The ferry at Kylerhea is loaded onto a turntable and swung around by hand. The MV Glenachulish is the last manually operated turntable ferry left working anywhere, and it carries cars and foot passengers back and forth across the narrows to Glenelg on the mainland, a crossing of about 550 metres that takes five minutes. It runs seven days a week from April to October, no booking, weather permitting. The present car crossing dates from 1934, but boats have used this pinch in the water for centuries, and a community company now runs it and puts the profits back into the boat, the slipways and local groups.
That is more or less the reason to come. Kylerhea is a small, remote-feeling place on the east coast of Skye, strung along the tidal channel of Kyle Rhea, and the way in tells you what to expect. The unclassified road climbs the Bealach Udal to 279 metres before dropping through hairpins to the shore. From the Skye Bridge it is three miles on the A87 and then roughly six and a half miles of steep, winding single track. There is no public transport to Kylerhea; the nearest bus stop is across the water at Glenelg, about two miles from the ferry terminal. The nearest railhead is Kyle of Lochalsh, and you reach the village by road from there.
Just above the settlement, a forest track leads to a hide over the water. Forestry and Land Scotland calls this "one of the best places in Britain for spotting otters," and the walk out to it is a little over two kilometres, forty-five minutes or so on wide, firm gravel through mixed woodland. From the hide you may see otters, harbour and grey seals, porpoises, and white-tailed sea eagles working the channel. The outward track is mostly flat and manages most pushchairs and wheelchairs; the steps and bridge on the optional loop can be skipped by returning the way you came. There is parking, Blue Badge parking, seasonal toilets and picnic tables near the start, and the hide stays open year round.
For anyone wanting more than a stroll, the hills behind the village make a hard day: fourteen kilometres over Beinn na Caillich, Sgùrr na Còinnich and Ben Aslak, eight to ten hours of pathless, boggy, steep ground, with views to Plockton, Knoydart and Sandaig. No scrambling, but you need to be able to find your own way.
The old change house here, a turf-walled building where drovers rested on the way to the Crieff and Falkirk cattle trysts, was the scene of the last cattle raid on Skye, when Sleat men under Ruairidh MacIain Macdonald faced the Macmillans of Loch Arkaig. A stone inn replaced it in the early 1800s, thought to be the work of the architect James Gillespie Graham. It is a listed house now.
For food you cross the water or drive on. On the Glenelg slipway the Christopher Main Memorial Shore Station serves hand-roasted coffee, handmade cakes and pastries through the season. Broadford, about ten and a half miles off, has more: the Red Skye Restaurant does venison, scallops and sticky toffee pudding, and Deli Gasta trades from the old mill.
Watch the crew turn the deck by hand, and you understand why they kept it.