Inhabited, west coast Scottish islands - Skye
Continuing south to north, then east to west, the next island on my bucket list journey is Skye. Skye, at 639 square miles (1656 square kilometres), is the largest island of the Inner Hebrides, the second largest in the whole of the Hebrides (and Scotland) and the fourth largest of the whole of the British Isles, after Great Britain, Ireland and Lewis & Harris. Lewis, at 683 square miles, without Harris, is still larger than Skye but, as you can see, not by much. Skye is known as the ‘winged isle’ and if you look at the map you will see why: with a central area, containing both the Black and the Red Cullins, it is made up of a collection of peninsulas radiating outwards in all directions. These include Trotternish, Sleat, Minginish and Vaternish (sometimes listed as Waternish). Over the years, especially during my time living near Kyle of Lochalsh, I’ve spoken to many tourists who told me they were going over to see Skye for a day, who then looked at me as if I was mad when I sugge...