jamesq | Scottish Adventurrres 7

Day 3 – A full and active day round the Isle of Skye, with lots of walks and time to take in the magic. You’ll see the Cuillin Mountains, the Old Man of Storr (an incredible Jurassic pillar) and hear some amazing legends, visit the fascinating Kilt Rock, and take in absolutely awe-inspiring panoramas in the Quiraing. Perfect preparation for a few wee drams to reflect on a day of tales and legends

Magic is right. I think my day on the Isle of Skye was the most magical of the entire trip.

It didn't start out that way, mostly because I had let myself get talked into an early morning wake up dive in the loch. I had made a pact to do it with some others if they did it. NF was one of them and she came down in her bathing suit. We had a "if you do it, I'll do it moment" where neither of us chickened out. Brrr.

We drove over to the Isle of Skye early and our first stop was Glamaig, one of the Red Cuillins and the site of an annual foot-race from the pub at the bottom to the peak and back. Given the history of Ghurkas and alcohol, I'm guessing there's more then a few injuries during this race.

Next we had a view of one of the other Cuillins. F told us a legend about how the Cuillins were created. I'm going to butcher the story so don't take this as an indication of her own storytelling skills.

Scáthach lived on Skye. She was a giant, but also a beautiful women and the greatest warrior in all of Scotland. Sadly that made her a bit of a bully. Being undefeatable she would sleep wherever she wanted, take whatever she wanted and drink whatever she wanted, all without paying for it. The people on Skye didn't like that too much, but there wasn't a lot they could do about it because she'd kick their asses.

Meanwhile, over in Ireland, they were having a problem with their own giant - Cúchulainn. Tough, undefeatable and gorgeous, the locals were worried that he would steal all their women.

So like mad cows and unexploded land mines, the Irish and the Scots decided to solve one problem by throwing the other at it. "Go train with Scáthach", they told Cúchulainn, "pretend you don't know how to fight, then kill her". Well he went over to Skye and trained with her, quickly becoming her star pupil owing to the fact that he already knew how to fight and was a demigod.

The worked together for awhile until he started to fight her for real. She in turn fought back for real, and their blows produced the Cuillins of Skye. Finally he had the upper hand and she told him to end it, but by this time he'd fallen in love with her, so he couldn't. The parted after some hot and heavy post-battle nookie, each having learned their lessons in how to treat people less well off then giant, beautiful demigod warriors.

So yeah, lots of rough craggy mountains on Skye. It's a beautiful island.

F then decided that the "wild" in "wild-in-scotland" should be emphasized. The stars were right (we had time, the weather was sunny, and the group was agreeable) so she took us to a location on Skye she had only been to once before, during her training. It was the Fairy pools of Skye near Glenbrittle. A series of cold water pools formed by waterfalls. Some were still-ish pools and others were heavy rapids.

F drove out to the site, finding it with no problem. Then there was a 20 minute hike to the pools themselves. Afterwards, we hung out for about an hour, soaking, wading, exploring and climbing as the mood struck us. It was a beautiful site.

Finally we headed back and went into Portree for lunch. We spent about an hour there satisfying our hunger and urges for touristy stuff.

Afterwards we drove out to where the wall between the worlds was weakest - the Fairy Glen (not to be confused with the mundane - but still beautiful - Fairy pools).

"Tell me are you a Christian child?"
And I said "Ma'am I am tonight"
Walking in Memphis - Marc Cohn

While I was in the fairy glen I was, briefly, a pagan. I cannot convey to you just how otherworldly this place was. You could really believe that the fey were lurking just around the corners watching you. I was pretty superstitious while I was there, leaving offerings in the fairy circles, and otherwise behaving in a way that wouldn't upset the native Brownies.

It's inspired me to write a story, which I will place with that other story I've written. I'll probably start it soon as I have two 6-hour train rides and a 7-hour plane ride in my near future.

We next visited the Isle of Skye brewery, where I bought some Red Cuillin and Blaven beers. My journey to the dark side of beer snobbery is continuing apace. On the bright side, I'll be in good company considering how many beer snobs the SCA produces.

We rounded out the trip with visits to the Kilt Rocks and The Old Man of Storr.

Afterwards, we went back to Strome Ferry for a well deserved rest.

All in all, I think this was the best part of the whole tour. It was fun and magical and exactly the sort of thing that I'll remember for a long long time.

I just wish I hadn't lost my camera that day, just prior to the fairy pools. I found it again, just after the fairy glen. I think the little people are a little camera shy.