Whenever anyone goes away, advice is often given and received rather like Christmas presents. And thus your holiday begins with the pressure of
1. Trying to remember who gave what advice and brewing up interesting anecdotes that illustrate just how useful their advice was.
2. Finding good enough reasons to explain why you were unable to make it to that place they recommended.
While our Daily Mail and Telegraph reading friends warned us of the deep trenches at the side of the roads and obstinate road-dwelling sheep… many of our Guardian reader friends encouraged us:
"You must visit the Fairy Pools when you go to Skye, it’s in the Wild Swim book by Kate Rew, have you read it? "
… So here we were, putting on our boots in the car park for the Fairy Pools with the rain pouring down more consistently than the micro climate weather we’d experienced so far; and as yet we hadn’t knocked over a sheep or gotten stuck down a trench (phew)!
Our trip to the Fairy Pools occurred on a day of firsts. The morning was marked with my first ever sighting of a cuckoo and in the evening I saw, for the first time, a baked potato explode. If you ever come to use an ‘all in one’ microwave, oven and grill, be warned!
There are clearly more Guardian readers than Daily Mail readers speculate, as The Fairy Pools are popular! And while popularity is something that can often turn myself (and many other Guardian readers) off a place, the Fairy pools are so awesome it’s hard to be put off by anything!
As the rain eased we even managed to find a quiet spot for our packed lunch, out of the way of walking traffic. Although that didn’t stop the odd venturer poking their head over the rocks and looking down green eyed at our pretty good picnic spot! Maybe we shouldn’t have lunched by the actual pool Kate Rew was photographed in for her book!
Sometimes there are walks where you get so engrossed in the scenery and experience of the place you are walking in, that you end up ditching the planned walk and just dreamily wander around and then wander back. Well Fairy Pools is such a place. This place IS magical!
