The Gaelic Road on Skye – A College, a Castle and Two Cairns
Two days by car, from Broadford to Portree.
The route
Gaelic is still spoken, taught and sung on Skye, and this trip goes looking for it: on the road signs, at the college where it is taught, and in the places its poets wrote about.
Day one leaves Broadford, An t-Àth Leathann, the broad ford, loops round Sleat by Ord and Dunscaith to Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, the Gaelic college, for its free Monday evening conversation circle, and ends at Isleornsay's old pier. Day two takes the ferry from Sconser to Raasay for the walk to Hallaig, the township in Sorley MacLean's best-known poem, then crosses back to the cairn at Braes and finishes in Portree. On the way you'll read the names on the map, many of them Norse. Nobody can promise you'll hear Gaelic in the shops, so bring a few words to the circle and try them.
Before you go
Book a bed near Broadford for the Monday night
Day one ends at Isleornsay, 18 minutes from Broadford, and day two leaves Broadford at ten to nine for the Raasay ferry, so sleep near Broadford on the Monday.
6 miles awayKinloch LodgeA place to stay
10 miles awayRaasay House HotelA hotel
15 miles awayGlenbrittle CampsiteA place to stay
PortreeThe BosvilleA hotel
PortreeCuillin Hills HotelA hotel
PortreeMarmalade HotelA hotel
20 miles awaySkyewalker HostelSleeps 1
Skeabost BridgeSkeabost House HotelA hotel
22 miles awayRhuroinSleeps 3
ArdheslaigThe Net StoreSleeps 4Book a table for supper at Hotel Eilean Iarmain
The hotel advises non-residents to book a table, on its website or on 01471 833332, though Am Pràban also takes walk-ins.
Day one
Sleat
A slow afternoon round Sleat's west coast, by Ord's view of the Cuillin and the castle rock at Tokavaig, then the Gaelic college at teatime and an evening among learners. It's about an hour and a half at the wheel, much of it on single-track roads.
1 hr 27 min at the wheelAbout 40 miles
Ord
Have lunch in Broadford, and leave at about one. It's 30 minutes' drive south down Sleat's main road, past Kinloch and the turning for Isleornsay, then right by the forest car park at Loch nan Dùbhrachan, onto the single-track road that crosses the peninsula through the woods to Ord. The Gaelic name, An t-Òrd, means the hammer-shaped hill. Across Loch Eishort stand the Cuillin, An Cuiltheann in Gaelic, the hills Sorley MacLean named his long poem after, with Blàbheinn nearer. Park by the water and give the view a quiet twenty minutes.
4 min by car
Dunscaith Castle
An attraction
Tokavaig Bay is 4 minutes' drive on, steeply up out of Ord and down again. Tòcabhaig means Tóki's bay, a Norse name in Gaelic spelling, and you'll meet plenty more. Park by the bay and walk out to the ruined castle on its rock, a boggy walk of about 40 minutes there and back. Here Skye meets the old tales Gaelic shares with Ireland: the story goes that Sgàthach, a warrior woman, kept her school of arms here, and the young hero Cú Chulainn came to learn from her.
22 min by car
Sabhal Mòr Ostaig – Gaelic College & Culture Centre
An attraction
It's 22 minutes' drive on through Tarskavaig, Tarsgabhaig, to Kilbeg, A' Chill Bheag, the small church. Here is Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, the big barn of Ostaig, founded by Sir Iain Noble in 1973: it's the only college teaching entirely in Gaelic. Ask for its free Slighe nam Bàrd poetry-path pamphlet. Torabhaig Distillery, which Noble planned, is 5 minutes north, its shop open until five: buy a bottle for later. Walk down to Ostaig beach, and at six join Srùbag, the free conversation circle, for its beginners' hour in Café IIN.
More about Sabhal Mòr Ostaig – Gaelic College & Culture Centre
13 min by car
Isleornsay
At seven, after the first hour, it's 13 minutes' drive north through Teangue, Teang in Gaelic: Norse tunga, a tongue of land, which Gaelic speakers heard as their own teanga. Turn off for Isleornsay, Eilean Iarmain, and walk along the old pier while the light lasts, with Ornsay and its lighthouse across the harbour. Sir Iain Noble owned this estate and started Pràban na Linne, a Gaelic whisky company, here in 1976. Supper is at the hotel, in its bar, Am Pràban. Then it's 18 minutes' drive back to Broadford.
If it rains
Rain changes little at the college, which is the day's roof: reception and the shop are open until 6pm Monday to Thursday, and the circle is indoors. Dunscaith's path turns to bog and Ord's view to cloud, so in heavy rain drive the loop for its names without stopping, and go on 4 minutes past the college to Armadale, where the Museum of the Isles lends its audio guide in Gaelic as well as English, included with the ticket. It opened daily from late March to October in 2026, 9.30am to 5pm, last entry 4.30pm. The estate was sold in 2026 and the museum is due to move, so check it's still at Armadale before you go.
Worth a detour
- Waterloo Beach
Just east of Broadford, before the turning for Sleat, a short side road runs down to the shore at Waterloo on Broadford Bay, with the island of Pabay out on the water. Ten minutes on the stones before the drive south.
- Leitir Fura
Forestry and Land Scotland's Leitir Fura trail starts from Kinloch, on the road south. It takes about three hours, steep in places, up an old drove road to a township named after Fura Mhòr, a great oak that grew on the hillside. Take a picnic and drive on south from there, rather than back to Broadford for lunch.
- Armadale Castle Gardens
Armadale is 4 minutes on past the college, at the ferry end of Sleat. The Museum of the Isles there lends its audio guide in Gaelic, included with the ticket, with last entry at 4.30pm, so go before the college if you reach Kilbeg by four. The estate was sold in 2026 and the museum is due to move: check it's still there.
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Day two
Raasay
One poet's island and the shore across from it: Raasay, where Sorley MacLean was born in 1911, and Braes, where he came home to live in 1972. It's about an hour and a quarter at the wheel, plus two 25-minute crossings, and it ends by the harbour in Portree.
1 hr 17 min at the wheelAbout 42 miles
20 min by car
The ferry from Sconser to Raasay
Leave Broadford at ten to nine. It's 20 minutes' drive north on the A87, past Luib, An Lùib, the bend, to the slip at Sconser, Sgonnsar in Gaelic. CalMac asks drivers to check in 10 minutes before sailing, so be in the lane by a quarter past for the 9.25am. There's no reserving a space, but you can buy the ticket online. The boat is usually MV Hallaig, named after MacLean's poem when the name won a public competition in 2012.
10 min by car
Hallaig
A walk
From the pier, drive 10 minutes through Inverarish, Inbhir Àrais, to where the public road stops at North Fearns, Na Feàrnaibh a Tuath. Na Feàrnaibh, the alders, is one of the places named in the poem. A grassy track, wet in places, rises and falls along the hillside to the cairn, where Hallaig is set out in MacLean's Gaelic and his own English. Read it there, slowly, in both, then walk on into the birchwood, where the township's first ruined houses stand. Allow two hours: there's time before lunch.
9 min by car
The ferry from Raasay to Sconser
It's 9 minutes' drive back to Raasay House, by the pier, where the café serves lunch from noon. Then be at the slip by twenty past two for the 2.30pm boat. MacLean was born at Oskaig, Òsgaig in Gaelic, up the west coast road from here, and left the island in 1924 for the secondary school in Portree. On the way over, look to the shore north of the mouth of Loch Sligachan: that is Braes, where the afternoon goes.
23 min by car
The Battle of the Braes cairn
Allow 23 minutes' drive from Sconser past Sligachan, north towards Portree and down the B883 into Braes, Am Bràighe, the upper part, through Ollach, An t-Òlach, the place of rank grass. Park at the village hall and walk on to the cairn, 15 minutes each way. MacLean wrote the words carved on it, in Gaelic and English. Ben Lee rises above: the crofters won its grazing back, and Màiri Mhòr nan Òran, the Land League's bard, made a song of it, Òran Beinn Lì. Before you go, find her songs on Tobar an Dualchais, the archive of Gaelic recordings that the college hosts, and play one here.
15 min by car
Portree
An attraction
Finish in Portree, Port Rìgh on the signs, 15 minutes' drive up the road. Park at Bayfield and walk round to Beaumont Crescent on the harbour, where a plaque on the Rosedale Hotel's wall marks the last home of Màiri Mhòr, who died in Portree in 1898. It opens with a line of one of her songs. MacLean went to school here, and came back in 1934 to teach English. Stay for supper by the harbour.
If it rains
Rain alone doesn't stop the boat or the walk, but the track to the cairn gets wet and slippery: boots and waterproofs. Wind can stop the ferry, so check CalMac's service status for Sconser to Raasay on the morning. If it's off, drive to the Braes cairn first and on into Portree, where the Skye and Lochalsh Archive Centre, in the Elgin Hostel on Dunvegan Road, is free and open on Tuesdays from 10am to 1pm and 2 to 4.30pm. It keeps Skye's township and family records, for anyone with Skye people to trace; ask ahead for particular documents.
Worth a detour
- Raasay Walled Garden
Behind Raasay House, where lunch is, the walled garden is open every day and free, with St Moluag's Chapel and a Pictish stone close by. Half an hour fits before the 2.30pm boat.
- Sligachan Old Bridge
Beside the A87 on the way round to Braes, with no extra driving: the old bridge at Sligachan, which no longer carries traffic, with the Cuillin, An Cuiltheann, rising behind it. Twenty minutes is plenty.
Where to eat
PortreeAntlers Bar & GrillPub grub, Portree Hotel
PortreeDulse and BroseSkye and Highland larder
PortreeThe View RestaurantBay views, Cuillin Hills Hotel
PortreeScorrybreac RestaurantSeasonal Skye produce
PortreeBirchSkye's own coffee roasters
PortreeThe Bar at ScorrybreacCocktails above the harbour
SligachanSeumas' BarWalkers' bar, 400 whiskiesPhotographs by Scott Miller and Sabhal Mòr Ostaig via Google