After a few days of bad weather here on Skye the forecast broke so we headed out for a walk. To avoid any puddles underfoot we set off for a walk at Kingsburgh Forest Trust. Situated adjacent to the A87 between Portree and Uig.
Kingsburgh Forest Trust
The Kingsburgh Forest Trust, set up 2003, owns two community forests on plantations at Glenhinnisdal and Glenuachdarach, Skye. A track now links the two plantations with smaller paths branching off to the river, the old township and around the forest. The forest is currently under going a period of revitalisation and replanting. In the next decade the forest should start emerging much greener.
Entering the Forest
With the sun shining we headed north out of Portree up the A87 to Kingsburgh. Whilst there isn’t a designated car park, there is room for 6-8 well parked vehicles in front of the gates set back from the road. The community forest is very popular with local dog walks as it is fully fenced and free from any livestock. Bear that in mind if you aren’t keen on dogs. Luckily for us we are both dog lovers. Today we had Ripley with us, Melanie’s 9 year old Border Collie.
Our first hurdle was the gate at the entrance to the forest. Entry is through a very high “kissing-gate”. Getting through the gate we folded up Sarah’s rollator and Melanie shimmied through the gate with it. Sarah managed to get through simply using her stick. We estimate that a fold up wheelchair may squeeze through the gate. Anything larger would definitely not fit though the kissing gate. The large metal entrance gates do have a coded padlock on them. Maybe if you got in contact with the Trust they may be able to let wheelchair users in that way.
Issues during our Kingsburgh Forest Trust Walk
The track leading through the forest itself is very wide, very compacted and circular. There is little chance of you getting lost here. If you have a low level of fitness or are recovering from an injury this walk is just the ticket. It would challenge you enough without hurting you. However if you have any physical limitations or disabilities it is a bit more tricky. At first glance it looks fairly innocuous but things do start to get tough as we found out.
Despite the compact nature of the track it is very very bumpy. Rain has washed away soil leaving exposed rocks and lumps. Rocks were constantly sticking under the wheels of Sarah’s rollator. Which meant she had to slightly lift the rollator over them or find another route around. This was quite an exhausting task for Sarah. So much so that on the way down Melanie helped her out by gently lifting one side of the rollator every time it got stuck. Sadly this happened every couple of paces. Now bear in mind we had this trouble with a light weight rollator we imagine it would be very difficult to be pushing a wheelchair at this point.
Another difficulty we had was the steepness of the track for the first half a kilometre. We usually walk at about 1 mile per hour, yet on this surface we slowed down by 50%! The thought of trying to push a wheelchair up such as steep uneven slope doesn’t bear thinking about. Sarah also took advantage of her rollator having a seat and had a few extra rest stops along the way. Bright blue picnic benches are set out around the forest so you can sit and enjoy the view or even a picnic. Today it took us an hour to walk a little over a half a mile and it was exhausting.
In Summary…
Ahead of you are views to the back of the Trotternish Ridge , which today was hiding in mist. This in turn fell on us as freezing cold rain. So much for the good weather we had when we left Portree, typical Skye, all seasons in one day! Behind you are fabulous views over Loch Snizort, Eilean Mor and Eilean Beag (Large Isle and Small Isle).
For us, the walk was not one of our better adventures on Skye. The ground was too bumpy to make the walk enjoyable. And the track too steep to make the views from the top worthwhile. The community forest is a great asset but for now we will leave it for the dog walkers, joggers and fitter folks to enjoy.
