Welcome to my Blog. Hopefully I will write an entry once a week or thereabouts. I'll let you know what I've been up to and will no doubt give you all the benefit of my wisdom on current issues. I'll try to steer clear of controversial subjects like veils and school dinners and most of what I write will be with tongue firmly in cheek.

June 22nd 2008

Over The Sea To Skye

This entry will focus entirely on the fantastic holiday we have just had in Skye with Mum and Dad. A week was certainly not long enough and we're already looking forward to our next visit. Skye is an island of peninsulas so you are never far from the coast and a fantastic view either of another part of Skye or of the many nearby islands. This coastline, indeed the whole island, proved to be a haven for wildlife both in and out of the water. We saw seals, whales, eagles and a whole host of other birds during the week. Add to that the stunning, in places unique, landscape and some of the finest walking in the country and it all amounts to a remarkable holiday. Among the highlights were the Coral beaches, a series of golden beaches made up not of coral but of dead seaweed, maerl. This gives the beach a Caribbean look as you'll see when I put the photos online. We were so taken by the beaches that we returned to spend our final evening enjoying the coast and the views of the outer hebrides beyond the closer island of Isay. That final Friday evening probably gave us the finest weather of an otherwise mixed week. Although the on/off rain didn't stop us doing anything, it did affect the biggest mountain that we tackled. Bla Bheinn is a fantastic mountain, detatched from The Cuillin ridge but with all the characteristics of these world renowned hills. The weather didn't stop Sandie and I getting up the east ridge of Bla Bheinn but visibility at the summit was next to nil so we missed out on reputedly one of the finest mountain views available in the UK. Definitely one to try again.


The view is said to be fantastic!

Almost as spectacular as The Cuillin, though significantly lower, is the Trotternish Ridge. This was created by a huge landslip leaving unique rock formations, most notably The Quiraing and The Storr. These areas are very similar but both well worth a visit. The walks into the Quiraing, below the cliffs of Meall na Suiramach and The Sanctuary at the foot of The Storr are both straightforward but for the more intrepid, it is possible to reach the ridge near both these points. The Quiraing, almost uniquely on Skye, is devoid of any folklore or myths. My favourite explanation for this being the suggestion that something so terrible happened that the survivors, if indeed there were any, could not speak of it. Brilliant. Again I will put some photos on the site of The Quiraing and The Storr but they are unlikely to do justice to the dramatic scenery. Finally, I must mention Macurdie's Exhibition in the north of Trotternish. This is unlikely to appear in many official visitor publications but we learned of it from the visitors book in the cottage. It was described as "the ramblings of a fisherman" and it is difficult to describe it any better than that. A refreshing and very entertaining take on the average museum!

These highlights of our holiday certainly don't cover everything that Skye has to offer but it gives a taste. I strongly recommend that you pay the island a visit if you ever get the opportunity.

Rich

I wanted to come here again with someone I loved and say, "Look" - Paul Theroux, visiting The Cuillin