26 August: wandering with the camera on a day without sunshine.
Author: geoffspages
Staffin shoreline
25 August: over the hill from Columba 1400 to the shore south of the slip. Great rocks – and some super little corners for sitting and watching the tide going out.
Ben Tianavaig
24 August: a walk to the summit of Ben Tianavaig, a prominent ridge with a small rocky summit overlooking Portree harbour. It’s no great height – 1352′ (413m) but is a superb viewpoint. The route follows the ridge to the summit and beyond, descending by the steep valley below to the shore. The path is clear enough, but needs care in places… An excellent outing – one of those unusual hills whose total descent seems to exceed the ascent…
The route is described here http://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/skye/bentianavaig.shtml; here’s a Google map
Evening light
Camus Mor and nearby:
Dunvegan and Kilmuir
22 August ctd: an afternoon walk at Dunvegan – it’s described as the “two churches” walk, from the old ruin on the hill, across the moor and back through the forest to the new(er) church opposite the shore. A short detour takes in the Millennium Monument, a standing stone erected by human effort. Afterward, we drove down the shore beyond the castle, where seals bask on the many islands in Loch Dunvegan.
The light in the evening was too good to ignore – just right for a walk along the road through Kilmuir.
Dunvegan Two Churches Walk – we did it anticlockwise, starting from the lay-by near the old church
The Cave of Gold
22 August: a beautiful bright, clear, sunny morning on Skye – perfect for a walk along airy clifftops with superb views to Lewis and Harris. It would be a good walk even if there wasn’t a cave of gold – the Uamh Oir – at the far end. The guide books say it’s inaccessible, as was the case today, but many years ago, at a low spring tide, we managed to get inside, to scramble along slippery rocks and retrieve the gold. So don’t bother trying…
A circular route would be perfectly possible, but further outings were planned for this fine day, and the most scenic route is to retrace one’s steps.
Hinnisdal and the Fairy Glen
21 August: the afternoon was showery at first; later, the rain cleared. We had gone to walk the forest track in Glen Hinnisdal, but our wanderings were limited by felling operations. Back to Uig – a mile or so up Glen Uig is the “Fairy Glen”, a remarkable landscape in miniature. Last time we were here, perhaps 20 years ago, we had the place to ourselves. Today the glen is much better known, and accessible to the tourist minibuses.
A evening exploration of the rocks Camus Mor was foiled by the high spring tide, but the light was good…
Kilmartin River
20 August: Though the weather is sub-optimal, the scenery’s still good (rather soggy underfoot…). Instead of our usual coastal haunts, this was an inland exploration – the sea is barely a mile away, but mostly out of sight in this remote and quiet riverside beneath Skye’s Trotternish ridge.
44 years later…
Since my last visit, a forest had been planted and grown to maturity – and was now being harvested.
That earlier visit was on a railtour from Leeds to Edinburgh, out and back via the Settle and Carlisle and the Waverley Route. In later years, the S&C came under threat – and survived. The Waverley Route wasn’t so fortunate – the railtour was to mark its last day, 5 January 1969.
Today, the northern part of the line, from Edinburgh to Tweedbank, south of Galashiels, is being reconstructed, due to reopen in 2015. Further south, at Whitrope siding, the Waverley Railway Heritage Association are laying the track for a different kind of line – we thought we ought to pay a visit. See “Return to Whitrope” on Geoff’s Rail Diaries.
Buildwas
Sunshine after rain… A wander around Buildwas Abbey, Shropshire.
Stokesay
Another “dodging the showers” outing. Given that there was plenty of shelter, it didn’t rain while we were there; sunshine was too much to hope for.
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