The Return of the Explorer

Dear Readers,

Those of you who read this blog will probably be aware that I returned a week ago from my travels. I have a notebook recording my thoughts, written each evening, thanks to the prodding of an acquaintance before I left. While I could post a standard day-by-day account of my travels, I'll leave it until I see you to provide the details. Instead here I think I'll write about some of my experiences, the odd photograph and recommendations to anyone else trying similar.

Heading for Striding Edge,
Helvellyn

Starting at the beginning, the western highlands of Scotland are a very long way from South Wales! Six hundred plus miles is only 10-12 hours of driving if you keep up a constant speed, but that doesn't take into account the slower roads in the highlands, weather, breaks and how tired you get as a driver, particularly on your own. I spent an afternoon and evening driving up to the Lake District before I slept. The following morning, as forecast, the weather was nicer and I was able to spend half the day climbing Helvellyn and exploring a few of the peaks in the eastern Lake District from Patterdale. It was lovely to stop and an ideal location to have a break.

High Bridge, remains

The afternoon and early evening were again spent driving and I called it a day near Perth. In each case I had had at least one good, long break in motorway services, but still I was exhausted and driving further wasn't sensible. Driving onwards up the A9 and across towards Fort William, I took a rest in Spean Bridge and a walk down to General Wade's High Bridge crossing Spean Gorge as the water flowing out of the Great Glen makes its way down to Fort William and the sea. The A87 road to the isles is stunning and I became a tourist stopping in a number of locations to take photographs including the iconic Eilean Donan castle at Dornie. By the time I reached accommodation on Skye the majority of a third day had passed. Despite this I had aggravated my knee from driving and it plagued the rest of my trip.

Eilean Donan Castle

The knee - Listen to your body, injuries take time to heal and it is worth resting them completely for a few days to let them get better. Instead I persisted in exploring each day and despite a pair of walking poles my knee complained constantly until I got home and stopped driving. Unfortunately I didn't realise it was the driving and thought it was twisted through walking. Particularly if you are away for a number of days, you Can afford to stop and rest.

Skye's weather - Skye is magical. The weather changes constantly and horizontal rain and gales force winds can moderate by the afternoon to leave a damp atmosphere and plenty of potential for exploring. It was rare for a day to go by with no rain at all, it was October after all!, and I lost count of the number of rainbows I saw. For me the Misty Isle or Winged Isle would be better known as the Rainbow Isle.

The scale - Skye is HUGE. Ignore the fact that it is technically an island and treat it like a county. From the bridge to the top end of Trotternish is over 70 miles, half of it on single-track roads and to try and stay in the middle and explore all over is ludicrous. If you do you'd spend an hour or two each way driving to the place you wanted to visit and use quantities of fuel. As with all the islands fuel is at least 10p more expensive than on the mainland. The scale of Skye means that you may find yourself using a quarter of a tank of fuel each way on some of the longer drives. Be aware, particularly as the garages are not numerous (Portree, Broadford, Dunvegan, possibly Uig)!
I can however recommend treating each region or peninsula independently and basing yourself for a few days exploration, before moving onwards to the next one.

The time of year - October is outside of the main tourist season. Many of the campsites and hostels shut at the end of September, despite the Scottish two week half-term holiday in October! The weather is unpredictable, and you can expect to see autumn, strong winds and the first frosts of the year. Despite that I was blessed with a high pressure system over the island for five days of glorious weather. To my knowledge Uig youth hostel was shut, as was Staffin and Glen Brittle campsite. The tourist information in Portree are able to provide a reasonable list of open and closed places. However Dun Flodigarry hostel (recommended), Kinloch campsite in Dunvegan (very friendly with free hot showers!), Sligachen bunkhouse, the BMC hut in Glen Brittle (for associate/members only) and Ashaig campsite near Broadford (open all year) were all open. The campsite at the Sligachen Hotel was officially closed, but well used by campers and campervans every evening I was there. Facilities, including beer ;), were only available in the nearby hotel. Wild camping appears to be accepted, although pitching late and striking the tent early is probably worthwhile to avoid making your site too obvious. The advantages of October include few people, even on popular walks, few midges and days which are still long enough to do a good days walk in if you get up fairly early.

Macleod's Maidens

The walks - There are numerous really good low levels walks on the island without encountering the Cuillins themselves. A small distinctive green and orange paperback book for under £3 lists 30 of the walks complete with grades and can be used by itself, although a map is recommended. I would particularly recommend a walk out to Idrigill point from Orbost to view Macleod's Maidens, a circuit of the Quiraing, Fairy Pools, Ramasaig and Lorgill (although the climbs are steep) and the Coral beaches near Dunvegan. It is also well worth taking the time to go further than your car-driving tourist who wants to bag the sights in a couple of days.

The Table of the Quiraing

To explore the Table of the Quiraing is spectacular, for instance, and a good circuit can be made from Flodigarry without driving at all. The further you go the more likely you are to see wildlife and I was treated to numerous groups of red deer, sea and golden eagles flying low over my head, otters and many species of birds including a migrating Brent Goose. Magical.

The (black) Cuillin - ... is something else! To someone who is happy to scramble the peaks of Snowdonia and the Lake District happily, the Cuillin ridge is not necessarily hard and the rock is generally firm and grippy gabbro, but unforgiving. There are a number of sections which certainly require rock climbing skills and equipment, and even on the easier scrambles the odd step is encountered which taken the wrong way leaves you shaking. A good guidebook is essential, and a guide wise, to understand which side of the obstacles to turn them. Even then following clear instructions I ended up scrambling up a damp gully on little ledges with a large drop beneath me, down-climbing was not really a pleasant option and continuing scary. Determination succeeded. Anywhere else you can usually find another route from an impasse, but here options are limited by vertical drops on either side. Take care, take great care.

Scree in the Black Cuillin

The Cuillin is also riddled with long steep scree runs, or stone shoots as they are known. These take their toll on knees and a pair of walking poles is recommended. Ascent of these is the classic two steps forward, one step back, while descent is just unbalanced! I would also suggest taking a scrambling rope and rack for the various ridges and to escape from situations. A climbing helmet is also highly advised, particularly for the stone shoots.

All in all I had a great time. I met new people and visited old friends on the way home. I explored many situations and feelings which I had either not encountered at all or not recently. I was able to forget work and the south and become totally absorbed in my surrounds. The result being that I became aware of an active brain once I had visited the friends and reminisced, suggesting that I hadn't actually given it a good break in a very long time! The island is beautiful and I feel that the two weeks I spent there gave me a greater insight into it than most my fellow tourists. Of course I was a tourist, but by going that bit further you can really appreciate the landscape and the situations. Travelling home, with no deadline to be back for was wonderful and I visited friends, three museums and had a walk in the border hills. I can see the attractions of "What shall I do tomorrow" of a road trip, but the constant search for accommodation and planning food takes its toll, as it does on holiday unless you find a base for 3,4,5+ days at a time.

Finally, I feel that I really gained insights into my vehicle. Skye performed beautifully and was very economical, particularly as I was able to experiment along the motorways driving at different speeds and comparing the economy and her behaviour. May she perform healthy and reliable service for many years to come.

The explorer returns, job secured, life restarts. Has anything changed? I think so - my appreciation of life, the universe and everything in it. Live for today, but keep what you value close at hand in case today is the last opportunity you can appreciate it/them.

Au revoir, until next time.