DAY 16

Tuesday June 7^th 2016                                                             

Kyle of Lochalsh to Strontian (via Isle of Skye)                       Miles 204

I had never before been to the Isle of Skye so I chose to make this part of my outer coast and miss of some of the inner coast.  I could have gone to Outer Hebrides, but this would have added a further 2 days at least and as my journey is the British mainland, that would be an indulgence too much on a trip of this length.

I was glad to leave my musty B&B, who contacted me later to say that according to AirB&B I was booked for a second night and they realised that I was not staying.  This probably happened when trying to book over the internet at the previous B&B.  The internet crashed while I was trying to book and I started again,  but it must have picked up both bookings. I would have thought it would have been two bookings for the same night rather than for a second night.  I stopped at a café on Skye and went on line and cancelled the booking, but I am not sure that AirBnB will give me a refund.  If they do not then they can take a hike as far as any future business from me!

Anyway on to Skye.  The (fairly) new bridge was a lot shorter in length than I had imagined so the previous ferry journey from Kyle could have only taken 5 minutes by boat.  I had always assumed that Skye was quite some distance from the mainland.  It still is of course if you travel from other parts of Scotland by ferry.  I would imagine that the bridge has made a huge difference to the economy on Skye, especially tourism and also house prices close to the bridge so commuting is possible.

The first thing I noticed was the high number of B&Bs with their signs outside.  With internet bookings these signs are quickly becoming a thing of the past.  Anyway I did not see one all day that had “vacancies” on their sign, so business is clearly booming.  If I had pressed on last night, as I was tempted to do when my host did not turn up on time, I would have had a bleak time trying to find a bed.

Ramsay to Skye Ferry

The view from Skye back to the mainland and over the islands of Scalpay and Raasay was incredible.  Unfortunately there was quite a haze over the ocean (it was 21 degrees at 9.00am) that photos are not especially dramatic.

My objective was to do a loop around the north of the island, to the furthest point, and then drop down and cross over to the western spur of the island, circle this and then go on to Armadale and catch the ferry over to Mallaig. 

The road to Portree, the main town on the island, takes you up through a wide pass with very large mountains ahead.  Once again these mountains are high and are just rock faced for their final third.  The ground below is mainly moorland.

Eventually I arrived at Portree which is a really pretty little harbor town.  This has B&Bs and small hotels overlooking the working harbor.  All had no vacancies and I could see why.  I took a walk along the harbor and saw a man unloading an old red Royal Mail van (though it had been painted you could still see the Royal Mail livery underneath).  He was handing creels of some sort down to a colleague standing in a fishing boat.  This person was throwing in some bait, plus breaking up an unidentified shell fish and adding this also and then the creel was stacked at the back of the boat.  All were tied together so he was careful how he stacked them.  When they would be thrown over the side of the boat they would pay out one after the other so they should not tangle.  It seemed unusual though that these were being taken, already tied together, out of the back of a van.  I asked the first guy how man creels they had.  “Don’t know” he said.  “However many I could get in the van.”  “What are you fishing for” I then asked.  “Wrass” he said, although I had to ask him twice as his accent was difficult to attune to.  I then asked his partner, in the boat, “How long do you leave them out, once set”.  He looked up at me and laughed.  “Haven’t a clue” he replied.  “We’ve never done this before.  It’ll be our first time out.”  I wished them luck!

Looking back after having “done” the island I think that Portree is the prettiest place on Skye.  A bit like a Cornish fishing village.

My next  stop was at  Staffin as I needed to find WiFi so I could contact AirBnB. I saw a café sign and found myself in the Columba 1400 Centre. This is a charitable organisation that seeks to help youth at the crossroads time of their lives, late teens early twenties.  They particularly focus on young people who have dropped out of education or had difficult backgrounds.  They come to Skye, or their other site at Loch Lomond and spend a week in the classroom and then outdoors building their confidence and helping them to understand that they can achieve more than they might have believed they could. 

At age 19 I went on an Outward Bound course at Burghead (mentioned earlier).  This was more militaristic and outdoorsy focused, or so it seems, than Columba 1400.  However at Columba 1400, after attending the one work course there is then regular follow up, which Outward Bound did not do.  At the time I felt glad that I had survived and I certainly (after I got home) realised how much I had enjoyed it and I’m sure over the years I have benefitted from it.  I hope these youngsters who attend Columba 1400 do so to.  I’m glad that my coffee money is being used for a good cause.

Road to Staffin

As I left Staffin, for the top point of the island, I passed a very nice looking bungalow called Graceland that had outside two large, green, professionally made signs.  One made out as if it was a street sign and said ‘Elvis Presley Boulevard’ and the other stated in very large letters ‘We will always love you’.  This all seemed very much out of place on the Isle of Skye.  I really wanted to go and knock on the door and see who answered it.  Would the person be dressed in a silver sequined jump suit opened down to the waist and talk with a pseudo southern drawl.    I wonder if they knew that Elvis had died sitting on the toilet, straining, as he was constipated through overuse of oxycontin.  Not quite so romantic an image!

This must have really had an effect on me as I then started singing an Elvis song, but with a Scottish accent.  This later changed to an impression of Elvis singing ‘Donald Where’s Your Trusers’.  For my non-British readers this was an old song by an artist called Andy Stewart,  about a man from the Isle of Skye who went to London and the girls laughed at him for wearing a kilt.

Having photographed the northern tip of the Island and obviously feeling lonely just singing to myself, I stopped and gave a lift to a young man with a backpack who was hitching a lift.  When he spoke I thought he was French, but it turned out that he was an architectural student from Quebec.  Those Canadians get everywhere (and not just the geese).  He was hitching to a camp site about 15 miles further on and along my loop.  This should have been a quick journey, but once again we had cattle in the road, this time being herded by a farmer.  He seemed happy to allow the cattle to graze the grass on the side of the road and you can therefore imagine the traffic build up that occurred either side of this moving road bloc.  As this was again a single track road with passing places and the passing places were now all full up with cars, I was concerned as to how traffic would be able to pass and clear itself once the cattle had been put into a new field.  We were car number two from our side and were able to squeeze by when the cattle had gone.

Uig

I then followed the coastal trail from Uig, where his camp site was located, and started on my final loop of the western spur of Skye.  It now started to rain quite heavily and blurred any view, which was mainly of moor and mountain.  To amuse myself I tried out my Scottish accents and I think I made a discovery about how the different accents vary across Scotland.  I discovered that (at least the way I spoke the words) that the east coast accent is caused by speaking the words from the top and back of the mouth near the nasal passage, with the tongue arched up.  Whereas the softer western accent is spoken by keeping the upper lip still and annunciating the words from the bottom of the mouth at the front inside the lower jaw with the tongue in a u shape.  It seems to work for me.

My car on ferry - last one on

As I got closer to the ferry terminal at Armadale, so the sun came out.  With the sun came my luck as well.  I was booked on a 4.30 ferry but when I got there the 2.30pm had not yet left due to exceptionally low tides at the moment.  They agreed to let me on (I was the last car) so I got to Mallaig around 3.00pm rather than the 5.00pm I was expecting.  The ferry journey is only half an hour but this ferry has a bar, a simple restaurant and a shop.  BC Ferries take note.

From Mallaig my journey to my B&B at Strontian was about 50 miles.  I chose this place as it was the only vacancy I could find that was close enough for me to visit Ardnamurchan Point in the morning and then catch a ferry to the Isle of Mull, where I will stay tomorrow night. 

Immediately outside of Mallaig I found a lovely beach and made myself a cup of tea.  For those of you who know me you will realize that just because I am traveling that does not mean I should not drink tea properly.  I have a stove for fresh boiling water, akettle (yes with a whistle), a china teapot and a china cup.  The water boils in less than five minutes so it is all very quick.  I even had a piece of ginger bread with it (bought at Tescos 2 days ago).  The road on became aother coastal route and at one stage, for a few miles, I was driving right alongside the beach.  There was a great view across to Skye and the islands of Eigg and Rum. The third island Muck (yes that is its name) was hidden.

The main road, classified as an A road, is once again, single track with passing places.  It is a bit wider than others I have traveled, so as long as I kept a good look out, I made good time.

I stopped once at a small community café at Glenuig and read on their notice board that the locals had formed a Development Corporation, based on their post code, so as to access government funding and raise other monies so as to buy up local land, when available and build low cost housing.  This was being done expressly to allow young people to be able to remain in the area.  At the moment, due to the plethora of houses being bought for B&Bs, the housing stock is limited and expensive.  I thought that this was an enterprising way of maintaining their community and helping to ensure its longer term survival.

One joy on being back in the UK is BBC Radio 4.  The news and comment is so good, the programs are varied from current affairs, to plays and there are often good quiz programs.  Today I began to enjoy the program “A Good Read” where the guests were two ex-television news readers talking about their favourite books.   One of them said that his favourite book was Bill Bryson’s “Noted From A Small Island”.  Great I thought, let’s hear what they think about someone traveling around the UK and making comments on the British people.  At that precise moment the radio went silent!  Most radio is now broadcast digitally and my car is fitted with a digital radio.  Unfortunately the mountainous terrain spoils the signal.  It does not just crackle, as it did in the old days but you could still hear the program, now it just goes to silence.  As sod’s law operates, when the signal came back, the program was just wrapping up and they were thanking the guests for their comments.  Anyway we all know that Bill wrote (now two) excellent books.  My scribblings are not destined to be a book, unless my Son In Law (who is a publisher) twists my arm.

Finally after a lot of twists and turns and deep searching in hills and woods I found my B&B for the night, a very nice place deep in the country.  The couple who have taken it over have only owned it for 3 weeks and their internet has broken.  I am therefore writing this in a community café in the village, but may have to come back in the morning to send it.

Tomorrow I hit the west cardinal point and then it is on to Mull to look up my royal ancestor.