under-18s must come with an adult. Skye Adventure posts no season, so the booking page shows when it runs. For the sea instead, its coasteering usually meets somewhere north of Staffin, from £70.
Seumas' Bar
Lunch
Lunch is back at the Sligachan Hotel in Seumas' Bar, a few steps from the meeting point. Food is served every day from noon until last orders at 8pm, and there are over 400 whiskies behind the bar. Tables are first come, first served, with bookings only for ten or more. Well-behaved dogs are always welcome. Seumas' shuts for the winter, usually from the end of October, so ring 01478 650204 late in the season.
If it rains
You're in a wetsuit in a river, so rain changes little, and the guides read the water and choose for the day; Seumas' Bar is the warm, dry end.