Day 5 - Isle of Skye
Waking up to a sad feeling of nearly over-ness, Em was already awake and rustling. We were greeted by a nice gentleman who had already set up our breakfast outside on the “sun terrace” as it was such a nice morning.
Indeed it was! It was glorious and the view from his house was breath taking. There was about a 200° panoramic view showing the west coast of Scotland. As you can see, the weather was pretty spectacular:
Waking up on the Isle of Skye
After a thoroughly nice breakfast and chatting to another couple who were coming up the west by train, we were invited to walk down to the shore, where we could see some rock pools. The dogs would love it he said, so off we went, to his own private shoreline.
Waking up on the Isle of Skye
It was just amazing to be able to wander around with no plans. We spent an hour or so wandering around the shore, looking in rock pools and throwing rocks in to the water for the dogs to chase. After a while it was getting on a bit so we decided to head back to the house and get going.
The first port of call was the Cuillins.
The Cuillins.
There was an ace road that ran from Merkadale to a base camp at Baulinter. It was single track but offered amazing views of the Cuillins and of the approaching beach that we would sit at.
The AGV GP-Tech. So good, but so very disappointing.
Once we arrived it was scorching. There was little or no wind at the bottom of this massive mountain. There was a small shop though that had ice creams and camping stuff. We got some ice creams, Blair got a pocket kite.
We nipped to the loo and on to the beach we went, where a guy had a humongous pro-kite that was lifting him off his feet. Blair looked down at his pocket kite and suddenly felt inadequate. So he never opened it and went back for a refund…
Once we were suitably roasted we decided to head off again. We wanted to make it up to Portree to have a nose around and perhaps get some dinner/seafood. Unknown to us was that we took the insanely long and drawn out “back road” to Portree, and it took us ages. It was a pretty crap road as well with sheep all over the place.
A map in the wee shoppie at the base of the Cuillins.
Once we arrived in Portree it was the height of the afternoon sun and we were all pretty hot with our bike gear on. Especially me with my Furygan jacket, which is lined with the same stuff as the outside of waterproof coats…so it was like wearing a food bag. Not good for wicking body moisture away that’s for sure.
We had a browse around the place, went down to the harbour where Emma saw one of the shops that she loves to look in, with jewellery and nick nacks. I saw a Buell XB12S and instantly fell in love again. What inconsiderate arse would park my dream bike in front of me…i don’t know..:(
We went up to the “main square” where there was faff all happening and then decided to head back down the road. It must have taken us all of 25 minutes to get back to where we started…if only we knew of this main route before taking the stupid road. However…after a week of smooth cruising and pillion friendly riding, both Blair and I decided to open it up a bit…not a good idea on this road. The road was really bumpy and at one point I left terra firma, only to arrive back at it with a nice big ground out. Not only that but Emma left her seat and ended up on my seat hugging my back. I knew I would have hell to pay once we stopped, so instead of prelonging the inevitable, I kept the pace up. (Secretly though, I fecking loved it, and so did Blair, who also had hell to pay after an exact re-inactment of my previous efforts)
Fuel was needed so we stopped at the Esso in Broadford, and that’s when the finger wagging started. It was actually quite funny. As I stopped and turned the engine off, I nodded for Em to get off and said to her, “let’s have it then…”
“I’VE NEVER BEEN SO SCARED IN ALL MY LIFE!! SOMETHING SOMETHING SOMETHING…”
As I looked behind me, K was also doing her own finger wagging, and there was me and Blair standing like lemons getting shouted at by our better halves….I found it funny anyway…
After the girls cooled down we headed for some SEAFOOD! YEAH! We went to a place called Creelers which was a traditional Scottish seafood place and had some good grub. Off home it was then, stopping in at the Co-Op to grab some drinks and stuff for watching the Apprentice tonight!
Forget that, Alan Sugar is about to fire someone…
It was nice to just sit and relax for a night after our mega schedule for the past 5 days. As we were nearing the end of the Apprentice the host came through and he said that the sun was casting a beautiful sunset on the west coast, he had never seen it so nice before…but someone is about to get fired…..oh no, what to do.
Oh well, I guess I missed the sunset then.
We watched “You’re Fired!” and then headed off to bed. We hadn’t really noticed but tomorrow was going to be a massive day as well. From the southern tip of Skye to Lochgilphead. It was going to be tough and the weather wasn’t looking to hot…oh well. 
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