Much in Skye can not be predicted, especially the weather. However, the variability can sometimes throw up some unique opportunities, such as when the low afternoon sunlight lit up a recent shower front as it was passing over Loch na Dal and the Sound of Sleat off Skye to produce a beautiful rainbow. Rainbows are very hard to photograph, but very rewarding when they come out well.

Loch na Dal - Skye visitor guide showing a virtual tour of 'Loch na Dal' linked to an interactive map with local and travel information. 360° panoramas from Highland.

Panorama from the A851 road in Skye looking over Loch na Dal and the Sound of Sleat. The A851 in Skye runs from Broadford to Armadale Pier, where a car ferry crosses the Sound of Sleat to Mallaig on the Scottish mainland.

This village is called Teange, a Gaelic name pronounced "chang" but affectionately pronounced by non-Gaelic speaking locals as "tongue". Nearby is Ferindonald, Duisdalemore, Camus Cross, Calvary and the road around the northern side of Sleat with Tarskavaig, Tokavaig and the large shingle pebble beach at Ord.

Across Loch Na Dal, the open sea forms a major shipping channel between Skye and the mainland, with Glenelg village, Mallaig port and the area peninsula of Knoydart usually visible across the channel on a clearer day. Knoydart has some excellent hill walking, although being an area without road access, it is not unusual to walk for two days before even reaching the mountain of your choice.

Beneath the arch of the lower, brighter rainbow is just visible the ruins of Cnoc Castle (pronounced "knock", meaning "small hill") A ruined outpost fortress marking the edge of the lands belonging to the Clan MacDonald. In Armadale, the chief of the clan MacDonald, or McDonald, has their seat (historically, the seat of a clan is their traditional home and at the heart of their territorial area) at Armadale castle - now a popular restored visitor centre "Clan Donald Center" with vastly extensive and excellently maintained gardens, parkland, estates, and outbuildings including an old Laundry, Stables (now a shop and award winning cafe / restaurant) and a historical visitor centre with standing stones.

The lush flora of the Sleat countryside is quite different to the harsher moorland vegitation of heather and gorse which dominates much of the rest of the uncultivated land in Skye. Here in Sleat in the summertime, the air is rich and heavy with the aromatic scent of wild garlic and bluebells.

Travel and Getting There:
This panorama was taken from the main A851 road approximately three miles from Isle Ornsay south of Broadford on Skye.