Skye and Eilean Donan with Lealt Falls and Loch Harport

A single day from Inverness across the Highlands and over the bridge to Skye, on an itinerary that takes in two stops the other Skye runs tend to miss: Lealt Falls on the Trotternish coast, and the Talisker distillery on the shore of Loch Harport.

Skye is an island of narrow mountain roads, hidden valleys, rock formations and clear pools, with a good deal of mythology attached. National Geographic ranked it the fourth best island destination in the world.

The road out passes Urquhart Castle, with a photo stop, then runs the length of Loch Ness and through the mountains to the west coast. Eilean Donan stands on its own island at the head of Loch Duich, and there is time to go in and hear its history or simply take it from outside.

On the island, Portree is the lunch stop, a small painted town under cliffs and hills, with the boats in the harbour below. Then the Old Man of Storr, its rock pinnacles against the green hills and the coast; Lealt Falls; and Kilt Rock.

Talisker closes it, the oldest working distillery on Skye, on the shore of Loch Harport with the Cuillin behind it.