Day One: Isle Of Skye
the sweet town of Portree
After finishing The West Highland way I spent one night camping at the base of Ben Nevis. The next day I hopped on an evening bus from Fort Williams to The Isle Of Skye. I spent three days on The Isle Of Skye, circling the north-east peninsula or arm of the island:
Portree, Staffin, Rubha Hunish, Uig & back to Portree
I stayed at the Portree Independence Hostel for one night. In the morning I walked around the little town enjoying the sunshine & eventually stopped for a quick coffee. After a nice walk around town, I picked up my pack from the hostel & looked for a bus heading north to The Old Man of Storr. The bus I found was the 57A heading counter clockwise around the northeast peninsula of Skye.
On the bus I met a Canadian Couple who were planning a multi day trek and a dude from Montana, which I thought was pretty cool since I’ve never met anyone from Montana before. We ended up hiking around Storr together.
the Old Man Of Storr
The Old Man of Storr was really cool & there are a bunch of trails in the area for exploring. With my new Montana friend we decided to go up to the base of the main spire who I am assuming is the Old Man.
You can see the trail leading up to the base of the spire in the image above: below & slightly left of the spire. It is a little bit of a scramble but the view from up there is excellent & pictured below.
then off to Corran Beach
From The Old Man of Storr I hopped back on the 57A bus & headed up the road a little ways to the village of Staffin. The bus doesn’t have a stop in the tiny town, but the driver kindly stopped for me to hop off right across from a trail head I spotted on my map.
The trail lead up a small hill offering lovely views over the village & of the Quiraring, a collection of hills beyond. I was planning to visit these hills next since the sun was still shinning. The path then trailed up & over the other side of the hill, following a grassy stone path that looked quite ancient. I followed along until the trail delivered me to An Corran Beach.
an epic camp spot
a little island in the stenscholl river
After the sweet little beach I walked along, back to the main road where I hoped to hitch a ride farther along the main road to the Quiraring. However, along the way I passed an idyllic camp site: The site was a little spit of land, an island really, with river flowing by on either side, flowing out to meet the sea. I would later learn the river’s name to be Stenscholl and its flow was rapid enough to create a very pleasant soundtrack.
It was probably ten feet across, but a perfectly positioned path lead me easily across to the island. I walked around the whole island before picking a spot to place my tent, like when a dog circles a few times before settling down. I was looking for the optimal spot.
It was a treat to set up camp so early, it was only 5pm and the sun wouldn’t set until close to 9pm. After setting up my tent I laid down for a bit, watching clouds pass by through the sheer dyneema of my tent. Then, I made a dinner that felt very fancy: couscous again but with left over salad that needed to be eaten, sliced radish for a peppery taste, those toasted nuts again, and a bougie squeeze of lemon.
With so much sunlight I spent the next few hours making a huge dent in my book. However, I was reading Sharp Objects and as twilight came it became a little too scary to read alone in a tent. So I placed the book back in my pack, as far away from me as my tent would allow, double checked my knife was within reach and went to sleep.
Good Night.
