Plockton and Eilean Donan – Seal Boat, Castle and the Plock
A day by car, from Plockton and back.
The route
Lochalsh is the district that faces Skye, easy to drive through without stopping on the way to the bridge at Kyle of Lochalsh.
This route gives it a whole day, and never crosses the bridge. It starts in Plockton, a village on a sheltered bay of Loch Carron, and is back there by evening. The driving comes to about an hour in all, and nothing is more than 25 minutes from the next thing. Half of the day is spent in the village itself, on foot and on the water in a boat that goes looking for seals. The other half is for Eilean Donan, the island castle at Dornie, and for Skye seen from the mainland.
Before you go
Book a bed near Plockton
The day starts and ends in Plockton, a small village where beds go early, so book as soon as your dates are set. Kyle of Lochalsh, 19 minutes' drive away, has more.
Book the seal boat from Plockton
Book the one-hour seal trip with Calum's Seal Trips for its late-morning sailing, usually 11.30am, and confirm the time and the departure point with the operator on the day.
The day
Lochalsh
The morning stays in Plockton, on foot and on the water. After lunch the car goes east to a castle on its own island, then west to a hill above the Skye Bridge and home along the coast. Be on the harbour front by 9.15am.
1 hr 2 min at the wheelAbout 27 miles by carAbout 1.5 miles on foot
Plockton
An attraction
The day starts in Plockton, on foot. Leave the car in the village car park on Innes Street, a few steps from the Plockton Inn. Harbour Street begins at the car park: walk north along it, where the cottages look across the bay over a line of palm-like cabbage trees. They grow here because the village faces east, sheltered from the prevailing wind, on a coast warmed by the North Atlantic Drift. The 1990s television series Hamish Macbeth was filmed here, with Plockton as its village of Lochdubh.
20 min on foot
Carn na Frith-aird viewpoint
It's about 20 minutes' walk to the top: along Harbour Street to its end, left up Frithard Road to a footpath sign on the right, then five minutes up a rocky path, in shoes with some grip. Carn na Frith-aird is the small, rough hill at the north end of the village, with benches and a view indicator on top. Loch Carron lies below, the hills of Applecross stand beyond it, and Skye is out to the west. Allow an hour in all, with about 15 minutes back down.
15 min on foot
The seal boat from Plockton
Walk about 15 minutes down to the gift shop of Calum's Seal Trips on Harbour Street, where a notice gives the departure point: the pontoon by the car park or the main pier. The late-morning boat usually sails at 11.30am, for an hour on Loch Carron; the time before it is for Harbour Street. Nobody can promise the seals. If it isn't sailing or is full, take longer over Harbour Street. Lunch is at the Plockton Inn, which serves 12 to 2.30pm; the Plockton Hotel also does light lunches.
3 min on foot back to the car, then 24 min by car
Eilean Donan Castle
An attraction
It's 24 minutes' drive to Dornie; the road out of Plockton by Duirinish is largely single track until it meets the A87 near Balmacara. Eilean Donan stands on a small island where three sea lochs meet, reached by an arched bridge. The Royal Navy destroyed the old castle in 1719, and today's was rebuilt between 1912 and 1932. In summer it opens 9.30am to 5pm; in winter it opens later, shuts earlier and closes for a spell: check eileandonancastle.com before you set out. Allow up to two hours.
19 min by car
The Plock viewpoint
Drive 19 minutes on the A87 to Kyle of Lochalsh and up Heathmount Place onto the Plock, the hill park above Kyle. The viewpoint, a few steps from the top car park, looks to Skye and its bridge. The last stretch is very narrow and steep: if it doesn't suit, the middle car park, entered from the A87, starts the Inner Loop, a gravel path with glimpses of the bridge. Home is 19 minutes by the coast road through Erbusaig and Duirinish, narrow in places: back by about 5.30pm.
If it rains
Rain alone doesn't stop the boat, which has a cover over its deck; wind can, and the operator decides on the day. Wear a waterproof and a warm layer on the water. The castle's rooms are the day's best shelter, and the Plockton Inn is the other. In low cloud both viewpoints lose their view: leave out Carn na Frith-aird and the Plock, give the morning to Harbour Street and the boat, and take longer over the castle and its visitor centre.
Worth a detour
- The old ferry slipway, Kyle of Lochalsh
Before the Skye Bridge opened in 1995, this slipway in the middle of the village was where the ferry left for Kyleakin. It takes ten minutes: stand at the top of the slip and look across the narrows to Kyleakin on Skye, with the bridge away to your right. Kyle's public toilets are close by, and there are none on the Plock.
Photographs by Fernando Oliveira and Scot Can via Google