Mark here: Skye continued.

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The next day we had a full day on Skye, and we carpe'd the diem out of it. First stop was to regain eternal beauty by dipping one's face in an ancient river for 7 seconds.

We made a quick stop in Portree for food/touristy shopping. It's a beautiful wee town, could have stayed there for ages. I called my grandad who had just had knee replacement surgery to chat for a bit. He sounded good, but I'm worried about him. Poor guy has had about 6 hip surgeries in the past 10-15 years and has a hard enough time getting around as it is. He sounded pretty optimistic though, which made me feel better at the time. I can't wait to get down there for Christmas.

Anyways, we then drove off from Portree towards the Old Man of Storr, a rock formation/cliff near Staffin. Otherwise known as the Quiraing, a truly stunning sight, even if the weather was kind of crazy. It's over 500m to the top (double Arthur's Seat), with fantastic views the whole way up to make you forget that a) your legs don't like it and b) the fact that it was POURING most of the time! Once at the top we chilled for a little bit, and Graham asked who of the group wanted to keep exploring and who wanted to go back to the bus. Like Loch Ness, a silly question to the two Canucks of the group.

Off about 10 of us went, on another path that brought us to the edge of a very very steep embankment. Here we rested for a bit while Graham spun some tales about the MacLeods who used to live in these hills, very cool. And THEN he led us in a highland charge DOWN the 500m we had just scaled UP. Very cool, kinda scary, intensely vertical. For the next two or three days, Mark and I both were suffering from shredded IT bands (massage therapist speak for the outside section of your quads) because of this controlled descent! I'm serious, it was painful to go down stairs for ages. We were both walking around Edinburgh like old men when we got back.

The very final part of the highland charge saw most of us sliding down the damp Skye grass on our butts, Mark achieving rocket man status. Amazing. Then we trekked back down towards the bus over stone walls, wet heather and wee burns and streams that had popped up because of all the rain. It doesn't get a lot more Scottish than that.

Soaked but adrenaline pumping we got back on the bus and headed towards Kilt Rock. Quick photo op, man oh man it was cold getting off the bus. We visited the ruins of a MacDonald castle, and then one more stop before calling it a day: An enchanted Faery Glen. OMG OMG OMG.

I've always had a penchant for the wee folk and anything magical, witches, superstition and stuff like that. My friend Jeremy told me about this place, and I was pretty excited. Regardless of whether or not you believe the folklore, being in such a quiet beautiful place is still very cool. We had less than half an hour to explore, and the sun was coming down. That's why some of my pictures aren't very clear at all (STUPID NEW CAMERA!!!). Graham said to just let us go where our feet took us, and that it was a place of good energy. I agree. I booked it up to the top of the Faery Fort and looked around me. Below me were the ancient stone spirals, behind me were gentle sleeping hills, and the stars were coming out over me. Very peaceful. Mark and I met up and walked through a grove of trees together. It was almost like being in a graveyard, you just felt that much respect for the place.

An exhausting day, but I felt so great when we got back on the bus. As always, I was dreading the last day of the tour. I told Mark that odds were, the weather would be amazing the last day. It's either a cruel irony or a lovely send-off, but it always happens!

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Photos

Photo 1
Beautiful, beautiful Skye. This is part of the Cullin mountain range, which goes from red to black. Very dramatic.

Photo 12
This is the river where you are supposed to be granted eternal beauty if you hold your face in the water for 7 seconds. I rather enjoyed the view this afforded me ;)

Comments

[Gill]

Carpe'd the Diem?
I love it, I'm sat here, catching up on your adventures, and had to read that one aloud to my Girlfriend. I think that single expression explained to her exactly why I try to keep in touch with you. I'm still jealous of your remarkable journey, but you know that once you're home, you've got a place to crash in Ottawa if you want to catch up and have a few.

[Colleena]

I'm with the camera!
You gotta stop bitching about you're lovely little camera...it took some really nice ones here. It's got a lot of bad press on this little blog of yours...love the camera...BE the camera...and maybe it'll love you. :o) I'm loving the black and white stuff...and you're hunny's tush (hehe).