Scotland - Fairy Pools on Isle of Skye

 June 25, 2024

The colour, the clouds, the sculpted rocks, the peaks all brought to mind the many times I've been to Glacier National Park in Montana. Only this morning, we were visiting the Fairy Pools on the Isle of Skye.

Fairy Pools on the Isle of Skye, Scotland

Our first stop, once we wove our vehicle over a thread-thin two-way piece of pocked pavement that is common to rural Scotland, was the scenic Fairy Pools.

The car park was filling fast, but we arrived early enough to squeeze into a spot at the trailhead. We did not walk the entire loop, but ambled along the gentle trail above waterworn pools and outcrops beneath the brow of glaciated basalt crags. 

Sue, Grant, Inga Kaileen ready for adventure - the way we do it in the Western Isles

Mark at the first Fairy Pools first falls

Cataract flowing out of the cirque

Kinetic and placid Fairy Pools, side-by-side

Kaileen & Grant atop the Fairy Pool falls

Inga and Sue in search of fairies in this Scottish Highland landscape

Sandstone outcrop warn smooth by water and Ice over the ages - 
or is it the wondrous work of fairies?

Taking the plunge over an ancient fracture

Mark marvels at the view at the brink of the Fairy Pools

enchanting carved basalt peak and worn watercourse

Cold pool pure color and fairy magic

The cloven breast of a giantess

Happy hikers soaking in the Fairy Pool mystical mists

Kaileen and Grant enjoying the day

Inga waits for us in a boulder meadow

The trail was popular, but not crowded. Those enjoying the hike along the rim of the water scoured canyon were on two feet and some on four feet. 

A fairy-find shepherd

The dogs all seemed excited to chase the scent of water nymphs and fairies said to be found in these hidden pools and conferring behind the roaring screen of tumultuous water falls. Most people hope to see a fairy - but few are able to so claim.

A rare sighting of a fairy maiden?

Maybe it's just the apparition of ephemeral fairy gifts, maybe nothing to count on, or to be so very sure of - but, I think maybe I saw a fairy maiden next to one of the Fairy Pools.