The Isle of Skye

Last Wednesday I set off for a 6-night adventure on the Isle of Skye with Steve & Rich. We flew from Heathrow into Inverness then picked up a hire car for the 2 & a half hour drive to the island, stopping at Loch Ness to say hi to 'Nessie' on the way...
The plan for the first day was a 'gentle stroll' to Loch Coir' a' Ghrunnda. Once we got there however, there was a Munro (Scottish hill over 3000ft) just there beckoning us up... Hence we knocked off Sgurr Dubh Mor & our nice easy 'introduction' to Skye turned into an 8-hour walking day! A photo op on the way to the summit...The view looking back down on Loch Coir' a' GhrunndaOur first Munro on Skye! Steve & I on the summit of Sgurr Dubh MorThere was no-one else around to take a summit shot of the 3 of us so we had a lot of fun playing around with the self-timers on our cameras...

The next day was also a big walking day. Our target was Sgurr nan Gillean which Trail magazine rates as one of the top 10 Munros to climb. It was a magic day out; a lovely scenic walk-in, bit of a slog up some scree slopes & over some boulder fields, then a grade-2 scramble to the top. Rich carried on & knocked another one off as well, while Steve & I went to the pub (where the path conveniently starts from) & got a few pints in while we waited for him. A hearty pub meal finished off one of my best days in the hills...Heading for the hills! This was about as scenic as a walk-in gets... Our peak is the one on the left.What a day! (for Scotland...) and what a magnificant mountain range!!!Stopping for a breather & taking in the view...Then onwards & upwards...

Munro number 2! The summit of Sgurr nan Gillean

The next day was a rest day, which was a good thing considering we didn't finish our nightly game of poker till after 2am! We had a nice sleep-in, a leisurely brunch, then caught the ferry over to the picturesque Loch Coruisk for a picnic complete with bottle of bubbly...

On the Sunday it was back to the hills. For the guys that was... I went half-way up with them to Loch Coire Lagan where I set up base with my ipod & puzzle book & chilled out for a few hours while the boys knocked off another 2 Munros, one of which was Sgurr Alasdair, the highest in the Cuillin range. These 2 hills involved a couple of pretty horrendous steep scree slopes to negotiate, which I decided my poor legs weren't quite up to... Looking down on Loch Coire Lagan, I'm down there somewhere lounging by the Loch's shore... A huge hunk of rock! You can see the way up via the scree slope on the far right. Somehow I didn't quite fancy it...

Steve coming down the second scree slope. You can just make him out as a speck in the middle of the photo. It was a heck of a lot faster coming down than it was to go up!

Our last day on the island we just chilled out & did the tourist thing a bit. We visited Portree which is the capital town, & suprisingly busy with loads of coach tours. The following day it was a drive back to Inverness & then a plane back home. In our absence England had developed a heatwave & it was 35 degrees or so on our return!

The last few days have been really chilled, I've spent most of the time lying in the garden reading a book & enjoying the sunshine! Pre-season training for rugby has started so that was hard work last night in the heat. I pick Will up from the airport on saturday, he is back from his 2-week trip to Canada & the Sates so I'm really looking forward to seeing him. Then on Wednesday I'm off on my 4-week trip to Slovenia/Croatia etc, but I'll write another post before then with my plans, once I actually finalise them in the next few days!