Kanga And Wombats Adventures

Sandra, our host in Portree was demure and shy. We hardly saw her! Breakfast was all set up for us, and we literally said hello when we arrived and goodbye when we left!

Snuggly warm bed, hot shower, great brekkie. Just felt a bit different not having a chat!

Having conquered the Trotternish Peninsula yesterday, we headed off to do likewise on the Waternish.

We’re pretty picky with castles these days, and the allure of seeing Bonnie Prince Charlie’s waistcoat and a lock of his hair (donated by Flora MacDonald’s granddaughter) didn’t entice us to tour Dunvegan Castle.

What we did stumble across, however, was the most beautiful ruins of St Mary’s Church just outside the Dunvegan village, an unexpected not-in-the-tourist-book find.

We wandered around on our own for about an hour, climbing the hill behind the church to reach the Standing Stone towering above. The sunshine accentuated the colours of the churchyard.

The church was just beautiful and it had such a special feeling about it. Poignant gravestones. Plants and trees growing where the altar or font would have been. It even had war graves.

The chancel of St Mary’s served as the crypt for many of the Clan MacCleod Chiefs.

A very elaborate monument in the churchyard was dedicated to Simon Fraser from the last Jacobite Uprising in 1745.

John found this headstone tucked away in a corner.

We began the drive south in search of the illusive 3rd ‘biggie’ of the ‘Big 3’ ticket items on Skye…Old Man of Storr, the Quiraing, now on to the magical Fairy Pools. We weren’t quite sure where to go until we sighted a string of cars and campervans traversing a hill in front of us.

Just follow the leader! We joined the pilgrimage and began the search.

The white gravelly path meandered beside a rapidly flowing stream. Waterfalls and pools were dotted along the way at regular intervals. We must have walked for about an hour (it said 40-minute round trip), and still the path went on. We asked a few people coming in the opposite direction what was ahead, but they had given up and turned around.

So, we’re not sure if we saw what was actually the Fairy Pools or not, but no matter, it was an entertaining hour or so….this lady got 10/10 for fortitude and this bloke got 10/10  for stupidity!

We made our way back to the main road via Sligachan Bridge.

Our destination for the night was Elgol, very isolated, and so gorgeous.

Our host Jonathon was a real character, and together with his wife Annetta, made our stay pretty cool. Unbeknown to us, their cottage slept 6 people, but we were their only guests, so we had the space to ourselves. It felt so luxurious having a whole house to spread out in. Just like being at home.

I think Jonathon must have been feeling the isolation too, as over the course of the evening he returned 3 times to have a chat. And yes, you guessed it, the Clearances were mentioned again!