[The Isle of] Skye
The Pictures!
Friday, April 4, 2003 (cont.)
The bus to Skye left bright and early at 9. The bus trip was pretty short so we only made one stop at Rogie Falls. It was a beautiful waterfall, complete with swinging bridge (as you can see in that link). We all gathered on the bridge and out guide told us about this neat optical illusion with the waterfall. There was this crazy guy we kept running into on the tour who wanted to take *really* good pictures, so he kept climbing on the outside of the bridge and hung off of it! Crazy, I tell you. We get to Kyle of Localsh soon enough and discover that we actually have to take the public bus over the god-forsaken bridge to Kyleakin, where the hostel is. *Side Rant* I, along with everyone else, cannot believe they built a freaking bridge connecting Skye to the mainland. It's hideously ugly, and of course it cost a ton to build. The tolls are the most expensive tolls in the world. If our mini-bus wanted to cross the bridge, it would have cost 29 pounds ($45)! In the end, Skye got totally screwed over and lost part of its charm to boot. *End Rant* Sorry about that. I was looking forward to taking a ferry over, but of course the bridge-building company bought out the ferry companies. At least the public bus over only costs 15p. So we head over and settle in and try to figure out what to do for the rest of the day, since it's only lunchtime. The hostel guy suggested we walk to Plockton, six miles up the road back on the mainland. There's a castle there and the walk is pretty nice too. The easiest way is by the main road, obviously, which leads us by the ocean and through tiny villages, where sheep roam freely throughout! Mari was in pure sheep heaven. About two miles from Plockton, we got a ride from this really nice old man. He has lived in the area his whole life and still sleeps in the same room he was born in. Plockton, self-proclaimed as the "prettiest village in Scotland," was tiny but very cute. It's on the shores of Loch Carron and Duncraig Castle is across the way. (See pictures) It was recently purchased by two brothers, but was used in the past as a domestic science seminary for girls. (That man remembered that fondly!) It would have taken awhile to hike there so we just enjoyed the view of it, the bay, and the palm trees! Yes, palm trees! Beautiful! We hiked all the way back, got dinner, and collapsed back at the hostel.
Saturday, April 5, 2003
Kyleakin actually has its own castle, Caisteal Maol, or Castle Moil in English. It was built in the 13th century by a Norwegian princess by the name of Saucy Mary. She was very clever and decided to make money by stretching a chain over the kyle (the body of water/ocean separating Kyleakin and Skye from Kyle and the mainland) and charging ships a toll to get past. The ships had an incentive however; if they paid the toll, Mary would run up to the castle and flash them. Hence, her name. :o) Anyways, the hike to the castle was easy, but it was really marshy so I had to go back because I wasn't wearing my boots. Deanna and Mari decided to hike some of the mountains behind the hostel, so I attempted the castle again, with boots, when they left. It was really nice there. I got back, read some, caught the bus to Kyle to get some lunch (the only grocery stores for Kylakin are in Kyle, so we were there a lot!), and read some more. It was a beautiful day, so I read down by the kyle-side. I ended up "running" into Deanna and Mari pretty early, who came back because there was no real path on the hills. We napped in the sun and enjoyed a really lazy day. I even finished my book!
Sunday, April 6, 2003
There's tons to see on Skye, naturally, and the best way to see them all in a limited amount of time was to take advantage of the hostel's Skye tour. We booked that for today, knowing that we'd be gone all day. I still can't get over how much we saw, and how we lucked out weather-wise. Skye isn't known for its weather. Our tour guide was named Spud, and we was a great tour guide. My favorite out of all of them we had. He was so funny and informative, just a great guy. Anyways, we drove north, stopping at a gas station so someone could buy film, and we got free stickers for our cars back home. They say "There's a tiger in my tank" in Gaelic! Our first official stop was by the side of the road to meet and greet some hairy coos! They're adorable, but really smelly. They really can't see much through the fur over their eyes, so they get startled if you try to pet them. (See lots of pictures) Up the road a bit further, there was a pretty waterfall so we stopped again for pictures. (See picture) All the water up in the Highlands is completely pure so we could fill up our water bottles whenever we wanted. I got a little muddy, but thank goodness my boots are waterproof. (Thanks Grammy!!!) We headed north again, but before we went any further we need to get the Faerie Queen's blessing. I'm serious. The people on Skye truly believe in the faerie folk who lived on the island before the humans. They're responsible for playing impish tricks on silly humans. So you get blessed and don't have to worry (too much) about their tricks. The blessing requires everyone sticking their faces in the river for 7 seconds. (See picture) Spud was adamant that everyone did it because he didn't want anyone tricked on his trip. I guess a girl in another group (not Spud's!) a few weeks before refused to do it and fell off the side of the Quirang later on the tour. She wasn't hurt but she was very, very lucky. We admired the Black and Red Cuillen Mountains (see picture) and heard Spud's grandmother's stories and were off again. Halfway north is the capital of Skye, Portree, where we got lunch and shopped at Skye Batiks for some awesome souvenirs. We all went a little shop-crazy. The main part of the tour was on the Trotternish Peninsula. Along the way we could see the Old Man of Storr and heard the tale that goes along with it. (See pictures) We stopped at a really high waterfall, Lealt falls, and tried to seal watch, but they weren't around. We also stopped to see Kilt Rock and Mealt falls next to it. Instead of flowing down rocks like most other waterfalls, this one just flows off the side of a cliff on the shore below. Very beautiful. Kilt Rock really does look like the back of a man's kilt! (See pictures) We took a coffee break along the top of the Quirang, which is hard to describe. It's kinda of like a mountain, but with large, flat, grassy, plains on the tops and really cool rock formations everywhere. The guys brought a rugby ball and tossed it around. We just sat around, talked, and tried to convince Spud to tell us his real name (which turns out to be Nigel, but I didn't found out until later.) From there, we headed to our last stop, the Faerie Glen, right outside of Uig. It's like a miniature little world, where people dedicate things to the faeries. There are stone designs along the ground and you're strongly advised not to take anything if you find something, like jewelry. More than likely it's a gift for the faeries. There's a tall rock formation, the "Faerie Fortress," which gives you a good view of everything. (See picture). By this time we had a long drive back to Kyleakin and we were really hungry. But we were very happy with everything we saw and were fully charmed by all of Skye! And it turns out the girl we shared our room with that night also goes to St Andrews, abroad for the year from Yale. We all talked a lot and we still run into her a lot back here.
Monday, April 7, 2003
We spent the morning packing everything up and taking the bus to Kyle yet again to catch our tour around 1. Deanna and I explored the tourist bathrooms while waiting around because they're the coolest bathrooms ever. They're decorated top to bottom with Scottish souvenirs and stories and tropical decorations. It's just unbelievable. We even took pictures, but obviously can't show them on here yet. So what did we see on this part of the tour? Click and find out!
Next Stop - Oban and the Isle of Mull!
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