Isle of Skye - Day 2
The storm that raged all night was the stuff of nightmares, and even gave me nightmares. The wind noise alone was terrifying. We knew the weather would be bad, knowing that we were going during the winter meant rain and snow. But I was not expecting the incredible gusts coming through the harbor. I would not want to be asleep on one of those sailboats...
The hotel provided us a proper British breakfast, which we were slightly geeking out over. We each got our own tea pots along with jars of jam and honey. Pedro said he felt like the royalty in movies, where the table is full of every item from the kitchen.
When D picked us up in the town center, he explained the game plan for the day. Since the weather was bad, he was going to take us south to visit the Fairy Pools, drop us off for lunch in Portree, then head North for the more picturesque parts of the island when the weather eases up.
When we arrived at the Fairy Pools, D explained that the "proper" pools were a 20 minute walk, so he took us to another one closer to the road so we wouldn't get soaked. (Thanks D!) Apparently, in the summer you can swim in these pools.
He then drove us to the beach where we felt the full force of the wind. I'm talking stretch-your-arms-out-and-be-held-up-by-the-wind strong. I'm glad I had the forethought to grab the plastic protective sleeve from the hotel cups and cover my camera. We were all still laughing at it though - I'm glad we had a good bunch of tourist in our group. No one whined about the weather once.
Back in Portree, D dropped us off for lunch while casually pointing out shops that sold rain jackets.
*Looks at the soaked Americans*
Guess where we went first. Pedro found a giant water/windproof parka complete with the fur lined hood. I got a water/windproof jacket and fleece to go under. The shop owner took one look at us, soaked through, and said, "There's water-proof jackets and then there's Skye-proof jackets." Indeed.
Once we got back to our room and changed, the sun was coming out. We could actually see the view from our window!
We decided to eat our food on-the-go, stopping at a local deli D pointed out to buy steak pie, scotch pie, and a cheese and onion pasty with two curiosity colas. D also pointed out a short trail going around one of the cliffs, where we could get a good view of the harbor. The locals called it something like the nub because of the shape of the cliffs.
We set off in the direction he pointed, eating as we went (again-great food!), but we started seeing residential yards. We passed a woman and asked for directions for the nearby trail. She directed us easily, saying the trail was actually called "walking The Lump". The trail led us up to a small tower that we could climb to see the harbor and neighboring cliffs. The plaque said it was an old Apothecary Tower, informing people sailing into the harbor that they could receive medicine there.
After lunch, the weather was still holding up, so D took us immediately to the next great sights. First, was the Old Man of Storr. There are many different versions of the story for the jagged rocks showing. One claiming that due to limited space on the Isle, the fairies and giants eventually began to battle. The fairies won by turning the giants to stone, and the giants were so angry at their loss that they left one finger up in spite. (Guess which finger...)
The wind was starting to pick up at this point, so D warned us the next stop would be the windiest place of all. It was Kilt Rock. This is one of the sights that was definitely on my list to see on the island. The google image search alone looked unreal, and the in-person view was better, even on a cloudy day like this one. Not just famous for its looks, it is the site where many dinosaur fossils were found, which meant we listened to the Jurassic Park theme song when pulling into the car park.
This picture was at the bottom of the lookout, just look at the chop on this pond! Then imagine standing on the edge of a 200ft cliff with a straight drop to the water on an already windy day.
This is around the part where I had to time my steps with the gusts of wind. I even had to walk around a few people who were afraid to move on further.
These sights were amazing, but were coupled with this eerie whistling sound. It kind of sounded like a pan flute with only really low notes. Apparently, the sound is made from the force of the wind going through the safety rail.
Then we headed towards a literal screensaver, Quiraing. D pointed in the direction of the landscape, and it's the same thing I see on my Windows laptop, crazy cool! The scenery is actually a giant landslip, which created this odd assortment of smooth and jagged rock.
We were just walking back when it started to rain, and our group started to race back to the bus. Then the rain started to hurt and we realized it was sleet. Thank goodness we changed our clothes!
The last stop was Fairy Glen. D told us many fairy legends on the way, but ended with rules. There were three rules for entering Fairy Glen:
#1- Do not take anything from Fairy Glen, it will be cursed.
#2- Do not whistle, it angers the fairies and they will likely trip you.
#3- Do not leave any iron behind, as it will hurt the fairies.
We respected the rules and followed the path up to find the spiral in the center of a the hills. It's said that you can walk in towards the spiral thinking of all the good things in your life, then backward out of the spiral thinking of all the bad things, and if you do so successfully, the bad things won't happen.
The waves on the face of these hills were so bizarre and beautiful, I can see why they'd name a place like this for the fairies. It was still freezing raining, so we didn't stay long.
After that, we made our way back to Portree for dinner. Going with another suggestion from D, we went to a cozy restaurant and had fresh pizza and scotch. We had the whole place to ourselves with a warm fireplace, which was a nice ending to a cold, windy day.
