Kyle of Lochalsh – The Plock and the Station Museum
A few hours.
The route
Kyle of Lochalsh is the village where the Skye Bridge meets the mainland.
Above it, the Plock is a community hill park of woods and moor, with a viewpoint over the bridge to Skye. Down on the pier, the old station holds a museum of the Kyle Line, the railway that made the village. Lunch is a short walk from the museum, at a café bar beside the car park.
The day
Kyle
The morning starts with a walk on the hill above the bridge, then the story of the railway down at the pier, and lunch in the village.
About three and a half hours, with lunchAbout 1 mile on foot
The Plock
The Plock is Kyle's community parkland, a hill of woods, moor and an old golf course where the Skye Bridge meets the village. There are three car parks: by the old toll booth office, through the gate beyond it where the Inner Loop starts, and at the top by the viewpoint, up a narrow, steep road with tight bends. The Inner Loop is a gravel path of under half a kilometre through mixed woodland, with benches, and a wheelchair or pushchair can use it. Rougher paths cross the moor, past ponds, to a rocky shore, and they get muddy after rain. From the viewpoint you look down on the bridge and Eilean Bàn, the island it steps across, and out over Skye and north to Applecross and Torridon.
3 min by car
Kyle Station Museum
It's about 3 minutes' drive down into Kyle. Park in the village car park by the traffic lights, beside the Seaprobe office, and walk about 5 minutes to the station on its own pier. The Kyle Line from Inverness reached the village in 1897, and the museum is in the old station buildings at the end of the platform. Volunteers who campaigned to save the line from closure set it up. A working model shows the station in the 1960s, scale models of the line's trains stand in a corridor gallery, and archive films play in a mock railway carriage. Children get a toy train set, engine drivers' hats and a trail. From November to April it opens Monday to Saturday, 11.30am to 1.30pm, with last entry at 1pm; from May to October, 11am to 3pm. It's £5 for adults and free for children of 16 and under.
4 min on foot
Hector's Bothy
Lunch
Hector's Bothy is about 4 minutes' walk back up from the station, beside the village car park. It's a café bar run by a local couple, with booths and table service. Breakfast is served from 9am to noon, and the daytime menu has fish and chips made with fresh haddock, the day's soup with a roll, baked potatoes, toasties and paninis, with home baking and sundaes to finish. Ring 01599 534248 for the day's hours.
If it rains
On a wet day, the museum and lunch are under cover.
Make it a weekend
More days out in Kyle of Lochalsh.
Photographs by Scot Can, Debra (Varis Holiday House) and Kyle Station Museum via Google