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Published: September 16th 2016
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First full day in Isle of Skye, and it is raining.
I slept in for a little longer today. After breakfast, I drove to the town of Portree, the capitol of Isle of Skye. Thank God, the roads here are not single track. I had planned on doing one of the popular, difficult hikes today, but because of of the rain, I cancelled the hike. If it was a trail I know or if I was hiking with someone else, then I would have considered hiking in the rain, but that is not an option by myself. Instead, I parked in town and checked out my options in the Visitor's Center. They recommended doing an easy circular hike nearby, or what I though was an easy hike.
The hike itself was easy, but the trail was narrow, muddy and with overgrown shrubs which were wet from rain. By the time I was done with the hike, I was completely wet from the waist down......since my hiking boots weren't waterproof, my socks and boots were soaked through. After the hike, I went back to the Visitor's Center and change into dry clothes. Then I spent most of the time looking
around town and window shopping.
Being disappointed at not doing any of the hikes I wanted and since I didn't feel like driving around in the rain, I went back to the B&B early. The hostess made some tea and we had a lovely chat about each other's lives. She has 3 daughters, who also live in the Isle of Skye. Since this island is not know for industry or big cities, I asked what livelihood enables them to live here. It seems the Isle of Skye has had a revival of the Gaelic language so much that there is a community college that specializes in it. Two of her daughters teach there. The third daughter and her husband run a TV program in the Gaelic language.
My second full day in Isle of Skye, and it is still raining. Today, there are Highland Games in Portree.
I had to check out of the B&B, as there was no availability for a 3rd night. Since it is very difficult to get 1 night's accommodation during the height of the tourist season at another B&B, I booked a dorm room at a hostel in Portree. I drove to
Portree and parked near my hostel, since check in is not until 2pm, I went to the Highland Games.
At the ticket counter, I asked the older gentleman, what the highlight of the games was. He replied, do you like men in kilts? Unfortunately, I missed the Highland Dancing. I was there for "Throwing the Hammer" and "Putting the Stone" events. One of the food booths at the games was The Isle of Skye Baking Company. They had lots of variety of breads that it was difficult to decide what to buy. I bought several things and they were all delicious. As it was raining and it is difficult to stand for a long time, I left during the Lap Races to walk around town. After some souvenir shopping, I slowly made my way to the The Isle of Skye Baking Company cafe. I relaxed with some tea and more of the delicious baked goods. On my way back to the Highland Games, I stopped at the hostel and checked in. I got back to the games in time to see the "Tug-of-War" event.
I stayed for one night at the Portree Independent Hostel; I highly recommend this
hostel. it is in the center of town, the staff is very friendly and helpful, the beds and linen are nice and clean, but best of all, the bathrooms are private. During my travels, I stayed at hostels some of the time, the bathrooms are my biggest issue......there is no privacy. I guess it didn't matter when I was young, but now that I am older, I like my privacy. As I was watching the news on the "telly," I met a lady from Singapore. We got to talking, so we decided to go out to dinner together. It was nice.
As I have another travel day tomorrow, I went to bed early.
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