GOODBYE SKYE…
“You’re off to great places, today is your day. Your mountain is waiting, so get on your way.”
—Dr. Seuss
Stats-Today is our last day of hiking for this trip. The hike seemed easy and short on paper; only 6 miles of walking and just 1600’ of climbing and 1900’ down, plus the weather forecast looks great. Piece of cake…right….what could go wrong?…..
Today is our last day of hiking so we start out with a leisurely breakfast with Gillian, a delightful young woman from Montreal who we meet back on the West Highland Way hike on the Scottish mainland. While she is not doing the same hikes as us, but is doing various peak climbing and other adventures, our paths have crossed numerous times and it has been a pleasure to talk with her and share some past adventure stories, a few jokes, as well as a couple of meals.
Our taxi arrives exactly on schedule at 9:30 am. We are driving north, almost to the northern most point of Skye. The driver Michael has shuttled us several times over the past few days. Today he is less hurried and makes a couple of bonus stops, one at the waterfall pictured below and one at his favorite remote costal area.
By 10:20 we are hiking after first putting on all of our rain gear. No rain in the forecast but it is raining lightly anyway. Today we are doing a loop hike, ending up at a bar in Flodigarry. The first 2.5 miles are climbing. It rained most of yesterday and all night so the trail is super saturated. Water runs down the trail and puddles are everywhere. Every single step all day is onto either water, mud, or rock. Often it is a some combination of of two of those or even all three. All day, every step….
Then there is the rain, as well as the wind. It rains all day, sometimes just a drizzle, other times much harder. The wind blows hard and blustery. At times it is like a horizontal spitting drizzle attack. We do the lower elevation portion of the loop first and the clouds are less intense so we have some partial views of the geological formations.
Midway on the loop we hike a steep hill of water and mud, watching a few downhill travelers take butt falls in the ooze. Once on the upper part of the loop we are in the clouds, the wind, and the bogs. No scenic views on this section. We miss one crucial turn and have to head downhill across the moor to find our path.
This beautiful waterfall is really our trail. Bill is the orange dot in the center top of the photo. Trails can turn into waterfalls after a night of rain.
Further down we miss another turn and end up staying too high. We realize the error just as we reach a very steep muddy descent. Applying our wisdom, we opt to descend in a nearby gulley which is covered in moss and heather instead of mud. It is like walking down a very steep slope over 18” deep sponges. A short distance behind us is a family of two adults and two pre teen kids. They opt for the muddy route. We hear some commotion and turn to watch the mother slide 50’ down the slope on her back. Luckily she goes feet first and stops uninjured. Would have made a great video!
We cross some mud holes of epic proportions as we begin a long descent back to our starting point. Eventually we reach our staring point, but still have another kilometer of walking to reach the Flodigarry Hotel and Bar where the taxi will meet us. The sun pokes through for a few seconds, its first appearance of the day. We reach our destination just 8 minutes before our scheduled pickup. We quickly order drinks at the bar. Michael arrives on time but gives us a few minutes to finish our drinks. It is just the polite thing to do in Scotland you know.
We finish our day muddy and wet after 7.3 miles. Below is a map of our Skye hike, with our route in red. We traveled south to north, covering most of the length of Skye. Our Isle of Skye trail route was 77 miles in total. With the 104 miles on the West HighlandWay plus the 10 miles on Ben Nevis, we have hiked 191 miles during this Scotland adventure.
Now it is time to wrap up this hike and this blog. Tomorrow we take a 6 hour shuttle ride back to Glasgow, spend the night near the airport, and fly home the following day. We will arrive home tired and with weary legs, our cell phones filled with photos, and hopefully our friendships intact. Most important will be the memories we each have of our adventure together; the amazing things we saw and did, the meals we enjoyed, the pints we consumed, and the interesting people that shared this time with us.
Life is all about your own “life book” full of your adventures, your memories, and your relationships. The three of us have each added a new chapter to our own personal life book. A friend recently told me that life is like a game of golf and we each are playing on that golf course, but we have no idea exactly where we are on that course. If you are young you are most likely on the front nine…but not always. If you are older you are likely somewhere on the back nine. Those of us now in the “mature senior” stage are further along on those back nine. We can never know for sure which hole we are currently playing or when our game will be finished. But we can decide to actively play the game and enjoy each hole to the fullest!
So please make the most of every hole and thank you for following our blog!
“Returning home is the most difficult part of long-distance hiking. You have grown outside the puzzle and your piece no longer fits.”
—Cindy Ross
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