Kyle of Lochalsh is a village in the historic county of Ross-shire on the northwest coast of Scotland, located around west-southwest of Inverness. It is located on the Lochalsh peninsula, at the entrance to Loch Alsh, opposite the village of Kyleakin on the Isle of Skye. A ferry used to connect the two villages until it was replaced by the Skye Bridge, about to the west, in 1995.
Geography
The village is the transport and shopping centre for the area as well as having a harbour and marina with pontoons for maritime visitors. The Plock offers a local woodland hike and viewpoint over the peninsula. The surrounding scenery and wildlife are regarded as attractions of the village, as is the slow pace of life. Crofting as well as more recent crofting pursuits like salmon farming are some of the activities taking place in Kyle of Lochalsh. A land-based control centre of the Royal NavalBUTECsubmarine range is based in Kyle of Lochalsh. Kyle of Lochalsh lies almost precisely due north of Land's End in Cornwall. Kyle of Lochalsh is the mainland connecting point of the Skye Bridge, with Kyleakin on the Isle of Skye being at the opposite side of the bridge.
History
A public hall in the centre of the village was completed in 1932. Kyle of Lochalsh was the departure point, on New Year's Eve 1918, of the HMY Iolaire, which was bringing home soldiers returning from World War I to the Outer Hebrides. It sank close to its destination of Stornoway and the soldiers tragically drowned. During the 1990s, residents and workers in the area of Kyle of Lochalsh joined together with residents and workers on the Isle of Skye to form the SKAT anti-toll group movement, to protest against the Skye bridge tolls, which at the time were the highest in the country. The protestors were successful in having tolls abolished on the Skye Bridge.
In 1980, the BBC did a series of documentaries, entitled Great Railway Journeys of the World. Kyle of Lochalsh appeared in an episode entitled "Confessions of a Trainspotter", presented by Michael Palin. In the segment, Palin travelled by various trains from London to Kyle of Lochalsh. His humour was evident throughout the documentary. Upon reaching Kyle of Lochalsh, he purchased a large piece of railway memorabilia—the Kyle of Lochalsh railway platform sign. The ending credits showed Palin taking the oversized sign with him back to London, which he then hung on his garden wall at home.
