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Published: March 29th 2008
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Cheers! Lav raises a glass to the Ectopic Pregnancy Trust and the Pennine Way - The Long Way Up!
We both had a wonderful time exploring and hiking around Skye - we now look forward with excitement to our fundraising hike for the Ectopic Pregnancy Trust starting on 27 April 2008. Sunday 16 March to Saturday 21 March - 51 miles of hiking, up to 7 hours of walking a day and a total ascent of 7000ft climbed - we really tested our hiking stamina in Skye! Pennine Way here we come!
We had always seen photos of Skye and heard it was a walker's paradise, so we couldn't wait to get to the misty Isle to see what wonderful sights we were to behold. Some say that the Isle of Skye (An t-Eilean Sgiathanach) was named after the old Norse word for "cloud" (skuy), earning itself the Gaelic moniker Eliean a Cheo (Island of Mist).
On our way up to Skye we had the opportunity to reminisce about our hike along the 'West Highland Way' in 2003, as we drove to Fort William and passed the stunning Loch Lomond, the snowy Ben Lomond and the magnificent Ben Nevis - both of which we had fun hiking! We passed walkers attempting to hike the West Highland Way and it brought back many fond memories for us - except for recalling the persistent biting midges and Lav having a blood sucking 'tick' join her for the hike on her shoulder -
Hooray we have arrived in Skye!
Here we are with the famous Black Cullin mountain range in the backdrop. Steve had to use tweezers to remove it. The 95 mile West Highland Way starts just outside Glasgow and finishes in Fort William; well on the top of Ben Nevis if you are up for the challenge of hiking the highest mountain in the UK (as we were in 2003).
After a quick stop at a farm shop and Morrisons for our week's supplies we drove and drove for hours to Skye in search of our remote cottage - 'Puffin Cottage'. We ended up reaching Skye in the dark, which is not the best idea when you have to find a remote cottage along twisty mountain roads. We seemed to suddenly end up on a very potholed and bumpy road, heading for a very dark and eerie forest. Every now again we would hear 'clunk' as another large stone hit the underside of the car. We then came across a sign that said, 'No vehicles past this point' - despite seeing this warning we were convinced that this must be the right road because we were in search of a remote cottage... When the forest started appearing to be something out of the 'Blair Witch Project' - it was
very creepy, the penny 'finally' dropped that our cottage was probably in a remote spot, but not quite this remote! When we checked the map to see where we were, we realised that we had been heading for a cliff edge! SatLav was not quite on her usual form. Oops! At 9.45pm, very tired and relieved we found our remote cottage! It was near a cliff, so as we stepped out the car we were greeted with whistling and gusts of wind. We thought...umm, perfect. The cottage was gorgeous with a wood burning log stove fire and stone underfloor heating - Lav who loves the heat, was in heaven!
One down side, but it was still rather amusing, was that we experienced a puncture on the famous Skye Bridge which links the mainland to Skye - we were driving across the bridge when we heard 'BANG' - we knew that meant trouble. Steve managed to roll the car down off the bridge and yes, as we had guessed we had a flat. Steve of course stepped in as 'Mr Kwik Fit' and got to work changing the tyre. Of all the places to break down, on the Skye Bridge!
Well that was better than if we had broken down in the creepy forest we had encountered on our first night trying to find our cottage.
We spent the week exploring beautiful mountains, glens, beaches, amazing coastlines, castles, the lovely island of Raasay, lost villages and went in search of eagles, red deer, whales, seals and otters and of course the famous Talisker Distillery. It was very cold and blustery at times on Skye, so we needed a wee dram to warm us up! Skye was absolutely stunning and the weather very very changeable. One minute we could be walking in a snow blizzard being pelted with hailstones and the next minute there would be glorious sunshine. There was snow, ice and at times heavy clouds over the famous Black Cullin mountains - the Alps of the British Isles, so very sadly we were unable to hike up to these mountains - but Skye was so charming (as well as the lovely people living on the island) and a hiker's paradise, we will be sure to go back one day! We were both very sad to leave.
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