Day 292/3 Fri 3-Sat 4 Aug 2007 Skye to Gairloch, Scotland

From Kyleatin we set off in pouring rain to explore Skye, calling at Talisker Distillery which is very crowded as its one of the few things to do on a wet day in Skye, and then on via pottery and paint studios on the northern coast to the main town of Portree where, after lunch Steve and Alexis depart for Aberdeen. The intrepids too set off but quickly get disorientated in the rain and mist and end up heading north and touring the Trotternish Peninsula, past the invisible Old Man of Storr, the Kilt Rock Falls where a river plunges into the sea only today most if it is going up in the gale, and then over the Quiriang with its weird basalt rock formations. Eventually we make it to south of the island past swollen waterfalls to Advasar where we stay in an overpriced below average pub.

The next morning is bright and sunny and we spend the morning exploring the extensive nature trails and gardens of Armadale Castle, built in the 1800s as a mansion rather than a fortification, on the back of the mussel trade but which burnt down in 1855. Then it’s over the bridge to the mainland and after a fruitful visit to the West Highland cheese emporium and ensuing picnic on the beach, we head up the highest road in Scotland to Applecross and on the Gairloch. It doesn’t really compare with those in Tibet or even Norway but its still quite a tortuous drive into the mist at 2000’ Finding no room in most of the inns we come across the splendid loch front pile of Shieldaig Lodge some 5kms from Gairloch. Resembling something from ‘Monach of the Glen’ it was built by a mate of Cecil Rhodes who after being paid to leave Bishop Stortford by its citizens made a fortune in Africa. We sip whisky on the terrace watching the otters play at dusk.