Kylerhea (Scottish Gaelic: Caol Reatha) is a village on the east coast of the Isle of Skye, in the Scottish Highlands, overlooking Kyle Rhea, a strait splitting Skye from the Scottish mainland. The village is named after Rhea, a Celtic mythological hero.[1] A ferry service has linked Kylerhea with Glenelg on the mainland for centuries. The first car ferry[2] was introduced in 1935, with a turntable located on the boat. Despite the existence of the now toll-free Skye Bridge, this ferry service, undertaken by the MV Glenachulish, still runs during the summer months, due to its popularity as the more scenic and traditional route between Skye and the mainland. This service is now community-owned but used to be run by Murdo Mackenzie for almost twenty years.[3]
For centuries, Kylerhea was the crossing point for cattle reared across the Hebrides on its way to the markets of the mainland. Drovers would reach the village and wait for suitable tidal flows across Kyle Rhea, often recharging with a meal or sleep in The Old Inn, situated close to the crossing point.
Kylerhea is well known for its otter sanctuary. Cars can be parked on top of the hill and then a gentle stroll taken through the pine woods to the viewing hide, located in a good position overlooking the Kyle, the beach and the large white lighthouse. The otters are difficult to spot as they are more secretive than the grey and common seals that can easily be seen basking on the shore. Birds seen around the bay are cormorants, herring gulls and great black-backed gulls. In the forest and moorland higher up on the hill smaller birds are very common. European stonechats, willow warblers and wood warblers sing from perches just off the path but the robins and chaffinches are far bolder and will hop around the path just two feet away from human visitors.
The Skye Bridge is a road bridge over Loch Alsh, Scotland, connecting the Isle of Skye to the island of Eilean Bàn. The name is also used for the whole Skye Crossing, which further connects Eilean Bàn to the mainland across the Carrich Viaduct. The crossing forms part of the A87.
Kyle of Lochalsh is a village in the historic county of Ross & Cromarty on the northwest coast of Scotland, located around 55 miles (90 km) west-southwest of Inverness. It is located on the Lochalsh peninsula, at the entrance to Loch Alsh, opposite the village of Kyleakin on the Isle of Skye. A ferry used to connect the two villages until it was replaced by the Skye Bridge, about a mile (2 km) to the west, in 1995.
The Kyles of Bute form a narrow sea channel that separates the northern end of the Isle of Bute from the Cowal peninsula in Argyll and Bute, on the Scottish mainland. The surrounding hillsides are roughly wooded, and overlooked by rocky tops and areas of moorland.
Glenelg is a scattered community area and civil parish in the Lochalsh area of Highland in western Scotland. Despite the local government reorganisation the area is considered by many still to be in Inverness-shire, the boundary with Ross-shire being at the top of Mam Ratagan the single-track road entry into Glenelg.
Kyleakin is a village situated on the east coast of the Isle of Skye in the Inner Hebrides, Scotland. The village is along the strait of Kyle Akin opposite the northwest Scottish mainland town of Kyle of Lochalsh. Kyleakin is within the parish of Strath also known as Strath Swordale.
Stromeferry is a village, located on the south shore of the west coast sea loch, Loch Carron, in western Ross-shire, Scottish Highlands and is in the Scottish council area of Highland. Its name reflects its former role as the location of one of the many coastal ferry services which existed prior to the expansion of the road network in the 20th century.
Broadford, together with nearby Harrapool, is the second-largest settlement on the Isle of Skye, Scotland. Lying in the shadow of the Red Cuillin mountains, Broadford is within the parish of Strath. A long meandering village historically consisting of a few buildings on either side of the Broadford River, the many small townships around the wide sweep of the bay have grown together and Broadford now stretches for 1+1⁄2 miles around the southern side of Broadford Bay.
Heasta, Heast, or the anglicised form Heaste, pron. /heɪst/, is a small settlement on the island of Skye, Scotland. It is located on the west coast of the island five miles south of Broadford extending down to the north shore of Loch Eiseort, facing out to the Atlantic to the south west and is in the Scottish council area of Highland.
The Isle of Skye, or simply Skye, is the largest and northernmost of the major islands in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The island's peninsulas radiate from a mountainous hub dominated by the Cuillin, the rocky slopes of which provide some of the most dramatic mountain scenery in the country. Although Sgitheanach has been suggested to describe a winged shape, no definitive agreement exists as to the name's origins.
Kylesku is a small, remote fishing hamlet in Sutherland in the Scottish Highlands. Until 1984, it was the site of a free ferry. The name is possibly a combination of "Kyle" – Gaelic for strait or channel – and Old Norse "Sku" – view or sight.
The Sound of Sleat is a narrow sea channel off the western coast of Scotland. It divides the Sleat peninsula on the south-east side of the Isle of Skye from Morar, Knoydart and Glenelg on the Scottish mainland.
Kinloch Hourn is a small settlement at the end of Loch Hourn, in the West Highlands of Scotland. The name comes from the Gaelic, Ceann Loch Shubhairne, for "the head of Loch Hourn". Kinloch Hourn is at the end of 35 km of single-track road, which runs west from a junction with the A87 beside Loch Garry.
MV Glenachulish is a ferry operating a summer service between Glenelg, on the Scottish mainland, and Kylerhea, on the Isle of Skye. Built in 1969, she is the last manually operated steel turntable ferry in the world. The route avoids the 36-mile (58 km) road journey via the Skye Bridge.
Balmacara Bay is a remote wide mouthed embayment on a 193° orientation, located on the north shore of the Lochalsh peninsula, on the north coast of sea loch of Loch Alsh and is situated next to the scattered village of Balmacara in the Scottish Highlands in the west coast of Scotland.
MV Portree was a ferry, built in 1965 for the Skye crossing. In 1970, she was re-built and moved to the Kyles of Bute where she served until 1986.
MV Broadford was a vehicle ferry, built in 1966 for the Skye crossing. Superseded by larger, drive-through vessels, she was re-built and moved to the Kyles of Bute where she served until 1986.
MV Glenbrook is a double-ended, drive-through ferry, operating across the River Lee in County Cork. She was built in 1970 as MV Lochalsh for the Caledonian Steam Packet Company and served on the Skye crossing until 1991.
MV Coruisk was a side-loading vehicle ferry, built in 1969 for the Skye crossing. Superseded by larger, drive-through vessels, she was converted to bow-loading and moved to Largs and later to Scalpay where she served until 1983.
The brothers Acunn and Riadh are Celtic mythological heroes and fénnids featured in the Scottish Fenian narratives.
Kyle Rhea is a strait of water in the Highland area of Scotland. It runs from the Inner Seas off the West Coast of Scotland in the southwest to Loch Alsh in the northeast, separating the Isle of Skye from Inverness-shire on the Scottish mainland. It gave its name to Kylerhea, a village on its western shore.
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