Skye High
Granny Goat summits again!
The award for Champion Climber had to go to a guy who was climbing with a large frame on his back in which sat his disabled partner, so she wouldn't miss out. Think baby carrier for a full size adult! Truly inspiring and heart warming.
I should note here that I did not want to make the short detour off our route to drop into the Talisker Distillery, as I thought we were running out of time. Honestly. Cross my heart.
After the disappointment of not being able to climb anything more challenging than McHaig's Tower yesterday, this was planned to be a far more energetic day, and one of variety, with climbing, wading, fossicking and drinking. Just an average day on Skye.
First up, the Old Man of Storr.
This was a worthy climb to start the day's adventures with stunning views, as one might expect with clear blue skies. It has a significant number of rock steps separated by sections of very steep shingle track, and climbs 720 m, so one must pace oneself. One must also ignore the young athletic types bounding up two steps at a time. You'd think out of respect for their elders they'd at least have the decency to look a bit short of breath or something...
After taking the obligatory photos and admiring the views, it was back down to continue a road trip around Skye's northern coast.
A little further on, my Eagle Eyed Navigator said "There's a sign pointing to a beach. Let's go down and have a paddle in the North Atlantic". So we did.
The beach turned out to be An Corran, where in 2001 some dog walkers noticed some odd impressions in the rock, so called in some experts. The experts duly confirmed they were dinosaur prints dating back 166 million years, and a more careful search showed there were 17 of them.
With huge foresight, they didn't put in posts marking the site of each one, so the attraction for young and old today is to find them for yourself. I found one that seemed to be a partial print, and another visitor found this one which was much clearer:
OK, time for a celebratory dip...
...followed by a celebratory nip...
It was Mary who insisted that we go in, almost nagged me. And then she virtually twisted my arm to get me to sample the products. And buy some souvenir clothing.
Bless her!
Final scheduled stop was the Fairy Pools. This is a cascading series of pools running out of a mountainous valley, and required a long rather than difficult trek along a well worn path.
What was surprising was the number of people swimming in the icy water. Apparently 'wild swimming' is a thing in the UK, where one roams around looking for random bodies of water in which to swim, and seemingly the colder the better. One guy had a wetsuit, but most didn't come so prepared and just went in wearing togs or underwear. Mary in fact tried to encourage me to do the same, until we had verified for ourselves that the water was barely above freezing. Instead we strolled back to the warmth of the car.
Or rather, I strolled back to bring the car to the edge of the track, as someone had done a little too much climbing for one day...
Another great day on Skye, leaving only dinner with some quiet refreshments, all while enjoying the sunset!
So glad Scotland came through for you with beautiful weather. Once I had experienced (in the 60's, with my parents) similar weather in the Highlands, I was hooked and knew I would put up with dreich weather for multiple visits in order to experience those skies and those views. You were really, really lucky.
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