The day began with three necessary flat whites and a hot tea in Portree before driving the Trotternish peninsula loop on the Isle of Skye.
Finally out of the storm, the forecast promised to be mostly sunny with possible showers. Which meant all of our photos would, again, be bogarted by pesky rainbows.
Not far from town was the first big stop, the Old Man of Storr, Skye’s most iconic landmark.
There are a few competing legends surrounding the uniquely shaped rock pinnacle and the mountains behind it: from fallen Giants to mischievous Fairies and friendly Brownies. All seem to contain just the right about of magic that, when standing at the mountain’s base, fantasy easily becomes reality.
If I ever come back here, I’d be sure to do the long hike around the Old Man, but that wasn’t quite in the cards this time.
We continued north, pausing often to take in the breathtaking scenery overlooking the Sound of Raasay. Waterfalls, sheer cliff faces, interesting rock formations, quaint villages with nothing but white buildings and sheep for days.
Where the east coastline had dizzying vertical cliffs, the west side is mostly grassy slopes and, in our case, short bursts of freezing horizontal rain, shocking us back to reality.
At the most northerly point of the drive, we stopped to check out the Duntulm Castle ruins. Built in the 14th Century, the castle was occupied until 1732. There’s not much left of it now...besides, of course, a ridiculously beautiful setting that strongly evokes the imagination.
With a pit stop for scallops at Bakur Bar in Uig, we were back on the tiny, winding one lane road to Fairy Glen, just outside of Balnacnoc.
This place felt otherworldly.
The walking path traveled around grass covered, cone-shaped, swirly hills and between deep lochans (ponds) leading to the Fairy Castle, which is really just natural vertical basalt. From a distance, it looks like the ruined tower of a castle.
Nancy and I climbed our way to the top of the Fairy Castle for an incredible view of the glen, its surrounding farms, and Never-Never Land. It’s difficult to gauge from the photos, but the tippy-top of that tower was extremely narrow and dizzyingly high...it was awesome!
With the loop complete, we headed back to town for cocktails and dinner.
It was a rather quiet Sunday evening in Portree, save for one corner of town where live music was bellowing out the front door.
Curious, we popped inside and literally stepped into the middle of a wonderfully raucous musical set by a folk duo called, The Mad Ferret Band.
The place was intoxicating and intoxicated. A sea of drunken locals, dancing, singing, yelling, laughing welcomed us with open arms. Patagonia jackets, Blundstones, and jeans united with wool sweaters, tweed vests, and kilts and all were one.
We were given Ferret swag; we bought more Ferret swag...we are now Mad Ferret groupies.
If they would have played John Denver, I think we would have been compelled to open a BnB and just stay forever.
Indeed, a very good day on the Isle of Skye.
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