The breakfast table, and yogurt/cereal bar. We finished our breakfast before the other couple came down to eat...
Great plate, though surprised there's no tomatos. The black pudding was the best yet!
The weather was cloudy with occasion patches of sun breaking through. We watched as the causeway to Oronsay Island appeared (which we hiked during low tide several days ago).
While packing the car, I found my toiletry bag! I didn't lose it afterall! Just couldn't see it in the dark last night… We left ~9:15am, not sure exactly what the weather would hold today, given the lack of internal at the B&B. The drive back through Carbost was pretty, and we admired all the scarecrows. Forgot to ask why there are so many dressed up scarecrows on this peninsula.
Good driving this morning...
Given that we needed to plan our hike to Spar Cave carefully around low tide, we changed plans, and decided to hike Old Man of Storr this morning, and get laundry done in Broadford in the afternoon.
We stopped at Wendy's favorite bakery in Portree to buy some cheese and tomato croissant rolls (pizza tasting), and continued north to the Old Man of Storr car park. We were surprised at the fierce winds when we opened the car doors. The skies were sunny over the sea, and heavy grey over the mountains. I wondered what weather would win out. Regardless, the wind wasn't about to go away… We hiked through a forest, which had large portions being cleared by the forestry department for some reason. The path was muddy and steep. After 20 minutes we reached a gate at the foot of the grassy slope below Old Man of Storr, where sheep grazed, some of which were hiding in small cutaways on the slope.
Sheep were scattered along the lower slopes...
Plenty of others were on this popular trail, and everyone was leaning into the wind. Wendy had on 3 pant layers, and would pause occasional to pull down a couple layers to cool off.
Towering pinnacles...
Cool holes in the rock, with Old Man on the right...
It was tough taking pics into the morning sun. Lightroom tweaks help a lot...
The Old Man...
It was clear that late morning is not ideal lighting conditions for photography, so I didn't spend much time with the camera.
We reached a pass to the north of Old Man, and returned back to the car in 2hrs.
Old Man of Storr, on the hike back...
Wendy leans into the fierce wind...
Then we drove down to Broadford and checked in to our hostel room. This was our first (and only) hostel on the trip, and though we had a private room with a sink, it was a big difference in atmosphere/quality to what we have been used to in B&Bs (along with the shared bathrooms). Fortuitously, they had a laundry service, so we gave them 2 grocery bags of clothes, hoping the tumble-dry-low wouldn't shrink our merino wool clothes. We also got an additional 10% discount for agreeing to check-out by 9:30am tomorrow. This is half the price as a typical B&B, but no breakfast included.
Using the wi-fi, we found a B&B to stay at in Portree tomorrow night. We had planned to visit Eilean Donan Castle in the afternoon, but the weather forecast was looking bad tomorrow, and so we decided to make a scenic drive to Elgol this evening in hopes of seeing the signature view of the Black Culliens from the shore, and do the castle tomorrow. The mountainous drive was indeed scenic, and there were plenty of sheep and long haired cows grazing near the roads. However, the clouds swamped the Cullien mountains, limiting the views.
Some hairy cows along the road to Elgol...
This one is scratching himself with his horns...
We decided to check out the trailhead for the Spar Cave hike we planned to do tomorrow during low tide. After searching up and down the one lane mountain road without success, We asked a woman walking on the road, who kindly filled us in. With her instructions, I made the .25 mile scamper down to the shore to investigate the trail quality, and report back to Wendy. We'll give it a try tomorrow, and hope the weather/wind doesn't keep us away. Glad we figured out all these details, as we won't have time for delays tomorrow during low tide.
1st pic: Tomorrow we'll have to scramble out on these boulders and manuever around the coast to a hidden sea cave (during low tide). 2nd pic: Heather along our drive back...
We slowly drove back to Broadford, hoping for a change in weather, but no luck. In Broadford, we stopped at the Co-op food market, and bought some snacks for tomorrow, along with a container of "mashed swedes", which looked like neeps. I filled up the gas tank, and we bought some fish n' chips, a cheese burger, and haggis pudding (in a sausage pattie form, fried in dough, with chips). I realized we'd need ketchup, so I went back to Co-op to buy some Heinz while Wendy waited for the food.
Back at the hostel we microwaved the swedes, and had a big feast.
Then we picked up our laundry, and I hand-washed some muddy pants in the sink. Later I researched B&Bs in Inverness for next week. The wi-fi doesn't reach our room, so have to go to the lounge. Lots of young Scots playing cards. Fun to listen to them talk. I left a deck of 14er playing cards in the lounge.
The radiator doesn't seem to be working in our room, but it's pleasant enough in long sleeves and pants. There's a loud vibrating noise in the wall when our neighbors use the sink. But apparently that doesn't bother Wendy, who is fast asleep (11:15pm now). Hopefully the neighbors settle down soon.