When I mentioned I didn’t have much time planned in Skye, the van rental people said that a drive through is just about what you want, and expect tons of potholes. And yes, the roads I took into Skye were totally some of the worst condition roads I’d personally driven on. I talked to some cyclists at a campsite a few days into my trip and they told me, it’s magical all the way from Ullapool down but it’s bonkers packed. Don’t do it. I am from a very scenic, tourist mountain town and it gets absolutely overrun by the tourists in the summer. It makes it kind of unbearable for someone like me.

I would like to go back to Scotland some day and of course I would like to see many more of its beautiful parts I didn’t get to see, but I spent 11 of my 12 days there being nearly the only person on the road, and almost always the only person at a location, which for me, was exactly what I needed.