Compass Buster #4: Skye to Fort Augustus

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It was another early start. I had a bit of an upset stomach and a headache, I wonder if it was the fish and chips or the mushy peas. After popping some pills I felt better and headed over to the bakery to get some breakfast. We were setting off pretty early, but luckily the local bakery opens even earlier so we could get some food into us, before another busy day ahead. I got a coffee and a bacon and black pudding pastry wrap, which was delicious. I love black pudding. There was also a mouth watering selection of cakes and biscuits, so I got one to have a little later. On the bus we drove for a bit to reach Loch Fada viewpoint, well it wasn't a proper viewpoint, as we just pulled over on the side of the road and trooped out of the bus. But it was very pretty, and I loved the view. It really summed up Scotland and why people visit to me.

Since we had limited time we had to make a decision about where we could visit that day. We had already provided our guide with some suggestions, but we didn't have time to do them all. Our two main options were the Old Man of Storr and the Fairy Pools. We opted to go to the Fairy Pools as we could do a quick drive by of the Old Man of Storr. As we drove to the Old Man of Storr, our guide told us one of the local legends about how the stone came to be there. There was a couple, who fell in love and got married and walked up the hill everyday to admire the views from the top. One day, his wife confessed that she was getting too old to climb the hill and that he should go alone. Fairies in the area had watched the couple and offered them the chance to always be together. The old man jumped at the chance to always be with his wife so accepted their offer. But the fairies had tricked them and turned them into pillars of rock on the hillside, so that they would always be together there. The Old Man of Storr is part of the Trotternish Ridge that was formed by a landslide many, many moons ago. Since it was a grey and misty day (again) we could just make the 'Old Man' out as our bus pulled up on the side of the road. By the time we had raced out of the bus, up to the gate to take some photos, it had become shrouded in cloud. We waited for about 5 minutes, but the cloud remained, obscuring our view. Feeling a bit disheartened that I hadn't got any decent pictures, I headed back to the bus. Well we literally just got on the bus and sat down and the clouds disappeared. Mother Nature was having a laugh with us, so some of us trooped back off the bus to get some better pictures.

Our next stop was Lealt Falls. The weather was better here and we had a nice walk along the cliff top. The area was very, very green. It must be all the rain. The waterfall is set back on some kind of gorge, so we walked along the cliff to get a better view of it. It was pretty, but I preferred the view of the surrounding coast, big, thick cliffs covered with grass and a small bay down below. It was stunning and the lighting made for some beautiful scenes. A lot of peat cutting went on in this area too, like on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. Also down near the beach, there was the remains of an old building, a chimney and the foundations of the wall. Diatomite was mined here and the building was a factory where it was dried, ground and calcined. This was the first place we had been to in a couple of days where we weren't the only tourists.

Kilt Rock was even busier, I definitely hadn't seen this number of tourists since the Standing Stones of Calanais. Kilt Rock and Mealt Falls are one of the most popular attractions to visit on the Isle of Skye. Mealt Waterfalls runs down the cliff straight into the sea. It was really pretty and a nice contrast to Lealt Falls, which is set back. The cliffs of Kilt Rock are about 90 metres high.They got their name, because as you probably guessed they resemble a kilt. They did look really spectacular, but I couldn't really see the kilt. I think it is because the shading of the colours are meant to look like tartan. I loved how crinkly the cliffs looked. The cliffs were formed about 50-60 million years ago, yeah, they are very, very old, due to volcanic activity. The molten rock pushed its way in between the layers of Jurassic sandstone rock. There was this really cool rock that kind of looked like a human face. It reminded me a bit of the carvings at Angkor Wat, but this had formed totally naturally.

I was most excited for our next stop, the Fairy Pools. We had a bit of a drive to get there and our guide had to drop us off on the road and point to the path as the road is pretty narrow and she had to drive for miles to the place where you can turn the bus round to head back to the carpark. We had all been talking on the bus about the fake pictures of the Fairy Pools on Pinterest and hoped that the real ones would looks good. There were gorgeous. We had quite a bit of time to follow the route along next to the different pools and waterfalls. The colour of the water in some of the pools was just so blue. Even the crappy, windy, rainy weather didn't stop me from enjoying my time there. I wonder how this place was discovered as it seems like it is totally off the beaten path in the middle of nowhere. It must have been amazing just to stumble upon them one day. It is also quite a decent walk as the pools and waterfalls are spread out. I must have stopped a million times to take photos, this place was just crying out for them to be taken. I only wish I had captured a fairy on one of them...

For lunch we drove back to Portree and had a quick stop there. I headed to the Co-op to get a sandwich and some fruit and then to a nice looking coffee shop across the road to grab a take-away coffee. I wish I could have had lunch in the cafe as it looked really nice. Then it was back on the bus to drive to our next stop if the day. We were packing a lot of places in today. We drove to the Sligachan River. First things first, we all trooped off the bus and headed to the toilets in the hotel/bar. There was a tip jar/charity box on the counter and we were told to put some money into that before using the facilities. The bar/restaurant looked nice and I longed to sit there and have a boozy pub lunch, since it feels like forever ago since I last had one. Then we headed down to the river. The scenery here is gorgeous, the Cuillin Mountain range is located behind the river and the tops were shrouded in a little cloud, very intense looking scenery. Our reason for visiting the river was not just to look at the beautiful scenery, but to look younger, too. There is a local legend that says if you dip your face in the water you will look seven years younger. Well, of course, I was going to give that a try. I found a suitable spot to perch myself on the rocks and dunked my face in. You cannot do just a quick dip, but have to have your face in for a full ten seconds, well that is what our guide told us. The water was cold, but not too bad once you got used to it and I left my face in for a couple of extra seconds hoping it might knock a few more years off. We all had a good laugh doing this. Walking along the banks of the river was absolutely gorgeous too. I would love to return to explore more of this area. I can definitely see why people believe(d) it was enchanted with fairies.

Eilean Doonan Castle was next, it is one of the most recognisable Scottish castles about. Since we didn't have too much time and it was quite expensive to go inside, we opted to just look from afar. The castle was built in the 13th century although the land had been inhabited since the 6th century. The castle is built out on a rock and a bridge has been built to connect it to the mainland. It is very popular with tourists and as a wedding venue. I bet you get some stunning wedding photos there, so long as the weather cooperates. We wandered along the path and took some photos of the castle. It is very pretty. There is a gift shop and cafe that we had a mooch around. The cafe do excellent cakes and great coffees, definitely worth popping on for an afternoon snack.

Glen Shiel is valley that runs for approximately nine miles through the Highlands. We climbed a small hill there, so we could take in the views. It was stunning, so peaceful and isolated. It felt like we were a million miles from civilisation. We had passed the mountains called the Five Sisters of Kintail and our guide had told us the legend that accompanies this mountain range. There was a farmer, who had seven daughters. One day, two brothers sailed across the loch and fell in love with the two youngest sisters, however their father forbade them to marry. He wanted the oldest sisters to be married first. The sailors told the father that they had five older brothers who would be perfect for the older sisters. In the end the father let his two youngest go, on the promise they would return with the eligible bachelors. So the sisters waited and waited, they waited so long they turned to stone.

We came across a field of Hairy Coos, so we stopped to get some photos and selfies with them. One seemed pretty riled, so we kept away from that one. We then continued on to our hostel for the night. We were staying at Morag's Lodge in Fort Augustus. It is just outside the centre of town, with a nice, big garden. We all got checked-in, which took a little while, our bus and another one where checking-in. The hostel is owned by Haggis and it is where the two tours converge, as the five day people who be leaving with our guide to go back to Edinburgh tomorrow and those of us on the ten day tour would be meeting our new guide and tourmates.

Earlier on the bus, our guide had handed a menu sheet around for the hostel as they do food, but you have to pre-order. Their specialty is 'Chaggis', so myself and most of the bus ordered that. I think the dinner cost about £8, which is pretty good value. I think they served dinner around 6-6:30 pm. There is a big dining room for us all to sit in. Also if there wasn't enough space there was extra seating in the bar. So Chaggis is basically chicken + haggis. The meal was a chicken breast stuffed with haggis, covered in a creamy whiskey sauce and served with mashed potato, carrots and green beans. Haggis is Scotland's national dish and doesn't really look or sound appealing. It is a sheep's innards; the heart, liver and lungs, mixed with oatmeal, onion, suet and spices. The ingredients are all minced together and then fed into a sheep's stomach to hold it all together, just think skins on sausages. I'm sure we used to get offered it for School Dinners on special occasions like Burn's Night, I don't remember if I ever tried it. However together with all the other stuff it sounded good. The verdict: it was bloody delicious and I polished off the lot, the whiskey sauce was like crack, I couldn't get enough of it.

There was the option to go down to Loch Ness after dinner and do a boat cruise. Maybe you could spot Nessie while you were down there. I wasn't feeling it and I knew I had a further two nights in Fort Augustus if the others said it was amazing and wanted to do it in the future. So a few of us just chilled in the bar, until the others returned. I got to sample some local beers, they were pretty good. The Nessie one wasn't that amazing but the others I tried were much nicer. Then it was pub quiz time. That was a right laugh, such good fun and our team won. A late, drunken night was had by all.

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