Day 5 - Exploring Skye in gale force winds

23rd October 2019

A comfortable night’s sleep, but a broken one. The wind and rain were beating against our little pod. So much so that I thought I would step out this morning to find ourselves in Oz. - ‘Toto, I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore’. We were still firmly rooted to the top of a windy hill in Flodigarry.

I went for a short run around the area which my legs and lungs will tell you is VERY VERY hilly. A few cars passed me and waved, and a few sheep took a second from chewing to look at me. Mad woman. I got back to the pod soaking wet, but fully refreshed!

We had planned to climb up to the Old Man of Storr today. Part of the northernmost peninsula of Skye. A look at the weather meant that we decided it would be foolish to try. Strong winds and rain were forecast for the whole day. We decided to explore the north of the island in our warm little car, instead.

We headed along the coast towards Uig on the other side of the island. On the way we saw a signpost directing us to the memorial of Flora MacDonald. She is famous for helping to hide and smuggle Prince Charles (Bonnie Prince Charlie) who was going into hiding after being defeated in battle in attempt to regain the throne. It is a huge memorial.

I had read before visiting Skye that Alexander McQueen was also buried on the island, and a quick search showed that it was here, in the same graveyard, too. It was a very small cemetery and there is not much for miles around, so it would be a rather odd place for someone so famous. But we soon spotted his rather splendid headstone. He was a remarkable man, and his death was far too soon. He left school with one o’level and ended up being chief designer at Givenchy. His father was Scottish and Alexander is now buried with other members of the McQueen clan. His headstone is just as striking and inventive as his fashion and stands out well amongst the others.

I promise that we don’t make a habit of visiting graves - just seem to have done it more than usual on this trip.

The wind was almost lifting us from our feet now, and the rain like needles in our faces, so back to the car.

So onto Uig (pronounced ‘Ig’). A town with a small port that connects other islands, it was quite empty of anything but a pier, a pottery, a hotel and a brewery. What else does one need?! It was SO wet that we really just dodged from shop to car to hotel for lunch. Lunch was tasty, but being soaked and a little cold, we decided this would be our main meal of the day, and that we would buy food for later and stay in our little pod for the evening.

Our last soggy stop of the day was Portree (King’s port), which is the capital of Skye and has the only secondary school on the island. Portree is a fishing village primarily, but it has a few more amenities than most of the villages. It has some sweet little shops.

We took a walk around the village and took some photos of colourful houses in the port.

We headed back to our pod, changed into some dry clothes and snuggled up to watch TV, read and play cards.

We had expected the rain, and that is what we got. I actually think that Skye looks quite beautiful in the grey. It is almost like it’s saying to you - I am rough and tough and I can take anything the elements throw at me. We have loved our short time here.

Tomorrow we head for Inverness. We had originally planned to get the ferry back to Mallaig and a train to Fort William to retrieve our car and head off. But the weather looks so bad that we have changed plans. We will now over the bridge from Skye to the Kyle of Lochalsh, where we will leave our little car, and take a coach to Fort William instead.

For now we are toasty warm and wondering where the last five days have gone!

What?

Old school mobile ‘phones. More ‘phone, less mobile