Loch Duich & Loch Alsh

Balmacara Square is a very cute little village which is separate from the village f Balmacara. It is part of the Balmacara Estate, which is a National Trust for Scotland conservation project. While Balmacara is on the shore of Loch Alsh, Balmacara Square is higher up and a couple of miles inland, with the access road signposted on the A87.

The village is very small, and very picturesque, although sadly it was raining on my visit (as it was most days during my holiday in the area!). The centre of the village is a duck pond, and there are houses and business arranged around it. Some of the business units are sitting empty, which is a bit sad, but there are a few there including the tiny Sheilas Café.

Sheila’s Café is located in The Steadings, which is on the side of the duck pond opposite the road which goes through the village. There is a small car parking area outside. You can tell from the outside that the café is very small, and in fact you will be able to see if there are any free tables.

There are about 5 tables in the café, varying in size from 2 people to 5 people, so it is probably capable of sitting up to 14 people in one go, and that would be crowded. The room is long and thin, with a serving counter by the door.

The menu is quite standard far. There is a selection of sandwiches, toasties and baked potatoes, along with a few select hot meals, and also hot rolls. There are the expected cakes and sweet things on offer, along with a good choice of hot and cold drinks.

I went to Sheila’s Café with my parents for lunch one day during our recent holiday to the area. I decided to have a baked tattie with egg mayonnaise and cheese, my dad had a black pudding roll, and my mum just had a scone. Our two coffees and an Irn Bru were fine. My dad was delighted with his black pudding roll; I don’t think it was the best black pudding in the world but he’s not overly fussy when it comes to black pudding. My mum enjoyed her scone although it was very crumbly.

My baked tattie was good, but it wasn’t as expected. When I ordered egg mayonnaise with cheese, I expected both to be in the tattie, and the egg mayonnaise to be chopped egg mixed through with mayo. I got a baked tattie with cheese in it, and a sliced egg on the side with a blob of mayo on top. I don’t understand what went wrong there – I thought it was obvious that I wanted both in the tattie. However, there was nothing wrong with the taste or quality of either the tattie or the egg, and the side salad was good if a little boring.

In terms of prices, Sheila’s Café is quite average for the area although verging on the side of good value. The baked tattie was £4, the black pudding roll £2, and the scone £1. The service was good, and we didn’t have to wait long for either our drinks or food.

Balmacara Square is worth a visit if you are in the area, but it’s not something that will take up a day – maybe an hour or two pottering around with a visit to the café. Sheila’s Café is good, but I wouldn’t go out of your way to visit.

Balmacara is a tiny village on the shore of Lochalsh, on the road to Kyle of Lochalsh and Skye. It consists of a few houses, a shop, a campsite and the Balmacara Hotel. It is the village my parents and I rented a cottage in during our recent visit to the area.

The Balmacara Hotel is, without a doubt, the most noticeable feature of the village. A large white building, it stands on the roadside just waiting for coachloads of tourists looking for their lunch. The front of the hotel has the main reception and a large conservatory dining room, while round the side of the building to the left is the public bar. I haven’t stayed in the hotel so can’t comment on the rooms, but we did eat there twice and partake in a few pints of Tennents lager.

The hotel was within walking distance of our cottage, but with the weather being absolutely atrocious and my mum not terribly mobile, we mostly drove round to it. My first impression of the public bar was that it was a bare place. There were about five tables, but all very large to sit around six people, a flat screen on the wall, a pool table and the bar itself. Unlike the nearby Dornie Hotel, the Balmacara Hotel hasn’t lost all sense and does serve Tennent’s lager for £2.90 a pint, and my mum’s ginger beer and lime was only £1.

Our first meal there was in the public bar. I had the seafood curry (I was feeling adventurous), my dad had chasseur chicken and my mum had steak and ale, which was intriguingly named on the menu as "a marriage of steak and ale". Each main course was around £8-£10. The food was good, none of us had any complaints except me about the bones I found in my curry, but I think that’s a hazard of seafood.

We went back a few times for a drink, and then one night halfway through the week I got a bit grumpy about the fact that I been promised spectacular views on this holiday and hadn’t got them due to the rubbish weather, so I wanted to take advantage of the other thing I had been promised, a pub within walking distance. So I told my dad we were going for an evening pint, and off we went. We got as far as the end of the drive – the north west Highlands aren’t Ealing, or even our home village in north east Scotland. It gets very dark in the Highlands. We went back inside and got some tinnies from the fridge.

The next day, we tried again, me having figured out how to work the torch on my mobile. This time we made it to the hotel, only to discover the public bar was shut. We went into the main reception area, and ordered drinks from the bar there. The girl told us that the public bar shuts on the first Friday of October until March, and although we were still a couple of days away from this, business was so slow they had shut early that evening. The main reception area was in fact a nicer place to sit than the public bar – lighter, warmer and more comfortable with a selection of squashy armchairs. I did however have issues with my pint on this occasion – there was a strong whiff of egg coming from it, although there was nothing wrong with the taste. So I stole my dads which didn’t smell and gave him mine, which he said there was nothing wrong with!

On the last night of our holiday, which was the first Friday in October, we went back to the hotel for our tea at around 6pm, thinking the public bar would be open. It wasn’t. Again we went to the main entrance and were told we could have a meal from the bar menu in the main dining room, although they were supposed to be residents only at this point. This conservatory was freezing when we arrived, and despite the heating being on it didn’t improve. But we did feel glad to be inside given the rain lashing horizontally against the windows.

My dad and I both had the fish and chips, while my mum went for the half chicken and chips – she’s not a big eater, so I don’t know what she was thinking, but her face when she saw the amount of chicken on her plate was priceless. The fish and chips were very greasy. The batter was interesting and had some herbs in it, but the overall effect was grease, and it just wasn’t pleasant. It’s a shame, because the fish was nice, but I hate overly greasy fish – I’ve never had anything like this from a chipper, and you expect grease from there.

Perhaps it is different during the summer season, but my main impression of the Balmacara Hotel was of unreliability. The food was on the whole good, aside from one whiffy pint the lager was good, the bar could have been cosier but it was ok – but at this time of year, late September/early October, you just can’t rely on the public bar being open when you would expect it to be.

On our recent trip to the Skye and Lochalsh area, my parents and I ate at the Dornie Hotel twice, the first time by choice and the second because the place we intended to go to was closed - the fact we went back indicates that it wasn't bad the first time.

Dornie is a small village located on the shore of Loch Duich, in North West Scotland. The famous Eilean Donan Castle is located in Loch Duich, right beside Dornie, so I'd imagine it gets a lot of passing trade from this major attraction. Saying that, the village only has two pubs and a small shop...

The Dornie Hotel is the slightly smarter looking of the two pubs, but don't let that statement fool you - it's still more or less just a village pub. The lounge bar is clean and well maintained, but not very fashionable and I suspect hasn't bee modernised since the 1980s. It is decorated with photos of the local shinty team, and plenty of trophies and newspaper articles too - that kept my dad occupied for a while as he examined them.

There is a public bar area which leads onto the lounge bar area, but on our two midweek visits it didn't get too noisy, even though it was mobbed one night. There is also a pool room off the lounge bar, but this was not intrusive at all. The lounge bar seating area is quite small, with about 6 tables available, but it does extend into a much larger dining room which can be opened or closed depending on how busy it is - it was in use the second time we visited as there was a wedding in the village the next day, and all the guests seemed to be in the hotel!

Firstly, the drink choices. On the whole there was a standard choice of drinks that you'd expect from your local pub, a few lagers and beers on tap, wine, spirits and soft drinks. When I go home to Scotland, no matter what interesting lager and cider is on offer, I have to have Tennants. It's just not readily available in London pubs, and I miss it. And here is my major complaint about the Dornie Hotel - THEY DON'T HAVE TENNANTS LAGER!!! This is a Scottish pub - so where's my Scottish lager? I ended up with Fosters, which is fine, but it was just disappointing given I wanted my Tennants. Really, I can't think of another pub I've been to in Scotland which doesn't serve Tennants. It's a national drink, along with Irn Bru and whisky.

Over our two visits to the Dornie Hotel, we sampled quite a few main courses but only one starter, the garlic mushrooms. These were large mushrooms and very tasty, with a generous side salad as well. They were priced at £4.95 which seemed about right given the size of the dish.

There is a blackboard with specials on every day, showing soup of the day and three main courses. On both visits these were two meat and one vegetarian dish. M mum and I both tried main course specials, she had the Hungarian goulash and I had mushroom and leek linguini. My mum was very disappointed with her goulash, the taste really seemed to be lacking something, however my linguini was very nice although incredibly filling. We also both had the fish and chips on our other visit, which was good but not brilliant. It was a very generous helping, with a really nice side salad, but the fish was a little bland. My dad's choices were the beef lasagne and the haggis, neeps and tatties, and there were absolutely no complaints from him at all.

Price wise, it was about what you would expect from a pub in a tourist area. Main courses were from £8 to £11, although I think there was a more expensive steak on the menu.

As we went back, you can tell that it wasn't too bad. I wouldn't rave about the Dornie Hotel, but then I wouldn't go out of my way to avoid it if I were back in the area. It didn't promise too much, and we had two nice meals with no major complaints about the food. However, the lack of Tennants lager could be enough to make me think twice about returning...

Eilean Donan Castle is one of the most recognisable Scottish landmarks, although many people may see pictures of it without realising what they are seeing. It’s shape and position on an island are favourites with calendar and postcard producers, as is the almost perfect reflection it gives on the loch on a still day.

Eilean Donan is located beside the village of Dornie, in the north west Scottish Highlands. It is on the A87 Road to the Isles, which goes from Inverness to Skye. It is in Loch Duich, at the point where it meets Loch Long and Loch Alsh. On a clear day you can see down Loch Alsh to the mountains of Skye – unfortunately during my stay in the area, we didn’t have such a day!

The Castle as it stands today is a recreation of how it was in the early 18th Century, when it was reduced to ruins during a Jacobite uprising. In the early 20th Century the Castle was restored to its former glory by the MacRae family, who still own it now.

My first view of the Castle was as my parents and I were driving to our rented cottage in Balmacara, a little further along the road from Dornie, from Inverness. They told me to look out for something, although didn’t say what. When I saw the Castle it was instantly recognisable, but somehow disappointing. After seeing it so many times on calendars and postcards, and always in perfect weather conditions (whether bright sunlight or pristine snow), it was something of a letdown to see it in grey and gloomy weather. The famous reflection was there, but the sky and loch weren’t the perfect blue I expected (silly, I know, given that I am Scottish and I know the weather!).

We went back a few days later to stop and have a proper look at the Castle. The weather was even worse – heavy rain and strong winds. One of my photos turned out a blurry mess as I was blown over while taking it! We quickly went into the visitor centre for a look around. There is a café and shop, all in nicely refurbished buildings which look like they may have been stables at one time. The shop really is a very good example of a Scottish gift shop. There are the usual tins of shortbread and tacky souvenirs, but the majority is fairly classy. It has a wide selection of products, including clothes, bags, ornaments, souvenirs, local food products, music and books.

The interior of the Castle is open to the public, but we chose not to go inside. My parents has been before, and I’m not overly fussed about seeing inside castles. They told me it was interesting, but not something to go out of your way for. The important thing for me was seeing the iconic exterior of the Castle. Entrance to the interior is only £5.50 for adults, and given some prices I’ve seen for historic buildings, this seems like very good value indeed. It’s worth pointing out that outside visiting hours (which are 10am-6pm March-Nov, and 10am-5pm the remainder of the year) you can walk around the grounds of the Castle free of charge. This option is not available during the opening hours.

A few days later we stopped again on the way past, and I got my chance to take some goo, non-blurry photos of the Castle and its reflection. Unfortunately I still didn’t get my blue sky, but it was dry and not too cloudy, so I was happy with my photos, although not postcard standard!

One thing you must see if you are in the area is Eilean Donan at night. The Highlands are a very dark place, there are few cities and lights, and so the impact of this iconic building all lit up is all the more striking.

Eilean Donan Castle is somewhere I would definitely call a must-see if you are in the area, but I wouldn’t say it is worth a trip on its own. However, there is so much more to see in the area that I can’t imagine anyone would want to go just for this! It is a Scottish icon, perhaps overused by the tourist board, and worth seeing.

The name of Kyle of Lochalsh is, for me, one of the better known names of the North West Highlands. It has its place on the map for various reasons – it is at the end of the train line from Inverness, it is the mainland end of the Road to the Isles, it is where the ferry to Skye left from, and now it is the mainland end of the Skye Bridge.

Kyle of Lochalsh is not a particularly large town, but it is the largest mainland town in the area. It has the usual local services such as small supermarket, doctors surgery, a selection of shops, two banks and the train station. Don’t be too reliant on trains – we checked the timetable and there is only one about every four hours. There did however appear to be roughly hourly Citylink coaches passing through or departing.

The approach to Kyle on the road from Inverness does not give a good first impression of the town. You drive through the port and docks area, which although small is very industrial and not terribly attractive.

On the platform of the station there is a small gift shop and a railway museum. We chose not to go into the museum, but it did look very small. The shop wasn’t brilliant, a small selection of gifts which we had seen in other, nicer shops.

The main street of Kyle is a bit strange – the town slopes so steeply that the supermarket, which is on the main street, is on a rocky outcrop several metres over the street itself. There is a car park overlooking the water just off the street, and from here you can get a good view of the town of Kyleakin on the Isle of Skye. In this car park are award winning public toilets – and they’re just mad. The toilets are chock full of photos and posters of the local area, tartan, thistles, and even a poem about "The Lavvy in Kyle".

Also in the square are a few gift shops and an art shop, none of which were terribly exciting or inspiring. We went into a few more shops on the main street itself, and the same has to be said of them. There are some cafes around the car park and main street, but we didn’t visit any of them.

Despite its location, Kyle is not a tourist oriented town, and there isn’t a great deal to stop and see. The only thing is the view across to Skye from the car park, and even that is dependant on weather. Kyle is a fine place to stop for a cup of tea or to pick up some groceries, but it’s not somewhere to spend much time. You're best to just keep on through on the road to Skye.