Armadale

Armadale Bay with the Mountains Around Loch Hourn in the Background. The ferry terminal can be seen on the right, and the old pier on the left.

Armadale is Skye's back door. It is here that the ferry from Mallaig arrives, providing visitors with an exciting alternative to the Skye Bridge or the Glenelg Ferry: and one that keeps alive the romance of visiting what indisputably remains an island. And with the dramatic improvements seen in recent years to the roads from Fort William to Mallaig on the mainland side, and from Armadale to Broadford on Skye, even when you take check-in times into account the time difference between this route and the long drive around via Glen Shiel and Kyle of Lochalsh may not always work out the way you might expect.

Mallaig Ferry Approaching Armadale The Pier at Armadale Armadale from the Ferry The Shed: Excellent Cafe & Ice Cream! Enjoying Armadale Bay's Beach French Cuisine: Informal Cook-Up

Travelling from Mallaig also gives you a spectacular first glimpse of what Skye has to offer. The Sleat Peninsula on which Armadale is located is fairly low lying, and your attention is gripped by the startlingly jagged peaks of the Cuillin mountains towering above it: despite their location 15 miles further away.

Clan Donald Centre: Stables Restaurant

Ruin of Armadale Castle

Sabhal Mòr Ostaig Gaelic College

Old Pier and Youth Hostel

Ragamuffin

Armadale Pottery

There's a temptation for those arriving by ferry at Armadale to simply drive off the ship and keep on going, making the most of the newly-improved roads linking Armadale with the rest of Skye. Those who do so miss a great deal on offer in this little-known corner of the island. For a start, Armadale is not at the end of the peninsula it stands on. Taking a left turn where the main road from the ferry terminal curves past the Armadale Pottery takes you along the single track road into the village of Ardvasar: and then beyond, along the road to Aird of Sleat, which offers some of the most magnificent views in Scotland.

Armadale itself has grown beyond the ferry terminal that first focused development here. To the north of the ferry terminal is Armadale Bay, home to the active moorings of Skye Yachts with their yacht charter and boatyard services. Their base of operations is the old stone pier on the north side of the bay. Just above the old pier is the Armadale Youth Hostel. Armadale Bay is also home to a respectable beach at low tide, again with superb views.

Any description of Armadale can easily degenerate into a simple list of businesses located here to meet the needs of passing travellers, or those waiting for ferries. Nonetheless, it is worth pointing out that the ferry pier is today home to Sea.fari's whale and dolphin spotting trips. And for many of those spending a little time here, a highlight of any visit to Armadale will be "The Shed". This tiny cafe close to the landward end of the pier offers a surprisingly wide range of good food and drink: plus excellent ice creams.

Less immediate needs are catered for by Ragamuffin, a clothes and gift shop on the shore near the terminal, and by the Bay Pottery and Armadale Pottery, the latter complete with large car park and a very diverse stock of high quality pottery, jewellery, gemstones and more. Passing the nearby junction with the side road to Ardvasar brings you to Armadale's petrol station and to the fairly small amount of housing in the village.

Travel beyond the village itself and you find yourself passing on your left a white building with a castellated tower that was originally built as stables for Armadale Castle, and which now serves as a restaurant and shop for the Clan Donald Centre.

The Clan Donald Centre is Skye's best visitor attraction and comprises two main elements in addition to the old stables obvious from the main road. Armadale Castle Gardens are 40 acres of gardens surrounding the ruins of Armadale Castle. Within the gardens is the magnificent Museum of the Isles, purpose built in 2002 and size-for-size the best museum in Scotland.

The road out of Armadale comes as a real surprise for those who have not visited in a while. The tortuous single track road that clung to the shoreline has gone, replaced by a high quality twin track road built for its first mile on land reclaimed from the sea. This was always part of the long-term plan for the A851, but the work was carried out sooner than scheduled after parts of the old road were washed away in the storm of 11-12 January 2005.

A mile and a half north east of Armadale is the small settlement of Ostaig, close to the junction with the minor road to Tarskavaig. Since 1973 this has been home to Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, "a centre of excellence for the development and enhancement of the Gaelic language, culture and heritage". This was the brainchild of Sir Iain Noble, owner of the Isloeornsay Estate that covers much of the Sleat Peninsula.

In the late 1990s it expanded significantly to include a new campus in a magnificent location overlooking the Sound of Sleat. Current student numbers are around 100 on full-time courses, about 160 on distance learning courses, and up to 900 who enrol on short courses each year.

Armadale Ferry Terminal