Thanks @ToddFrench this was useful for our trip.
We know Edinburgh well, I’ve visited at least 10 times and my wife lived there for two years.
Great to visit during the festival and we saw some great shows.
Dinners at Palmerston and Timberyard were very good, the boys liked Hawksmoor, I found it a bit sterile.
Then two days in Cairn Gorm. We stayed at the youth hostel. These are peculiar British institutions. Basic facilities.
Cairn Gorm mountain was our longest hike. We have children 18,16 and 11 and the eldest has mobility and fatigue issues. The walk up the mountain isn’t easy but it’s still a walk, no need to scramble or climb. But it was very windy and a bit damp. Don’t underestimate.
Then to Skye. We stayed at an amazing Airbnb on the edge of Portree. Spectacular views from the huge window. I could literally look out to sea for hours.
Weather was poor. We had rain about 6-10 times a day. Ground was often boggy and our call to wear trail running shoes would have been better if we remembered to buy waterproof socks. Luckily we didn’t need midge nets.
Day one and four we ate at Scorrybrec, a small 17 cover place in town. Very good local produce but it really depends what’s available on the day. Wine list is short and not great value but interest around the £60 mark. By far the best spot.
First full day we visited the Fairy Pools, then extended the walk to Coire na Creiche. We found the Walkhighlands website and app invaluable. And loaded gpx files to our garmin watches. A visit to Talisker was ok. But we aren’t whisky fans and it’s all a bit corporate. The Three Chimneys popup was problematic and we left without eating.
In the afternoon we walked through the woods and along the river in Portree while the boys chilled out.
Day two was very wet. We went to Neist Point but the weather was so bad we couldn’t make the walk.
As an aside most of the roads on Skye are single lane - with passing places every 100-200m. If it’s a single car it’s easy to manage. When you get two longer convoys it goes messy. Come off the road at your peril. We saw two cars stuck and grounded.
Because of the weather we went to Dunvegan castle. It’s worth a visit if wet. Cafe for lunch was fine.
Third full day we visited Fairy Glen, a lovely easy walk. Then to Quiraing, but we decided to talk the walk opposite to Bioda Buida and were glad, it was almost deserted and a more manageable 4km with 200m elevation.
The horizontal rain and mist returned for Storr so we skipped it and enjoyed the view of rain from indoors.
A brilliant trip.