The dogs rose before dawn, so naturally, so did we. 7am and it was still pitch black outside but routine is routine and apparently I’m not getting out of it even on holiday.
Off for a walk we went. Just along the wiggly road and found a plastic highland cow courting a drinks fridge full of souvenirs. I love rural life. City oiks don’t come out into nature (I think they are afraid of it) so you can perfectly happily operate a souvenir shop based on an honesty box. It was windy and dark so I’ll have to come back, but it was cute.
Cup of tea in hand and add the sun rose we got our first good view from the house. It was windy but might actually be a nice day as the sun was trying to peek under the thick grey duvet of clouds. But first…Scottish breakfast.
Scottish because Haggis, but that’s nothing new. We prefer haggis on our breakfast and have it regularly, but Scottish because potato-cakes and lorne sausage. Oh yes, it was excellent. All cooked up in my van’s frying pan because the one here was clearly bought by a soft southerner who has never cooked a full Scottish fry up before. Shameful.
Bellies full and tea flask filled we took a walk down the hill from the house to the coast. Here was a 2 room school so close to the waves, part of the playground wall had fallen into the sea. A village hall with a tea room, closed, presumably till high season. And a small docks with slipway beside a rocky beach with just a bit of sand at one end. The other end stood a small cliff of weathered stone so pockmarked it looked like solid seafoam or sponge breaking like a wave overhead.
We set about exploring and videoed Daitos first interaction with the sea. He’s never seen it before so he was very interested to sniff all the seaweed and lobster pots. But then he got to the water’s edge and the waves sent him over the edge. He was both scared and excited and ran backwards and forwards jumping at them and then away from the tiny waves. It was very cute to see him so excited, but he didn’t go in, way too scary for that. Because he’s such a large dog, i forget sometimes he’s still really young. Aimi took Kayto to the water to show it was ok, but while he’s not afraid, he’s just a wimp not wanting to get wet!
Climbing back up from the beach we set out along a coastal path. This would, if we wanted to / could manage it, take us to our next accommodation 20 miles north almost as the crow flies. The path followed the edges of mountains, locks and valleys. We only got a taste of it as we reached a section of steep slippery grass above a certain cliff edge fall to the rocks below. We were steady going, but then the path had fallen away and there was no way i was doing any scrambling with Daito on a lead near exciting sheep.
We turned back, but not before spending a long time enjoying the beautiful remote scenery of the Skye coastline and it’s dramatic weather. The sun had managed to make an appearance and bathed sections of the hillside in discrete golden glows all still hidden under a thick grey blanket covering the peaks. It was really beautiful and makes us want to do a multi-day hike.
All this only took half the day, but we had been up early and walked a lot, if not far. With a cup of tea we sat outside on a picnic bench, just like we would at any coffee shop after a walk and enjoyed our remote view. The weather and wind was picking up again this afternoon so we can’t no guilt staying indoors for the rest of the day with good food, movies and cuddles in front of the fireplace.
There was no actual fire today because we had only been delivered 5 logs that the owners expected us to make last all weekend… we are saving it all for tomorrow evening when the weather is meant to be even worse. Hurrah for winter holidays!
