Just photos – no particular theme
… as a gaelic-speaking local of Skye once said to us, describing her feelings on being back on dry land after some lengthy sea trips (we know what she meant). After our week on Skye, we’ve come down to earth (the 500-odd mile drive contributing to that experience) and to celebrate we’re wandering around some very familiar local lanes. It’s good to be back…
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Those five fine days are gone, and it’s grey. It could rain, but I might be lucky. After a busy morning, a last leg stretch would be good – tomorrow we’re on the road again. The clifftops at Bornesketaig would be good, and I can look down on the rocky shore around the Gold Cave (yes, I was lucky – the rain held off)
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Another favourite route in this part of Skye. It will be busier than the other walks I’ve enjoyed during this spell of wonderful weather, but the scenery is spectacular. It’s fairly quiet at first, up past Lochs Langaig and Hasco, but there are plenty of others on and around the pinnacles beside my route to Sròn Vourlinn. There’s no-one else at that splendid peak though. The silence is wonderful.
Retracing my steps, I decide to continue in the other direction to the Quiraing. I won’t scramble up into the rocky stronghold – the path there is a good vantage point for photos.
Finally, descending once more past the two lochs, what’s this? A highland wedding!
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Up in the clouds above Uig! I very nearly abandoned this idea. I’d driven down for today’s paper, with the intention of walking up to the headland to see the ferry go out, but the fog was quite thick. Perhaps I should drive over to the other side – Staffin or Flodigarry perhaps? I drove up the hill towards the hairpin bend. Was the sun trying to break through? Back down to the triangle, boots on, camera over shoulder, fingers crossed.
As I walked up the road and along the first stretch of the path, I heard the ferry arriving (yes, pom pom pom pom – see yesterday’s post – and long blasts of the horn) but I couldn’t see it at all. Onwards up to the ridge – is there some blue up there? The view to the north opened out – a sunlit landscape of thinning, clearing mist. I’ll sit on the rocks overlooking the bay and hope! Another long toot of the horn, still can’t see the pier or the ferry – then there it was, emerging in most spectacular fashion and heading out towards Lochmaddy. Within perhaps 15 minutes, Uig bay was completely clear and plain as day – bright sunshine and brilliant white banks of mist in the distance. I made the right decision!
I retraced my steps on the headland, dropped down to the pier, along the road, through the woods and back to the start, but the best of the afternoon was behind me…
View OS map on Streetmap http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map?X=138825&Y=863887&A=Y&Z=120
Friday 20 September: The rest of the story of yesterday’s remarkable weather… The view from the top of the road, above Uig, was worth a couple of photos. Later in the evening, things became more interesting. I could hear the ferry on its way out to Lochmaddy – the usual distant “pom pom pom pom” of the engines, but also a periodic hoot of the (fog?) horn. As it headed west, it disappeared, but the reassuring “pom pom pom pom” continued long after. An hour or so later, the sun is setting behind Berneray (I think), and mist is gathering in the low-lying ground between my vantage point and the sea.
This morning (21 Sept) it’s foggy again. The forecast says it will clear: fingers crossed!
…on a remarkable day of mist and sunshine. The former burned away during the morning, but lingered over the sea for the whole day. Plenty of the latter in the forested Glen Hinnisdal, with spiders’ webs highlighted by droplets from the mist and a fine crop of fly agarics just waiting (in a dark little recess of the forest) to be snapped.
More to come on the misty conditions elsewhere, but that’s enough for today…
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Thursday 19 September: Rubha na h-Aiseig – Skye’s far north again, just a couple of miles east of Rubha Hunish and perhaps two hundred yards further south – another favourite outing. There are some pleasing similarities to yesterday’s walk – not least the fact that there’s no-one else there. An interesting negotiation of a cliff-top route leads to a zig-zag way down (not remotely as exposed or tricky as Rubha Hunish) to the scrubby sheep pastures, where a faint path leads to the northernmost tip. Rubha na h-Aiseig translates as “Ferry Point”: there are remains of former “black houses” tucked in behind a stony shore – was there once a ferry across to the island of Trodday, about a mile offshore?
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Wednesday 18 September: It’s the northernmost tip of Skye, accessible only by a very steep and exposed “path” down the cliff face. Lots of people park at the end of the Shulista road and walk along the excellent path to the cliff top, look down and decide to visit the ex-coastguard bothy on top of Meall Tuath instead. I’ve been to the bothy three times this year, on longer walks where the visit to Rubha Hunish would be too much for a short outing. Today I’m descending! It’s barely a mile from the cliff top to the tip of the island, but a full two hours have elapsed by the time I’m back at the top (I’d have been walking in total darkness on my January and February visits). Skye’s roads are very busy with visitors, but for those two hours, I have the little Hunish peninsula to myself – paradise! That monster cruise liner can hold over 4,000 passengers. I know where I’d rather be on this beautiful sunny day!
View OS map on Streetmap http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map?X=141439&Y=875598&A=Y&Z=120
Low cloud and drizzle all day, despite the forecast. The rain stopped about 5pm; around 6pm it was looking a little brighter. It’s now or never, if I want a walk with the camera. The golden eagle was a bonus; so was a hare, but he was too quick for me…
View OS map on Streetmap http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map?X=139435&Y=870985&A=Y&Z=120
Familiar ground: down the lane to Lower Severn Hall, back along the old railway track, and up through Chestnut Coppice Continue reading “In the valley of the Severn”
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