Random Marseille

A few random photos from around Marseille to give an added flavour of the place.

Campus de Luminy, dating from 1966. Marseille is in the background
and the sea is behind me. I am halfway up the 600m mountain that towers over campus. 

The rush to leave work......
but actually the start of a cycle race in September

And a pretty house nameplate that caught my eye
while hunting for geocaches in a posh district.

Gorge de Regalon, Petite Luberon

I have been in France for six months now, but hadn't really explored further afield than the local area. Public transport had served me well and there was a bit of a deep-breath required for the next stage. Last weekend I plucked up the determination and went and hired myself a car. Idiosyncratically, in Marseille, hire cars are cheaper from the airport than within the city. To the point that I paid just over half the price at the airport, oh and being a British 'resident' I got a cheaper rate than as a French resident(!!).

So Saturday morning saw me heading off into the wild driving a car on the right side of the road for the first time in 18 months and the first time outside of a little Greek island. My goal was the Foret du Luberon between Avignon and Pertuis in Provence. More specifically I had identified a nice region for walking and this was the second goal of the weekend after practising my driving. One hour or main and secondary roads, umpteen roundabouts and no near misses I arrived at the parking area.

The Gorge de Regalon (here) is quite a popular destination, but was previously unknown to me. I just picked somewhere nice looking from the map i had bought the evening before!

 
Maps:
Carte de Randonee IGN 3142OT - Cavaillon (1:25k)
or Carte de loisirs de plein air IGN 'Balades en Foret du Luberon' (1:20k)

Time: 3-3.5 hours

Moderate walking, rough underfoot and a need for boots and to use your hands. Don't go after heavy rain as the gorge is likely to be impassable!

Water flow

I can't find a good representation of the route I took online, so in brief I went North from the parking area following signs to Gorge du Regalon (ignore coloured marks, these are wooden signs). Once past the obligatory 'this is a hazardous place' sign and slightly more ominous depth of water indication I was into the gorge itself. The narrow file through the rock (limestone I think) is generally wooded with deciduous trees and ivy common. The path and floor of the gorge shows signs of considerable water movement in places and you come across various cave openings at intervals. Gradually the gorge narrowed and I was using my hands to balance along, including using stepping stones in places. At one point the path appears to go into a large cave entrance, which is actually a short tunnel.

This IS the path, with 5cm of water
on the ground, but stones to step on.

The path continues along a narrow passageway which isn't actually dark, but gloomy and open to the sky. Claustophobic people who can't cope with something just over shoulder width wouldn't be happy, but I didn't have to take off my bag or go sideways at all. Gradually the file opened up and went back to wide gorge, large caves and scrabbles up rocky steps.

Eventually the path splits at a sign post. I took the left side heading for Vallon de la Galerie (top of the google map). Ten minutes later a wide forest track is joined (turning left again) and the path is followed up the twists and turns of this valley to the Galerie.

From Vallon de la Galerie

Vallon de la Galerie climbs slowly from gorge level up to the foot of the higher peaks behind. The path climbs up and gives a wide view over the surrounding landscape. It does feel like a wilderness with few or no roads or buildings in sight.

At the northern tip of the Vallon the track doubles back on itself and climbs up to reveal the view. A signpost at the top for 'Le Mayorques' shows the southerly path back over the top of the plateau. The farm at La  Mayorques itself appears to be a centre for groups to come and learn about traditional farming, but also has a room for hikers to spend the night. There are several places like this within the Luberon, most marked on the map.

From the farm the path is marked across a rough scrubby area to the plateau edge. Here a view over the Durance valley and a steep winding path take your down through the forest on sandy paths and then back to the car.

Across the Durance Valley with a break in the clouds

It was a pleasant walk and good to stretch my legs. Back to Marseille is a 1.5-2 hour drive from here through scenic wine country. A young French lad benefited from a lift to Aix-en-Provence too.

Ouvrir la Creativite

As regular readers with know i have been lacking the blog-writing spark recently. The same has also applied to my photography. I haven't taken many photographs in the last six months. I haven't done anything with those I have taken, bar the few posted in here, and I haven't known why. Phases, lack of inspiration, other things taking your attention, call it what you will. I don't want to force what will come naturally given time. Maybe I have been being all scientific and not needing my arty side... or the art is focused on learning a language. Je ne sais pas!

Today there was a spark of life, wandering along the quayside this morning I spotted several potential 'kodak-moments' to coin a strawberry (frais, phrase....!) from a friend. Not having my camera with me I could do little at the time, but had the opportunity to come back later and with a little pushing decided to head back into town after lunch and see if anything caught my eye. It wasn't going to cost me anything other than time and was worth a wander.

Cathedral major, the sight greeting everyone entering the docks, but not the grandest cathedral in the city

I have wondered if the light in Marseille, being very bright, is putting me off taking photos. Again I don't know, but I decided today to experiment with black and white for a bit. Normally I am a take-it-in-colour-and-I-can-make-it-B&W-later-if-I-want sort of person, but today I didn't care. A few of my images from today should accompany this post. After a while the sun was dropping in the sky and there were a few clouds about and I started taking a few more colour pictures interspersed with the black and white. All in all nothing special, but better than I have been doing and I was quite enjoying being out in the golden hour by the end.

What have you done to my city?

Three statues inside the main arch of Cathedral major

Finally the Mistral is blowing strongly at the moment, preventing the planning diving, so I may have a poddle (pottering-wandering-toddle) tomorrow and see if i can find some moody seas and pretty scenes. Maybe the spark is back for a bit. If I can just shift the backlog of images too.....

Marseille in only two photos

Windsurfers racing around on a rough day at the beach in Marseille

I've been trying to figure out how to portray Marseille in only a couple of photographs. I don't think I have achieved it yet, but here are two from a wander today for your perusal. Being Bastille Day plenty of people were out and about, hence the proliferation of windsurfers on the water.

Transport, Regeneration and History. Marseille in one picture....

Is a little peace too much to ask....?

You know you are living in a city when the area is never quiet.... In fact I thought I was living in a quiet neighbourhood, but it seems you can be wrong! Being the summer, the air is filled with the noise of screaming..
..
..
..
SWIFTS!
(Wiki ref and they also feature on a musical track too... see I&T for more information)

Daylight is filled with these wonderful screaming creatures, and sleeping with the window open you wake to them too. I love watching their aerial acrobatics in search of insect prey and the knowledge that they have to drop from a perch to gain flight, they can't just take off from the ground. In fact I have several certainly roosting and possibly nesting in the building opposite, winging their way into a small hole at high speed at dusk. I guess not all the urban noise is artificial.

So off I wander into the countryside at the weekend, for a walk, an explore and possibly some peace and quiet....? Nope, large crickets/Egyptian grasshoppers? fill the air with their churring from trees and reportedly you can hear each one from a couple of kilometres away. Frankly I wouldn't like to comment because every 50 m of so another one is calling from the next tree. The only time they seem to stop is when your presence is perceived and then they are as still as possible to hide their location!

Who said it was hard to observe nature and that you had to get away from it all?
Step outside tomorrow morning and search the air for the sickle-shaped wings and then listen for the screams..

La Fete de Musique

Tuesday the 21st, for those not in touch with the natural world, was the longest day of the year, commonly known as Midsummer. To some this means rituals, to others staying up all night to see the sun rise again is the objective, to the French it has become a festival. I can’t tell you the origins of the festival without looking them up, but midsummer is celebrated in Marseille through a Fete de Musique. On this day anyone can play any music they like, anywhere, anyhow, any time without jurisdiction.

Walking through Marseille last night after seeing a friend off to the airport, the streets were alive. In some sections life went on as normal, notably the Algerian section near St Charles, but in others music was being performed in a variety of locations. I walked into the city centre and around the Vieux (old) Port area and was amazed at the number of people out and about. It was a cross between a huge demonstration and a street party for numbers. I stopped beside a backstreet bar where an electro-rock band were performing covers (rather well I might add) to a 100 or so people – many drinking, some dancing, everyone enjoying the music. In other places there were little groups performing their version of music from hymns to a hiphop DJ beside the port, African drums to a full-blown orchestra on a purpose-built stage. The orchestra had an audience of at least 1000 people in a square, all watching for free, just like all the other music. Other notable musicians included an appalling one man playing over a vocal backing track and singing along in time; and a pick-up truck that pulled up at the busiest traffic-lights on the front, stopped and turned on a sound system complete with DJ and seven dancers on the back of the truck. This rapidly turned into a throng of 500+ people blocking most of the traffic and dancing outside of a ‘quality burger’ chain of restaurant. Ten or fifteen minutes later the car horns became irate and the truck moved onto another location. All in all, in the right locations you could walk for 30 seconds and get another genre of music to stop and listen to or avoid. The whole evening was certainly memorable.

Surrounding this mayhem you had all the standard street sellers marketing their wares. No I don’t need a pair of sunglasses at 11pm thanks! No, a flashing light-saber/rotating toy is not what I want. There were also many people taking advantage of the evening dragging around a coolbox hastily attached to an old person’s shopping trolley base selling cans of soft drinks at €1+ a time. There was also a wide range of ages of people out and about from the teenagers, through students, families with their small children, adult groups and even some old people looking on with interest or enjoying a meal in a restaurant and listening along to the music too.

Finally I had the general impression that there were a number of people on the lookout for a cheap steal of a wallet or phone, but by keeping my things firmly in front of me I don’t think anyone tried. I guess it happens everywhere, but it more or less obvious to the tourist or passer-by.

If I am in a French city on June 21^st next year I shall once again be wandering the streets looking for a party and enjoying random musical performances. This country holds many surprises for the inexperienced!

Swallowtail

The renowned Cameron Binns was recently commenting on the difficulty of photographing a Swallowtail Butterfly. I have to say I whole-heartedly agree with this statement, although I have had rather more opportunity recently to try. I have to say since his post I have been noticing Swallowtails whenever they are on the wing, but trying to get close enough to photograph one, particularly with my petite 18-55mm lens is quite difficult. So I thought I would share my latest (not very sharp on the front) effort in the hope that it may inspire further photographic endeavours on all our parts. Try as I might it would not let me out of its sight so I could get behind the little ****.. so the full front approach got me within about 18". Needless to say this is cropped to about 1/4 of a frame.

A wary Swallowtail, St Pierre cemetery, Marseille, June 12th 2011

Virtual Calanques

I realise that most of my posts from France so far have been descriptive rather than visual, so to give you an idea of part of the area I have put together a selection of images to take you on a virtual walk through the Calanques – a protected area between Marseille and the south coast. The region is predominantly Limestone and gives characteristic scenery which is further specialised by the southern Mediterranean climate and heavy human usage of the area. So without further ado get your boots on, pick up the essential bottle of water and follow me.

A path through the Calanques just above the last buildings as we climb steeply out of the valley floor. This isn’t the most popular route, but it gives us a good overview of the area.

Stopping to drink some water on this hot morning after the climb you take in the view which has opened up over Marseille. The centre is around 5km away and can be found behind and to the right of the hill in the distance.

Looking the other way you see the strange sight of a university nestled into the countryside. I point out my building as behind the long building, but the campus itself isn’t as pretty as the location may suggest. After dark you can find wild pigs grazing the grounds though in the style of Asterix and Obelix….

Further along the ridge walk, following little dashes of different coloured paint and paying attention to whether the marks are lines (indication path direction) or crosses (the pathe doesn’t go this way) you stop again atop Col de Luminy and look out to an offshore island hidden in the haze.

Coming a bit lower we enter some deciduous woodland composed of a variety of trees, generally stunted. Among them though there are a few wild flowers among the low scrub and a butterfly is perched on one, resembling a Hedge Brown from back home, but I suspect it is not the same.

Crossing the path every metre or so are strange black centipedes like this one. Whatever they are seems to do rather well, but you can’t afford to be watching your feet the whole time. I suspect the mortality rate must be quite high on the busy paths.

After a path junction we descend down a steep valley on a concrete road, seemingly out of place in this semi-natural landscape. Around a corner this view of Sugiton calanque opens up and we marvel at the strange pale landscape.

In a sheltered corner we get a better chance to photograph both the vegetation and the scenery. Here Sugiton calanque is below us and the headland of Cap de Morgiou is in the distance.

After a swim at Sugiton in the clear 16 degree water of early June we take a different path away from the calanque and pass beneath a huge cliff. A momentary glimpse reveals quite a number of climbers on this face and we stop to watch them at their games – generally hanging in space and cursing… not like the Traditional climbers back home….!

Climbing high once again we stop for another breather as the vista has opened up again. Once again we can see Sugiton calanque and Morgiou in the background, but showing the elegant profile of Cap de Morgiou. The path along it is a killer in the heat. Strangely we seem to have caught a lull in the middle of the day where most of the tourist boats have departed. At times this morning we had seen three or four boats crammed with people within these calanques, paying €30+ a time from Cassis or Marseille.

After heading beneath a headland, we climb up a secluded valley at the back and finally feel like we have the area to ourselves, rather than the ever present human being. Up at 400m above sea level the cloud closes in and we can hear a rumble of thunder.

Cresting the ridge we can once again see down into Morgiou and this time along the South coast of the Calanques. However we don’t stop here for long as the rumbles are getting stronger and a few drops of rain have been felt. Experience says that rain here is a deluge or not at all..

 And so scurrying down the other side we make it back into the woodland and down a broad path to the university campus where we join the hoards of people waiting for a bus back to Marseille. Luckily they are quite frequent and we board one before the downpour starts bouncing off of the road. We have only walked 7 or 8 miles, but in the heat it feels considerably further and the lack of places to fill up a water bottle is obvious. 1.5 litres just lasted the day.

Essentials of Marseille

Well as you might have guessed the blogging has lapsed as other things have taken control of my new life. On the accommodation front I spent a week in a hostel in town with a night in a hotel because the hostel was booked. By the end I was glad to move out of a room that I shared with people and got woken at night into a single room in an international hall of residence which is where I am now. The postgrads who live here are a generally quiet and friendly bunch. There isn’t the sociableness that the hostel provided but I can spend more time cooking in the evenings and relaxing. There are downsides though, not having wifi and the internet really cuts down your options when you are in a new place and generally alone. Life is difficult certainly. However there has been a particular person who translated for me initially and has been a good companion in the evenings. Unfortunately she leaves at the end of this week. Hopefully other people will continue to fulfil the role...

Marseille as a place can be summed up in a few lines for me. This may be true for many urban areas too, but new for me.

1)      Cosmopolitan, multiple races and origins of the people. This makes for little communes and centres of population.

2)      The Calanques - the national park on the outskirts of the city divides the city from the natural coastline, in contrast to the urbanised section around the city itself. The Calanques become infested by people at the weekend and bank holiday and lose much of their dry, limestone, charm at this point. You can get away from people but it is a lot harder and less appealing than Snowdonia for instance..

3)      The Urban Commute. I am still staggered how it can take anything from 35 mins to an hour to go about 6km to the campus each day. Relying on two metro lines and a bus route there are numerous combinations which can save a few minutes here or there, but despite going against the main commuter flow it takes an age! Maybe this should be a good time for reading and relaxing, but it certainly makes it harder to stay late in the office…

4)      Commercial centres. I was told that Marseille has over 300 commercial centres. This seems to be true, every so often there is a cluster of shops, a bakery, a tabac, and various others on a couple of street corners. It is just as if a small village had been enclosed in the city, but they are much closer together than British villages or even estates. It does mean that will very little planning you can pick up a baguette or croissant almost anywhere you are..

5)      Finally I have to say the traffic. Stationary or moving, car or motorbike, there is an awful lot of vehicles on the roads. There is a good system for regular bike rental, but not enough people use them as far as I see. The Metro, trams and buses run well too and at times appears close to capacity, but the cars outnumber them.

On this last point. Is it possible to do without a car in Marseille? In the city, yes definitely. But as an outdoor person, I am less sure. I am wondering how long the abilities of the city to satisfy me are going to last. I guess day trips into the surrounding towns may also do an exploratory job too, but to get to the places in between or in the wilds, difficult. Again this is something I need to explore. How easy is it to rent a vehicle to come and go as I please?

One thing at a time, I need to find permanent accommodation first and make a choice about how long a commute I am willing to make. Maybe for a better place to stay, that is furnished the commute will have to remain. Difficult choices to be made. The job is enjoyable, now I just need to settle myself for the evenings and weekends. 

Day 2 in Marseille

As forecast, a bank holiday in Marseille means that there are lots of people out and about, a limited number of shops open and little opportunity for sorting the problem of finding accommodation for tomorrow night. At this point I was only aware of potential hotel rooms at €80+ for the night in the city, although by the end of the day I had the names of some cheaper hotels to look for. All the cheaper hotel and hostel accommodation had gone for the Friday night long before I arrived in Marseille. Anyway this morning I put this thorny problem to the back of my mind for a while and concentrated on exploring Marseille.

Notre Dame Cathedral

I had a couple of initial plans. I wanted a dictionary, ideally I wanted a map (other than the pocket leaflet from the hostel), and I fancied getting up to highest point around and looking at the whole city from Notre Dame cathedral. I also started to explore the whereabouts of doctor’s surgeries as I need a medical for the new job – vis they don’t exist, you call on the doctor’s residence with an appointment…

Anyway after refreshing my mind with a couple of Pain-au-chocolate from a Boulangerie and a bottle of water from a corner shop I wandered through the main shopping streets and found my way into a Virgin Megastore. They may have fallen under the radar back home, but this was alive and kicking with a choice of multiple dictionaries for sale. A ‘pocket’ –sized model made its way into my pocket for a worthwhile €8.50. Over the course of the day it got multiple usage as I wandered the streets assimilating words via osmosis and looking up how to say phrases that came into my mind. For instance alleyways labelled Monte ____ mean to go up (vis. Stairs!).

View over the 7th Arrondisement to the Ile Frioud

The narrow streets, packed with cars, tall buildings and many shutters reminded my of previous visits to Brussels. Maybe it is a continental style, although I can see the reasoning for the shutters in the summer in terms of keeping the properties cool (see photos). The view from the top of the hill beside Notre Dame was well worth the climb up there, counting steps in French and avoiding being photographed and then having money demanded from me! ( I suspect). The importance of Marseille as a port came back to me as I saw ferries from both Algeria and Tunisia coming and going in the short period I was watching.

A compact boatyard, Marseille-style

Among my wanderings I was particularly taken by two bridges on the coastal road over inlets or valleys. In this built up area the natural contours of the landscape are not so obvious, but here they were and every small corner of land was being used up. In this case beneath each of the bridges, or small viaducts, the ladn was being used for boatyards. Innovative slipways for dragging boats out of the water and separate winches for each mooring spot caught my attention (see photos again). The close-packed nature of the region is most apparent when you view it from above and make the prime residences with gardens stand out.

Back at the Vieux Port (a bigger version of Swansea’s marina only four times the size), it started raining heavily and I took cover alongside my first Bouledrome – pitches for boule – on which a pair of gentlemen continued to play despite the rain. They could see I was appreciative of their sport although no words were exchanged.

My French confidence took a slight battering today as I could make myself understood in a Boulangerie for my tasty lunchtime sandwich, but had no idea how much the lady was asking for. In the end I just held out my handful of change and she took what she wanted. I have a long way to go.

Finally I discovered a shop called Fnac (a cross between Virgin, Waterstones and HMV) and found the local climbing guide to the area. The hand-drawn diagrams look great and the routes seem to be graded from Fr4-6c so there will be plenty within my range. I’ll wait until I have someone to climb with and then buy a copy, dictionary in hand! Maps of the area however appear to vary between a 1:15,000 map of the Calanques and 1:200,000 or worse general maps. I think I’ve been spoilt by the UK series.

Welcome to Marseille

The Vieux Port, Marseille

Having travelled down from the UK the day before, my first day in Marseille, the first of a new month, was an eventful one. After getting up at a sensible hour of 9am I walked down to the Vieux (old) Port and had a wander around. I was amused by the strange mix of old and new buildings in the area and cultures too. From block to block the scene changes. Marseille was historically a major port and there are many North African cultures here as well as French. A waterside Spar provided an expensive breakfast, as it would also have done in the UK, and I found where the 21 bus for Luminy campus left from.

Arriving at the end of the bus route and the end of the road, I was struck by just how rural the campus is. If you type Luminy into a image search engine you’ll find a few aerial photos showing what I mean. Set in a valley away from the conurbation of Marseille itself limestone outcrops from scrubby vegetation provide the views, while dry Mediterranean soils shelter drought-surviving trees and thorn bushes. The campus buildings themselves were built in the 1960s and show that typical concrete squared off corners and covered walkways. Many of the buildings show signs of crumbling and neglect, strange for a University in my view. The corridors and stairways remind me of schools and the lifts have a hinged door to access them and tend to only be trusted on the way up! Set within this there is much sophisticated equipment.

I bumped into my supervisor/boss on the stairs and after a few flights we put two and two together and introduced each other! The rest of the day was spent filling in forms, meeting people and touring the laboratories of our building. For the most part there are various research groups working in many fields of chemistry, oceanography and biology, but they are split up by floors and stairways and I wait to see how much interaction goes on. My research group is small and I will be sharing an office with equipment and my supervisor. That will be a new experience. I did meet some lovely people working in the department though and found one doing her PhD on some very interesting jellyfish populations in a local lagoon.

I also got a taste for how the French system works when you realise you can’t have a contract without a bank account, or a bank account without bills and a place of residence, and likewise residence without a job or bank account… There are always ways around these things, but they are designed not to be easy. Equally I hadn’t realised that the 2^nd of June was a Bank Holiday (Ascension Day?) and so work was closed this day, and that most people would take the one ‘bridge’ day between the Bank Holiday and the weekend off too. I suppose in the UK most bank holidays are on a Monday so this doesn’t apply. The holiday didn’t help the visit to the bank or the search for accommodation for me.

Eric with his Gambas

In the evening I went down to a restaurant in the Vieux Port with someone from the hostel and ordered food. At first I thought we were being ignored by the waiter, but overlooked was probably closer to the truth. My opening gambit of “D’accord pour manger?” (Okay for food?) was a bit Franglish, but I managed to get through the rest of the ordering and meal speaking to him only in French. It did wonders for my confidence. I also had a small carafe of wine without any ill effects. Maybe I am gradually relaxing…? Either way I still think that the alcohol isn’t the cause of my recent allergy, but the thing that tips the balance between health and ill-health.

There is hope for this Englishman yet.

Weatherwise – 20 degrees, strong winds and showers is not pleasant for the French but was quite nice for me!

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.

Far far away, in a land unexplored...

Since my PhD ended I have stepped back from work a little and started to relax, moved house etc. Coupled to this the need to blog appears to have diminished, although whether this is a good thing is yet to be clarified. Anyway today will be the end of one chapter and the beginning of another.

Firstly I've posted minutes from six years of Swansea Uni Hiking Club into the university archive. The minutes had been passed down to me and had spent far too long in my flat before I finally got round to preserving them. As far as I know the hikers are the only club to have put material into the archive. Sad really, but in 50 years time there won't be records of any other clubs in the university. UCS Ramblers, UWS Hikers, SU Hikers... and nothing else :(. History isn't just about finding out about what happened. It does rely on those in the present to preserve material for the future.

Secondly today should really mark the end of my PhD... I'm taking a break from university. I've sent off all the material I can to journals for publication and I'm taking a break. Hopefully I'll be appointed to a short-term position in a couple of months time, or a permanent job somewhere else, but in the mean time a holiday is required.
Plan - drive to Scotland.
Destination - Isle of Skye.
Activities - Walking, scrambling, possibly climbing, exploring, sitting, looking, cycling, relaxing, and photographing.
Staying - nothing booked - camping, bothies, bunkhouses, hostels, B&B if I feel the need for creature comforts.
Aim - to discover the magic of Skye.
Nervous - a little.
Care - required.
Enjoyment - assured.
Weather - unpredictable.
Records - photos and a notebook.
Contact - minimal.
End point - uncertain.
Looking forward to it? - of course!

See you later ;)

Anyone for lunch?

Still fancy a wander?

Say when and where,

Sometime around lunch

and I’ll see you there!

To scrunch and munch

is the aim of lunch, 

but munch or natter 

the aim does not matter!

The sun is shining and birds are singing, 

clients stress and phones are ringing; 

Get yourself away from it all, 

just pick up your coat and give me a call..

(c) Martin Lilley 2010