Kyle Rhea

{{Short description|Strait between Skye and Scottish mainland}}

{{distinguish|Kylerhea}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}{{Use British English|date=April 2025}}

{{Infobox river

| name = Kyle Rhea

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| image = File:Arriving at Kylerhea (geograph 3588320).jpg

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| image_caption = The ferry MV Glenachulish on Kyle Rhea, beside Kylerhea pier. This view is looking north

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| pushpin_map = Scotland Isle of Skye

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| pushpin_map_caption = Location of Kyle Rhea

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| subdivision_type1 = Country

| subdivision_name1 = Scotland

| subdivision_type2 = County

| subdivision_name2 = Highlands

| subdivision_type3 = Towns

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| subdivision_type4 = Settlements

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| length = {{cvt|6.0|mi}}

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| source1_coordinates = {{Coord|57.179613|-5.701599|type:river_region:GB|format=dms|display=inline}}

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| mouth_coordinates = {{Coord|57.254828|-5.641010|type:river_region:GB|format=dms|display=inline,title}}

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Kyle Rhea is a strait of water in the Highland area of Scotland. It runs from the Sound of Sleat and the Inner Seas off the West Coast of Scotland in the southwest to Loch Alsh in the north, separating the Isle of Skye from Inverness-shire on the Scottish mainland.[https://tethys.pnnl.gov/sites/default/files/publications/Kyle_Rhea_EIA_Non-technical_summary_En.pdf The Kyle Rhea Tidal Stream Array: Volume I, Non-Technical Summary] – SeaGeneration (Kyle Rhea) Ltd.Gazetteer of the British Isles, John Bartholomew (1887), p. 462 It gave its name to Kylerhea, a village on its western shore.

Loch Hourn branches off to the east of Loch Alsh, north of Kyle Rhea. The spring tide at Kyle Rhea can reach up to {{Convert|8|knot}}, complicating passage by small vessels.{{Cite web |title=Kyle of Lochalsh, Kyleakin and Approaches [Expanded View] - West Scotland and North of Ireland: pilotage, charts, photos and marine business listings |url=https://www.visitmyharbour.com/harbours/west-scotland-northern-ireland/kyle-akin/expanded.asp |access-date=2025-04-07 |website=www.visitmyharbour.com}}

Just north of Kylerhea, a ferry service has linked the village with Glenelg on the mainland for centuries. The first car ferry[http://www.skyeferry.co.uk/ The Original Glenelg-Skye Ferry] – SkyeFerry.co.uk was introduced in 1935, with a turntable located on the boat. Despite the existence of the now toll-free Skye Bridge, this ferry service, undertaken by the MV Glenachulish, still runs during the summer months, due to its popularity as the more scenic and traditional route between Skye and the mainland. This service is now community-owned but used to be run by Murdo Mackenzie for almost twenty years.{{Cite news |title=On board the world's last surviving turntable ferry |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-scotland-65429882 |access-date=2023-05-02}}

Before the ferry, Kyle Rhea was an important crossing for cattle drovers, where as many as 4000 beasts swam across each year, en-route to markets as far away as London.{{Cite web |last=Wood-Gee |first=Vyv |date=13 March 2015 |title=In the footsteps of the Drovers: from Skye to Smithfield |url=https://dgnhas.org.uk/meeting/2015-03-13-footsteps-drovers-skye-smithfield |access-date=2025-04-07 |website=Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society}} They were lashed together for the {{Convert|550|yd}} crossing.{{Cite web |last=Smith |first=Kenny |date=2019-03-29 |title=The swimming of the cattle is an annual event |url=https://www.scottishfield.co.uk/outdoors/the-swimming-of-the-cattle-is-an-annual-event/ |access-date=2025-04-07 |website=Scottish Field |language=en-GB}}

Kyle Rhea is mentioned in Sir Thomas Dick Lauder's novel Highland Legends.[https://books.google.com/books?id=12wAAAAAMAAJ Highland Legends], Sir Thomas Dick Lauder (1880), p. 179 The book, and subsequent film, the Ring of Bright Water by Gavin Maxwell was set in Sandaig near Glenelg, at the southern end of Kyle Rhea.{{Cite web |last=Ruthven |first=David |date=2023-08-16 |title=Gavin Maxwell's Otter Trilogy: A Literary, Cinematic, and Ecological Odyssey |url=https://www.thescottishlandscape.org/post/gavin-maxwell-s-otter-trilogy-a-literary-cinematic-and-ecological-odyssey |access-date=2025-04-08 |website=The Scottish Landscape |language=}}