Day 18 - Around the misty Isle of Skye

Today we are to travel around Skye. Our host, Ian, looked out of the window as we tucked into the biggest breakfast I have seen for a long time and said "Aye, I think it might clear but, well, they call Skye the misty isle". As it turned out we had rain for much of the day but there were clear patches in between and we were lucky to be able to frolic among the Quairang while the sun shone briefly. But even in the rain the highland hills have a certain majestic beauty cloaked in the veils of clouds around their peaks.

The Isle of Skye (lonelyplanet.com/maps/europe/scotland/isle-of-skye/)

Compared with the Whisky Tour this tour is very different. One almost gets the impression that (apart from the Dormunder and the Lone Australian) many of them rather wish they were somewhere else!! The most lively are the Kiwis from West Auckland. She is enthusiastic about her holiday while he, on the other hand, would rather have stayed at home. Poor fellow - he has another two tours and two weeks to go.

Then we have the Brizzy Brits - a pair of Brits living in Brisbane - who did at least say something to us. There were two Ottawa Canadians - she lively and he a little dour - and The Honeymoon Couple. We don't know if they were on honeymoon but eye contact was not in their body language vocabulary! They had been to Staffa Island (visitscotland.com/info/towns-villages/isle-of-staffa-p246481 - Fingal's Cave is there) while the rest of us went to Iona the day before. She seemed to be a keen photographer but because basic verbal communication seemed to be beyond her capabilities we never really knew.

Staffa Island and Fingal's Cave: had there been time we would have visited it 

There was a couple that I think I never spoke to - I did not speak to them nor (so far as I an recall) did they speak to us!! It's possible that The G attempted converse but with what success I cannot say!!

Finally there was the Mother and Daughter. These were Americans. The Mother had all the gullibility of the Classic American - the Daughter was the most sullen and uncommunicative human being imaginable and she behaved toward her Mother in a very unpleasant and manipulative manner. The Mother had the most irritating American female voice you can think of sounded like a cross between Minnie Mouse and a wailing banshee.

So this was not a relaxed and friendly collection like the whisky tour. I suppose that the whisky tour had whisky in common and a wee dram is always a way to encourage exchange and conversation.

We left Portree at about 0830 and headed north with the Sea of Ramsey at our right side. The landscape is similar to Islay - peat bogs with signs of peat cutting. When the heather is in flower it must look spectacular as it rolls away to the hills that were, as we travelled, veiled in mist. We stopped for a photo opportunity at what Sue called the Fairy Falls. I am not sure that this is what they are really called. Two things occur to me (1) there are an awful lot of waterfalls as it's pretty rainy and (2) fairies seem to figure highly in Scottish folklore (as they do in other countries' legends).

The so-called fairy falls

We continued north to the Kilted (or Kilt) Rock. Kilt Rock (http://www.theskyeguide.com/see-and-do-mainmenu-35/27-natural-wonders/177-kilt-rock) is a sea cliff in north east Trotternish. It resembles a kilt, with vertical basalt columns to form the pleats and intruded sills of dolerite forming the pattern. This is the same geological formation that is found on the Isle of Staffa.

The kilted rock - with tasty waterfall in the foreground

From the Kilt Rock we continued north through East Trotternish to the Quiraing. Quiraing (in Gaelic, Cuith-Raing) comes from Old Norse Kvi Rand, which means Round Fold. Within the fold is The Table, an elevated plateau hidden amongst the pillars. It is said that the fold was used to conceal cattle from Viking raiders.

View from the Quiraing

Another view from the Quiraing

Parts of the distinctive landscape have earned particular names. The Needle is a jagged 120-foot (37 m) high landmark pinnacle, a remnant of landslipping. Northwest of it is The Table, a flat grassy area slipped down from the summit plateau, with vistas of the Torridon Hills and the mountains of Wester Ross. Southwest is the Prison, a pyramidal rocky peak which can look like a medieval keep when viewed from the right angle - the ascent of this is an airy scramble.

Yet another view from the Quiraing

Another one - you may be getting bored but we weren't!!

We cut across westwards to Uig - mainly I think because there were some toilets there. I was struck by the monument pictured below. There is a ferry terminal there to Tarbert on Harris and Lochmaddy on North Uist providing links with the Outer Hebrides. Uig Tower is a prominent local landmark associated with the Highland Clearances (which I mentioned yesterday). The population on Uig is about 200 though it may have been bigger at the time of the 1902 royal visit. There was small pottery shop there and we invested in a piece of puffin paraphernalia (my elder daughter is a puffin aficionado).

Monument at Uig. It's amazing that King Edward VIII and Queen Alexander found their way here but they did. Where would they have stayed? So far as I could see there is nothing in Uig now do what there was a hundred years ago cannot have been very much!!

We drove out of Uig travelling south and up the other side of the valley overlooking Loch Snizort. We were headed for the Fairy Glen (walkhighlands.co.uk/skye/fairyglen.shtml).

Others may like to visit the Fairy Glen

You may think that I have gone soft and that I have surrendered my masculinity in the interests of a coach trip. And perhaps I have. But I am old now and I care not what people think and if I want to visit a Fairy Glen then I will!!

The glen consists of a number of mounds as pictured below. Fairies are said to dwell in these and apparently if you sing to the fairies then cool stuff will happen. I did indeed alight from the coach and stride over to the mound pictured and sang - to the incredulity of most of my stone-faced travelling companions. I think the cool stuff may be happening as I am having A Good Time with The G (as I always do). 

A fairy mound above Uig

I walked up this tasty little geological formation - not hard to climb but not for those challenged by heights

And this was the view from the top across to the misty hills beyond

You can see a couple of stone spirals from on top of the difficult-to-climb rocky outcrop. The nearer one is older (though I doubt either is very old. You start at the outside and walk backward without touching the stones. When you are in the centre you make a whisk and then make your way out again.

From the Fairy Glen we pressed on to Dunvegan Castle (www.dunvegancastle.com). We decided not to visit the Castle partly because it was raining and a bit miserable and partly because we thought lunch a better option. Dunvegan Castle is the seat of the MacLeod of MacLeod, chief of the Clan MacLeod. Dunvegan Castle is the oldest continuously inhabited castle in Scotland and has been the stronghold of the chiefs of the clan for 800 years.

Dunvegan Castle

Our next wee stop (you can see that Scotland has got to me) was at a tiny village called Colbost. This sported a croft (which is probably a replica but perhaps I am too cynical), a restaurant called the Three Chimneys and a small art gallery.

We also found a magnificent patch of the triffids that we had seen on Iona and which we think are called Devil's Rhubarb.

The Three Chimneys (www.threechimneys.co.uk) is (according to its website) "a world-renowned Scottish restaurant with 5-star accommodation, situated in awe-inspiring surroundings beside the sea in the Isle of Skye". Sounds like our sort of place.

Apparently this is called the Devil's rhubarb. We saw a fair bit of it. It is inedible. The elves are probably 1.5 metres across

An old croft at Colbost. We didn't go in but it appealed to the Americans. Apparently it smelt of peat but we had smelled that at the distilleries on Islay

The G invested in a couple of small and attractive pieces at the little gallery which was run by an English woman whose story no doubt would have been fascinating.

The weather was still fairly misty and rainy so looking at scenery was not particularly an option (mercifully since that's not really my bag). So we went off to visit the Skye Weavers. This is another English dude who has clearly decided that life in Skye is less stressful and probably more rewarding than life in the English shires. He has a loom that is driven by pedal. As you can see below The G had a tentative go and wove about 3 centimetres of cloth. The entire machine is fascinating and is driven by punch cards (or more accurately loops of punched plastic). One thought of Jenner.

The G concentrating hard as she tries her hand in the weaving trade at Skye Weavers in Glendale

Our bus was such a miserable load of people that we did not think that a trip to Talisker would be a goer but Sue managed to fix a tasting for us. We were a little early and we were able to go to an oyster man to sample the local oysters. I has tried a local oyster at Ee-usk at Oban and had been disappointed. It was large and fleshy - and completely tasteless. Although these were Pacific oysters (which we are not usually keen on) they were very different; they were younger (started in late 2012) and very sweet in a lovely salty liquor. Very good and rivalling our South Coast oysters back home.

Ah - the amber nectar

Talisker has not quite got the customer service ideas of the Islay distilleries. Our tasting was rushed and there was no description of the whisky - which was very good. We invested in a T-shirt for me and a bottle of 57 Degrees North (which is 57% abc) also for me!!

And another one - because the stream is so lovely

We arrived back at our accommodation and prepared to go to Sea Breezes which I had managed to book before leaving home. I had managed to change the booking to include the Lone Australian and the Dortmunder.

This is the view from the back of our accommodation - not bad

I am not sure where downtown Portree would be but the view along the quayside is very pleasant.

On the water's edge at Portree in the rain - Seabreezes where we ate is just past the pink building

We had a very fine dinner. On my and the Dortmunder's plate is the freshest finest sea bass imaginable. I suspect it was still in the water two hours before!! The G had trout en papilloute while the Lone Australian opted for duck. I had had the duck at the Brockville last evening and it is very different to duck at home. It has a much gamier flavour and is very good.

Left to right: The Dortmunder, the Lone Australian, The G and me. I think I am bigger than all of them put together. I will need to see about that

They are not big on wine at these restaurants. At the Brockville they had run out of a lot of their wine with the waiter telling us that they hade "a delivery due tomorrow". Not a fat lot of good today!!

A sign in the restaurant that The G instead I photograph. I don't know why but I am worried she will want me to make one for our kitchen

And so, duly stuffed, we walked back through the damp night to our lodgings.

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