One Last Walk on Skye (this year anyway!)
The last walk in this Skye Walker Series left me with a souvenir. A black and shiny souvenir... on my bottom! This was the best bruise I've achieved since a snowboarding trip in the three valleys too many moons ago. It came about for the usual reasons: overexcitement and lack of concentration. In case you're feeling nervous about flicking through the consequential photos, don't be. You'll be relieved to hear that I failed to document this rather original memento!
The walk along Waterloo beach, near Broadford offers yet another unique landscape to take in. It's hard to describe as there is such a variety of terrain: patches of grassland full of watery potholes, strange rock formations and more rock pools you can shake a stick at! Oh, and when the tide is out, a sandy beach is uncovered.
This doesn't appear to be a particularly popular walk. Comparatively, it's not a 'classic' walk either, but it is a fascinating one and offers more than enough to keep any walker intrigued!
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Skye Walker Part III (The First Bit: Fairy Pools)
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!
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Skye Walker Episode 2: Waternish in the Snow... ish
The expression ‘micro climate’ is something synonymous with conversation about British weather. I’m sure I’ve used the phrase myself it but I will never use it in the same way again after our Waternish walk.
We set off reasonably early (reasonable for a holiday) with the warm sun on our backs, bright blue skies ahead and a bounce in our step, triggered by word that previous walkers on this route had recently caught sight of a basking shark from Waternish Point.
We followed a track either made for or made by the farmer’s quad bike; the origins of the track becoming more unclear as we encountered impromptu homemade bridges over various bogs, crevices and other obstacles. The cliff side farmland we passed through was vast and largely wild, with some of the largest cows I’ve ever had to nervously pass!
The walk to Waternish Point seems to be very much a 'wing it' walk. As you move away from the quad bike trail, there doesn't seem to be a distinct footpath, and judging by the few other ramblers we noticed, everyone found their own path to the point - which was great, if not at times a little disconcerting!
Upon reaching the point, which overlooks the Western Isles, we sat down for some lunch and watched a common seal hunting among the rock pools below us. Having been absorbed and mesmerized for sometime by the seal, we happened to glance up and notice a thick, dark, grey, Independence Day sized cloud hurtling towards us! We promptly got up and raced off, in the vain attempt to make it back to the car being before enveloped in whatever was brewing on the now not so distant horizon...
About half way through our rush to shelter we started to feel and hear the inevitable pitter patter, and within seconds a gust of wind slammed a torrent of 45 degree rain at our backs. Within minutes this turned to hail, then sleet and then to snow! As we neared the end of our journey, cold and damp, the snow eased and blue skies suddenly appeared. By the time we made it to the car we were pretty much dry. It was one of the more surreal walks I've done, that's for sure! As the Byre was on the way to Dunvegan (our next destination), we took a pit stop. A nice hot brew and more Viennese sandwich biscuits than necessary and we were off! Dunvegan and more to follow in Episode 2, part deux!
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Skye Walker Episode 1
Much like popular opinion of George Lucas' revisit to his cult classic space saga, there isn't a great deal to write about our late-ish arrival on the Isle of Skye.
After a gorgeous but rather long drive, the highlight of which was a sighting of two wild red deer stags, we arrived in the sun soaked village of Stein. Here, The Old Byre, a small self-catering cottage overlooking Loch Bay, would be our home for the next five nights. The small but deluxe split level cottage came with everything we could want, including a small bunny that came out everyday to play on our front lawn.
We were greeted with a large cup of tea, more homemade biscuits than I should have partaken of and a friendly natter with the owner next door. Then we dumped our bags and headed straight out, only too aware that this day might be the only one when the sun showed its face!
Our first exploration on Skye involved walking down and checking out the local - the appropriately named Stein Inn, a friendly and charming pub that sits right on the loch and is a popular place to sit in hope of sighting the elusive Sea and Golden Eagles. If you are not so lucky, the very tasty Red Cuillin (Skye brewery) available on tap offers a great consolation!
And that is as far as our first Skye ramble got really! Watch out for episode two though because the second day was epic!
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