This used to be a nice town, but now I am not so sure. I have always known Portree as being the sort of place where you did not need to lock your door at night and it was safe to leave your car in the street.
When I visited Skye in August 2004 I heard some rather disturbing things which were corroborated by all my resident Skye friends.
The story I have heard repeatedly is as follows:
The local authority has built a new public housing estate in Portree, but, I am told, the properties have not been filled by local people but by delinquent incomers seeking a fresh start. I have heard reports of cars being broken into, tyres being slashed, vehicle paintwork being wantonly scratched, and violence. A Portree resident related to me how she was attacked by a youth who was high on either drugs or glue and who was wielding a (presumably stolen) fire extinguisher.
That having been said, we did not see anything untoward while we were in town during the day, but the general consensus of advice from the local people I know was that it would be prudent not to leave my car in Portree overnight.
If these stories are correct (and I heard them repeatedly from the locals) then one must question the wisdom of the local authorities if they have decided, at a stroke, to bring inner city problems and behaviour to this picturesque corner of Skye.
While we were there we did not see bodies in the streets or anything unseemly, apart from a group of rough looking youths near the health centre, but my local contacts tell me that Portree is not the untroubled place it once was.
A friend on the Braes told me of local teachers applying to take early retirement because they could not handle the children these days. This is common enough in the inner cities, but who would ever have thought of hearing such things on Skye?
In December 2006 Portree coachworks, a local garage, was the victim of what the West Highland Free Press reported as a suspected arson attack. Arson seems to be a new phenomenon in Portree. I cannot recall hearing of a previous case.
Once upon a time, but sadly no more, it was possible to purchase at the Cuillin Hills Hotel an illuminated script with a poem on it called "Lines Penned at Euston (by one who is not going)" by A.M. Harbord. The verse is a wonderful picture of a gentleman of bygone days travelling to Scotland in the days when England was great, men were men and sheep were very frightened by it all.
I could never make up my mind whether the verse was meritorious, or more at the doggerel end of the market, until I realised that it could be sung to the "Ode to Joy" bit of Beethoven's Ninth. This does rather put it in a whole new league and has the maddening effect of making it impossible to get the verse out of one's brain. Decide for yourself:
"Stranger with the pile of luggage proudly labelled for Portree,
How I wish this night of August I were you and you were me!
Think of all that lies before you when the train goes sliding forth
And the lines athwart the sunset lead you swiftly to the North!
Think of breakfast at Kingussie, think of high Drumochter Pass.
Think of highland breezes singing through the bracken and the grass.
Scabious blue and yellow daisy, tender fern beside the train,
Rowdy tummmel falling,brawling, seen and lost and glimpsed again!
You will pass my golden roadway of the days of long ago:
Will you realise the magic of the names I used to know;
Clachnaharry, Achnashellash, Achnasheen and Duirinish?
Ev'ry moor alive with coveys, every pool aboil with fish;
Every well remembered vista more exciting by the mile
Till the wheeling gulls are screaming round the engine at the Kyle
Think of cloud on Bheinn na Cailleach, jagged Cuillins soaring high
Scent of peat and all the glamour of the misty Isle of Skye!
Rods and gun case in the carriage, wise retriever in the van;
Go, and good luck travel with you!
(Wish I'd half your luck, my man!)"
Portree is the "capital" of Skye and the only real town, all the rest being villages, although Portree is tiny and little more than a village itself.
It is the administrative centre of Skye and the principal shopping centre. For the cycling tourist, "Island Cycles" is a shop which can supply or order most cycling necessities.
Portree has a very efficient Macbraynes office, although nowadays no Macbraynes vessels actually call at the harbour. The pier was built by Thomas Telford. The picturesque little harbour is very similar to Tobermory on Mull.
In the summertime, sometimes, depending on weather and circumstances (for "circumstances," read "sufficient numbers of tourists") boat trips go from the jetty to view the Skye coast and Raasay.
Portree has its own lifeboat. Foreign visitors will be amazed to learn that the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, which provides rescue boats around the shores of the UK, is funded entirely by voluntary subscription. If you see one of their collection boxes, please put some money into it.
Portree offers all the usual amenities which one would expect of a small town, a hospital, supermarkets, shops, several banks, garages, a chemist, camera shop with 1 hour film developing, etc.
There is also a Heritage Centre, the Aros Centre which is well worth a look.
A more controversial recent industry is fish farming. it provides much needed local employment, but some question the impact of this industry on the well being of wild salmon.
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Portree is home to one of the best hotels on Skye, the Cuillin Hills Hotel.
We have both stayed and eaten there and we can recommend it for the quality of its accommodation, the friendliness and efficiency of the staff and the excellent food, both in the restaurant and the bar. The hotel has its own website
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Copyright ©; Gareth Boote 2007