Day 6, Fair Skyes

As promised, the winds of the previous evening drove the weather away and Thursday dawned bright and clear. Pam cooked up a fantastic breakfast and I wasn't tired of the eggs and smoked salmon yet, so I tucked in to that once more. Ron proved to be a fount of knowledge for the area and in particular the hikes we were planning on doing later that day. An Italian couple joined us for breakfast and they were leaving the Isle after having done some of the same hikes. They were going back the way we came in so we shared information about our respective trips to reach Skye.

We loaded up Sage and headed north along the eastern coast of Skye back through Broadford, Sligachan ( the Slig), then through Portree (may or may not be pronounced Port Rye) and up what is called the Trotternish Peninsula. We found the small car park for the Old Man of Storr trail. The Old Man is a rock pillar that sits out from the escarpment behind it. The first quarter mile though was pretty interesting because it traversed an active logging operation. With the noise of a de-limbing machine not far away, we carefully crossed two very muddy patches. I managed to get one of my two pairs of shoes quite muddy but eventually cleaned them up in the grass along the trail.

We emerged from the woodlot to an open rocky meadow on the slopes below the Old Man. It quickly reminded me of the TV show Lost, only not tropical. We made it up to the ridge below the Old Man and took a few minutes to take in the views. I spied a neat spot nearby and scramble up and down a few small ridges to gain a perch on a small outcrop overlooking Bearerraig Bay of the Inner Sound. Quickly I felt it was one of those magical places, again similar to places I've found in Montana, Canada, West Virginia, New Zealand and Belize. I only wish I could convey the feeling of these places, so you'll just have to take my word for it. Or better yet, get out there!

I believe this is the Isle of Scalpay.

New markings didn't make the roads any wider!

Entering the meadow below the Old Man. It wasn't readily apparent here but the Old Man is right there. My depth perception was a little off!

There he is!

For scale that's D and K in the lower left.

Looking back over the bay.

Me on my perch.

A magical place.

High places are the best!

I spied these two puppies from across the ridge. One is a spaniel puppy on the left and the older lab on the right.

D and K got to meet them. Hello puppies!

These guys may have been training this lab puppy.

A great hike!

?

Just beautiful.

After descending the trail and crossing the muddy sections (I got smart and used a walking stick this time!), we pointed Sage north again and headed for the small village of Steffin where we would find the road up to the Quirang. This hike is a Skye classic along with the Old Man and traverses a ridge to reach a crown like rock formation where there is a small meadow called the table in the middle. We didn't make it to the table but we did get some pretty decent exposure. I remarked about how I used to be comfortable with exposure during rock climbs but it must be yet another perishable skill.

You can see how narrow this one lane road up to the Quirang is. And we've got the additional road hazards to deal with.

Those white dots are sheep below on the valley floor.

Looking back south along the ridge line. The road up meets the ridge to the right of the photo.

That's the Quirang at the end of the ridge where the rock separates slightly from the cliff face.

Looking back south again at the valley floor.

D and K looking up at the cliff face. That is a waterfall threading its way down the cliff. Also notice the sheep on the steep hillside.

It's hard to make out but there is a sheep up at the edge of the cliff.

This guy surprised us on the trail.

That's where we decided to go.

Looking back along the trail. That's K at the bottom right. Sage is way back there where the ridge forms a saddle.

It may not look like it, but there was a little bit of exposure here!

I swear it was steeper in person.

Check out this bad a** expo vehicle!

Looking south along the ridge from the car park. One guy was actually biking up there!

After the walk back we felt like a spot of tea. K had read about a small tea house in the village of Steffin but we weren't sure where it was. We were about to turn back south to find it, but at the last second I spied a small sign for the tea house just "700 yards ahead". I think one lesson we learned was to not hesitate to go "just a bit further".

The Cozy Little Tea House is a must stop. I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Nice 110 SW. This is probably why I spied the tea house sign since it is just to the left of the photo.

The small farming community behind the tea house.

This tractor was wrapping bales of hay on the trailer. The field to the left was full of wrapped bales.

Must be the right place!

The architecture is typical of most Skye houses.

Where the magic happens I presume.

Our table had a great window view back to the Quirang.

If it'd been a cold rainy day, this place would be ideal.

Delicious sweet potato soup.

The baked goods tray. Of course I quickly honed in on the chocolate cake in the back.

This is a little bit of "uh-huh" and a whole lot of  "oh-yeah"!

Awww, aren't they the cutest!?

 After the tea house we were presented with a bit of a quandary. We really wanted to get to a boat tour at five fifteen that left out of Elgol. The only issue is that Elgol is quite opposite the Isle from where we were and we had heard several different estimations of how long it would take us to get there. Undaunted we returned back south towards Portree.

We all wished we had more time, because we would have definitely checked out this beach.

Now if this isn't a poster for Skye rural life, I don't know what is.

Once we got closer to Portree we figured we might have a little extra time to play with so we stopped and checked out some neat stores. Portree is a really neat harbor town and worth a return trip for sure. D bought some more minutes for his UK phone and we called the boat and they assured us we had the time to make it, so we checked out a few more shops.

After Portree we had to head back to Broadford to pick up the road to Elgol. We quickly found out why we had different estimations as to the time it would take to get there. It is a single lane road with passing places for the whole length from Broadford to Elgol. D and I treated it like a road rally with me spotting cars and curves up ahead. Luckily we got to the boat in the nick of time.

One thing I didn't spot from ahead was this herd of Highland cows and the bus behind them. This was quite a surprise coming around the corner! I couldn't figure out which hazard to point out so I just yelled Bus, Bus, Bus!

These cows were about the size of Sage.

A neat little house next to the shore in Elgol.

Those are probably the Isles of Eigg (left) and Rum (right). Somewhere there might also be the Isle of Muck too.

The Cuillin Hills. The Red Cuillins are on the right and the Black Cuillins are on the left.

Off the bow are the Black Cuillins.

Stuart tells us about the area. His father Seamus is the skipper. His mother Anne runs the kiosk.

Seamus and Anne's house.

Approaching the seals.

Seamus and Stuart up on the bridge.

Seamus and Stuart provided us with an informative trip in to the area where the seals were lounging about.

Stuart told us these seals are so lazy that some of them wait until the tide floats them off to move to another spot.

The Lock Coruisk Memorial Hut. Built in part by Seamus in 1959.

It's not quite Juni's boat in Belize, but magic nonetheless.

What's up?

Nothing, just chillin.

Cool, cool. Want to grab some fish?

Nah, I'm busy, maybe later.

The top of one of the Black Cuillin Hills.

We moored just below Loch Coruisk and disembarked for the short hike to the Loch. It was here that I encountered the infamous Scottish Midge. These tiny mosquitoes are voracious. Unfortunately my bladder chose this time to signal its distress. Seeking immediate relief I located an appropriate spot to take care of business (TCB). While trying to TCB, it became apparent that two hands were needed between the usual need for control and the desire to avoid having my camera slip off my shoulder and enter the area of operations. The point I am trying to make here is that both of my hands were occupied. And having a full bladder in need of relief, they were likely to be occupied for a little while. Which, of course, was the exact time the midges decided to swarm my face.

I have never been so uncomfortable in having my face covered in midges and not being able to do a single thing about it. I tried contorting my face and mouth to shoo away the midges, but that only served to encourage them. Finally relieved I convulsed in spasms of swatting midges for several minutes and ran about like a deranged ferret. I also couldn't stop itching my face and scalp for the next several hours.

This is the mouth of the shortest river in the UK. The Scavaig River runs from Loch Coruisk to Loch na Cuilce on the Soay Sound. It is probably all of 400 yards long.

This is a small island at the end of Loch Coruisk where a couple was camping. One of them was wearing a substantial insect netting hood. Why would shortly become apparent.

The eastern shore of Loch Coruisk.

Looking toward the head of Loch Coruisk and the Black Cuillins.

Hey guys!

An attempt at artistic photos.

More wildlife.

A lone seal swimming at the mouth of the Scavaig.

More seals seen on the way out. Looks like they haven't done much in our absence.

I really want to check this house out. It may be Camasunary according to a map I have.

Seamus' house again. Could be Stuart's house on the right.

I'm not going to even try to decipher the Gaelic name for this peak, but it's the southernmost of the Black Cuillins.

Elgol.

The Elgol Primary School. Stuart told us this school has 19 students currently enrolled, which according to him is a healthy number. He told us he was the smartest kid in his grade, because he was the only one!

Stuart wrapping up our trip.

I think this couple was on our boat. The herd of Highland cows had gotten larger since our first meeting.

Wouldn't want to meet this guy in a dark alley.

High wispy clouds made for a great photo but unfortunately signaled rain the next day.

More sheep.

On the way back to Sage in the car park, I asked Stuart about Elgol and any accommodations in town. He said there was not much, but the Coruisk House was supposed to have rooms. We found the place on our way back out and decided to check the menu at their restaurant just for future reference. Wow, did it look good. Unfortunately though, they didn't have room for us until 8 so we weren't able to make that work. We must have had some puzzled looks as there were some open tables, but as the lady explained it was just her and her husband who was the chef. It did however make our list of places to check out on our next visit. The menu was a mouth watering selection of fresh, local seafood.

We braved the trip back the B8083 to Broadford and stopped in the other Ron recommended restaurant in town, the Harbour Restaurant. (I would link to their website but it appears to be down.) It is billed as a Spanish Scottish establishment and some of the dishes had a continental Spanish flair. In talking to the co-owner/waiter he remarked how slow the day was, most likely due to the changeover between family holiday-makers and retired travelers. We closed the place down at the early hour of 9:30.

An appetizer of langostines in a garlic something broth.

I forget what kind of fish this was. Hake maybe? Whatever, it was good and fresh, too.

This is my half finished dessert of Cranachan, which is a traditional Scottish dessert of cream, oats, strawberries and of course whisky. Deeeeelicious.

After yet another delicious dinner we returned to Tir Alainn where Ron played a DVD for us that he was involved in that showcased some of the Munros on Skye. A munro is a mountain in Scotland that is over 3000 feet in height. There are 12 on Skye and Ron has climbed them all, once he even did 11 of them in one 19 hour day! After the video, I enjoyed a wee dram from Ron's extensive collection of single malts. What a great way to end a spectacular day!