D9 + D10: The Old Man of Storr and Off to Glasgow I go.

---

I’m mixing together the past two days because I had no wifi when I changed hostels and meh, such is life.
(Also, I'm on a train and their wifi isn't strong enough for photos - so they're to come later.)

June 27: The Old Man of Storr

I headed out on the school bus again this morning lol, this time I was headed just north of Portree - to the Old Man of Storr. This time the bus actually drops you at the bottom of the mountain which is good (less of a hike) but also supremely daunting to look up and be like... oh... that is quite high, isn't it?

I was also greated by a lovely sign that cautioned hikers that due to decay and bad weather that the top most part of the trail was quite worn out and to basically proceed at your own risk. Hm. We shall see.

God the walk was long and tiresome hahaha. There is no nice way to put that. The bottom part was a winding dirt path which was quite steep but at least it was solid. The views sucked at this point - they're currently in the middle of deforestation (????) so the base of the mountain is a drab logging space. The majority of the climb was quite steep where two paths ran intertwined: one with giant rocks as steps (easier to come down) and one grass/dirt/mud (better traction going up, or coming down in wet weather).

I took a break some point along that part of the climb. I perched myself on a rock just off the path and ate my sandwhich and apple. To be fair the views were now amazing since we were high enough to escape the deforestation. The view into the valley and loch were beautiful, as one can expect. As well, the view up to the Old Man was impressive - it's this giant rock near the top ridge that is like an old man watching over Skye.

I made it to the top of the main path which was a reward in itself. Looking back down to the road faaaaarrrrr below, the landscape in front of me and the fresh mountain air... remarkable.
I could see people up beside the Old Man - I saw a lot of people trying to climb up the vertical rock face with varying degrees of failure lol and saw one girl take a pretty solid slip n' slide down her backside (thankfully she wasn't that high up so didn't have that far to fall).

I wasn't game for a rock climbing expedition so I stood there for a bit debating what to do. Most people were coming up and going right back down... seems like such a waste of effort haha. (It is such a steep steep climb ok). I wanted to get my climbs worth!

I noticed another path off to the side and figured why not - at least it's going somewhere and not just back down the mountain. To my delight as it turned the bend I realized it was a proper path going towards the Old Man! Yesssss exploratory hiking for the win!

My excitement was a little short lived... as I got closer I could see that the top part of the path was pretty much ruined - there were stones everywhere but not stepping stones as such, more like falling rocks haha. And yet, I wasn't turning back now. I had my trusty hiking boots and the knowledge that I just have to keep low and I won't fall. So I did it - I got to the top of Old Man of Storr and touched the rock and did a little happy dance. Unfortunately I then had to come back down and that proved to be much more difficult... you see in the time I spent getting up to the giant rock, the winds randomly picked up. And I mean really picked up. So there I am, holding on to a smaller rock, debating my options. I could sit it out and wait... but that's problematic because who knows how long it will be windy for. I decided I was going to do the bum slide (or well, just about) to get back to the solid path. I put my camera away (oh God, the last thing I want to break), tightened my backpack and purse straps and got low. It was a very, very long way down what was maybe 10-15 feet high. But I made it without a single slip.

Pfft, the rest of the walk back down to the base was a breeze after that. Well, it is still quite steep going down so you have to almost lean back as you walk which is an odd sensation, but whatever. On the way down I also marvelled at the amount of tourists showing up wearing flats rather than hiking boots. For their own sake I truly hope they don't try going all the way up because they won't make it.

I got back to Portree earlier than planned; I didn't want to go back to Broadford yet because I was changing hostels and couldn't check in until 5pm... so I wandered around town a bit before plopping myself down on a bench in the town square. Perfect place to people watch, really. I met a few locals, met a few fellow travellers and saw everyone and their brother eating ice cream. Although I'm not generally one to turn down ice cream, I was quite cold from the wind (I hadn't brought my coat) so I didn't partake in the apparent custom.

Back on the school bus at 3:30pm - the driver had a good chuckle. Evety time I've gone in or out of Broadford I've had the same driver - he's nice at least. I got on a bit early and we got to chatting about Skye, how much I'm enjoying it, and he talked about driving the busses and how he enjoyed all the people. Super nice guy. I'm trying to figure out who he reminds me of though... it's driving me crazy.

Back in Broadford I finally gave in and got some fish n' chips by the Bay before switching to a different hostel (way cheaper on Friday nights) where I met my first fellow Canadians of this trip! We had a good laugh - they were two sisters from just outside London, ON - the older one asked if I'd been to the Old Man today because she was pretty sure she saw me on my way down haha. Talk about a small world.

---

June 28: Off to Glasgow I go

Today was a very people-centric day. I honestly cannot explain how much I enjoy the friendly nature of people in Scotland. Fine the stereotypes of the Scottish person might not be the most flattering but in reality everyone I meet is just so open and welcoming - yes some are a little grumpy haha, but still welcoming.

I headed off to catch the bus into Kyle of Lochalsh - a local was looking at the bus times but for the weekdays. He asked me if I’d been waiting long, which led into me reminding him it’s Saturday (details) and so began our 20 minute conversation about life. He owns one of the major car rental businesses in the area, so he was heading up to Kyle to collect a car. We talked at length about Skye, the little nooks and crannies of the Isle and he wanted to hear all about my decision to come here and visit - of course this led into a talk about my summer voyages, how the UK is like a second home yada yada. He also wanted to hear about teaching in Canada vs teaching in England. Well now that was a story, wasn’t it 😉

I got to the train station half an hour early and watched as a navy boat came into port - they were yelling all sorts of things but I wasn’t listening close enough to decipher it. While watching the boat, this older gentleman came over and quipped: “Always lots happening on Skye. A naval boat coming into dock. A bus trying to park. Quite the hub.” I had to laugh. And so began one of my fav conversations I’ve ever had while travelling 😊

He was a Weegie (from Glasgow) who moved to Skye 20 years ago and never looked back. He was like a walking encyclopedia and I loved it. After the general “where are you from?” he had this devilish little grin with his follow up: “Every time I meet a Canadian I ask this question and in 15 years only 1 person has ever got it right.” (No pressure) “Which is closer to the equator: Lake Erie/London, Ontario, California/Oregon border or Italy/Swiss border.”

The traveller/geographer in me died a little haha.
(Google it. I’m not telling you the answer lol)

We got into a great talk about my travels, why Scotland, why Skye (he’s noticed the uptake in tourists over the past 5 years or so and is curious why people are coming). When I said I kept coming back to the UK he guessed that I had heritage here - n’aw. (To be fair, I’m currently sunburnt and he also probably figured only a UK/Irish would burn in Scotland haha). In saying I was a French Canadian we got onto a whole other topic - language and separation! And politics for good measure.

We spoke about Gaelic and about French - I was saying how I taught French, but that in our schools we teach French as well as subjects in French. He started explaining the Gaelic drama going on at the moment - how all this money is being thrown at it to try and preserve it, that more resources go towards their programs and yet the school in the area that teaches it at the highest level has only produced like one teacher to teacher it haha and non-Gaels aren’t overly impressed. Sounds vaguely familiar, no?

He also noted, “doesn’t the French part of Canada keep trying to separate anyway?” Ah, I laughed. I did laugh. Yes, but I’m not from there… it’s a province next door. And so began the separation talk - he decided to give me a total rundown on the situation in Scotland - they’re voting on separation later this year and boy is it going to get nasty. He told me all about how the UK is starting to realize they’re slightly screwed without Scotland - guess where all the oil is? Yeah. Yeah. That’s a bit of money there, no? And the nuclear power. And the submarines (water isn’t deep enough further south). Oh the joy of it all. Anyway, I got a rundown on that whole story and it was great to have - when I was living in Luton the London papers would comment here and there but I feel like in the media it wasn’t a concern at that time that the vote would be a success… now I have no idea if it’s changed as of late, and sure this was just one person giving his opinion on a very divisive issue… but I’m very curious to see how this goes down. Anyway, we also talked about politics, about immigration - how Scotland wants more while the UK seems to be getting slightly (or not so slightly depending where you are) xenophobic.

So yes. I had my philosophical and profound conversation for the week - it was quite the time.

On with my journey! Train ride to Inverness was nice and calm, nothing crazy happened oddly enough. We even left on time, imagine that... and even more shocking, we arrived on time!!! Which meant I actually made my connection to Glasgow haha. World is good.

---

Photos

The main trail
Note the warning of falling rocks. Hopefully not the rock you're standing on.