Eilean Bàn from the Skye bridge

by Vivien Martin Pics by Vivien Martin

In 1263 Haakon arrived in Kyle Akin with 100 ships crammed full of Norsemen

THINGS look very different from above. You notice it when you’re flying home from your holidays. As the aircraft drops below the clouds, familiar landscapes take on a new perspective. Farms and fields look orderly, towns and streets appear to be laid out in clear patterns. Much more neat and tidy than when seen at ground level.

I’ve never flown over Skye or Kyle of Lochalsh, but I have walked many times across the soaring arch of the Skye Bridge. And, OK, while the view may not be the same as from an aircraft, it’s definitely the next best thing! And if you’re looking for a good view from a bridge, you won’t do much better than this one.

To the north-west is a scattering of islands: Raasay, Scalpay, Eilean Mòr and Skye itself. A spectacular panorama that includes the once-wooded and pirateinfested islands of Pabay, Longay and the Crowlins.

Due north lies the imposing bulk of the Applecross Peninsula. If you’ve ever visited the little village of Applecross via the famously challenging Bealach na Ba (my knees still knock at the memory!) you’ll know what a relief it is to descend to the coast.

To the south-east is Loch Alsh itself, where the twin settlements of Kyle of Lochalsh and Kyleakin regard each other across the water: former bookends for the ferry when this was a route that took you quite literally ‘over the sea to Skye’.

The name Kyleakin (Caol Àcain – Haakon’s Sound or Narrows) commemorates King Haakon Haakonsson of Norway. In 1263 Haakon arrived in Kyle Akin with 100 ships crammed full of Norsemen, sharpening their axes, grinding their teeth on their shields and just itching to reassert Norse control over the parts of Scotland that they regarded as theirs. For the previous four hundred years, ever since the first terrifying Viking raiders appeared over the horizon, the Northern Isles, the north of Scotland and the Hebrides had been under Norse control. Energetic Norse settlers, who interbred freely with the local population, left Norse place names the length and breadth of the land they seized.

Approaching Kyleakin