After the bus, I came across an area with parked cars. I knew there was one more hike – Quiraing – on the list, but I couldn’t remember where it was. Thankfully what seemed like a random pull-over point was it! And so off I go, down a path of green, green grass, springy peat, and the landscape colors slightly bleached by the odd light of the sun.
That ahead is the destination. Somewhere in there anyway, not the tops of the cliffs.
There are a few lakes along this route. People come to fly fish the three big ones. Salmon of some sort, I think. Again, these lakes have an orangish tint to them, like Loch Ness.
Pictures really don’t do this place justice. You can’t tell the incline from this picture at all. Or the colors.
I don’t think I’ll ever get over the purple flower bushes here.
Mountain biking! Brilliant! This was a hot spot for them – the trails weren’t too treacherous and the declines were fun from what one person told me. Plus you got to go around the entire ridge, which is something I wasn’t able to do today (not enough time!)
Another lake, higher than the last one. I met some people who had just finished fly fishing here. They were going back down without any luck but said they’d try the lake at the bottom.
Up and up and up. Like Storr, but here, that ridge is no where near where I’ll finish – it’s maybe half way. There were a lot of older hikers here. Excuse me, walkers. Scotland in general had a lot of older walkers – I hope I’m able to continue this in my old age.
I passed him, take that old fart! (Just kidding). He was very delightful to talk to.
The rocks rise out of no where it seems. I love it.
Another path leads back, going up, but I wasn’t interested in that view, overlooking where I parked – it was mostly ocean.
I don’t know of anywhere else in the world that looks like this.
Yes, even I need breaks. I’m still in awe here, still enjoying this walk thoroughly. I can’t believe how lucky I am to get to do two of Skye’s most famous walks in one day.
Look at how many hand just sinks in! The moss is so thick!
The second lake and the last little ridge I was on. Those are some people on the ridge, for perspective.
Some how, I ended up following a sheep path instead of the actual walking path. At this point, I realized that I couldn’t tell the difference between the smell of peat or sheep poop.
The ridge. Still a long way to go.
Topped another ridge, but not at the top. Another lake, but I didn’t meet anyone who had fished this one.
The path on the other side – gotta wind my way over to it.
Quiraing Ridge wraps around this basin – it breaks briefly past this, to wrap around another, almost completely enclosing it in.
On the other side though (and this side is supposed to have a great view), it’s just a normal upthrust of gigantic rock.
…so I’ll head to the basin first, see if it’s worth a look before I set my sights on the main view. Thankfully the path is now mostly level – narrow, you can hardly squeeze past another person (or mountain biker for that matter) – but I think I’m as high as I can go without scaling the rocks.
That was the path I came up. Somewhere in there.
A rock wall! I don’t know if it was an ancient rock wall or something the trail maintainers have put up, but it was neat and I didn’t let the little details bother me about it.
On the other side of the wall (which seems really old). I could hike through there, but I was about to nearly get run over by a mountain biker.
And there he goes. He actually stopped and talked with me for awhile. He was from England, just up in Skye on holiday, mountain biking his heart out. He told me that it was just more of the same along that direction. Apparently he started in the valley (where the view is) and had come up around the other side.
So, armed with that knowledge, I turn in the other direction. It’s getting a little dark now, because the ridge is so close. I really couldn’t keep track of time in a normal by-daylight fashion in Scotland.
No lakes this high up, but there is a marshy area and a lot of places where, if you’re not careful, are full of mud and bog-like.
In the Highlands, the ground swallows things that are stationary too long. It looks like the ground is literally swallowing this rock.
And of course there would be sheep up here. I’m beginning to think that there are more sheep on Skye than there are people, tourists included.
Finally the basin opens up a bit and I get a preview of what I’m in for…
The path is beginning to wrap around the edge of the Quiraing now.
And wow. Wow. All of that, from the Top of Skye.
Again, pictures (or at least mine) can’t do this justice. The view is dramatic here – it’s actually a steep decline and the green is vivid and intense.
I’m not alone here.
And apparently she’s wondering what the hell a human is doing here.
Ok, just going to go a bit further, see what’s on the other side. The light is fine here, but it’s getting late in the day and I still have things to see.
Again, the land here is slowly swallowing the rocks here. It’s creeping over everything. I wonder if it’s always been like this, if something happens and stops the heather from taking over the rocks, or if it’s just going to continue until the rocks are all hidden beneath…
Ok, just a little further. There’s a little sheep path (actual sheep path – the trail goes down from here) that I want to dart up for the view.
I love how the cliffs form here.
Ok, time to head back.
Another lake up here!
There’s the path down. No one else is out at this point – I’d run into people again by the first lake.
A great way to get over fences. And I just love that the sheep are allowed all over the place and that folks are accommodating for us hillwalkers.
Down by the first lake. The sheep here were a little more friendly – I wonder if people feed them here.
A cow, for contrast. Angus, of course.
Time to hit the road again. From here, I’ve got two more main points of interest – the ruins of a small castle and Oig (pronounced ‘weeg’), a pretty little town that I was hoping to stay the night in, but was fully booked over a month before I started my trip.
A small bay by the castle I’m interested in.
Pardon? I thought it was ruins…
Definitely a pretty view to have a castle by. I approve.
I see no coffee! Just sheep! And ruins. And I’m a little disappointed that there’s a fence around this structure and a sign asking us to stay out. It wasn’t a huge castle, but I would have loved to take a better look around. I think if no one else would have been there, I would have jumped the fence.
An island off the coast, behind the castle.
This wasn’t any attraction I knew of. But it was neat looking, and obviously old, so I pulled over on the side of the road to take a picture. I’m in Oiq now, but decided to not linger because it was getting late. I think I was also tired – lots of walking and driving for one day so far, and I still need to get back to my hostel.
Look at that sunset…this is close to Oig too. Beautiful. Definitely worth pausing for.
As I got closer to Broadford, I came across the back sides of the Black Cullens. They were impressive from the front, but on this side, and in the fading light and low hanging clouds, I realized how massive they were. I thought I was done being impressed by the peaks out here, but once again Skye threw me for a loop.
Look at that monster. It’s such a steep incline that the grass can’t grow more than halfway up.
Now that’s a sight to send me to bed with.