WALKING THE WET SINGLE


“For hiking is one of those things that you can only do when you have the determination in you.”

                                   —Unknown 



 

Stats-we slogged 12.25 miles today while climbing 654’ and descending 655’. Bogs and rain were the themes today!

Our day starts with a leisurely breakfast and we on the taxi shuttle at 9:30. A 20 minute ride back to the Sligachan Hotel car park where we were picked up at the end of yesterday’s hike. We walk west and immediately the winds pick up so we stop to put our rain jackets on to break the wind. The hike is along a sea loch (essentially a sound from the sea). The path is faint and completely nonexistent in place. We are into the bog and the ground is like a soft wet sponge with spots of serious mud. 




Within 10 minutes my feet are wet and will remain that way all day. The path is up and down through the bog and through the brush. It rained last night so both the path and all the vegetation are soaked. At times we are forced to clamber over large boulders along the edge of the sound and other times we climb well up the hillsides above the water line. It is wet, tough going, and not pleasant at all. 



Forty five minutes after we start the rains begin so we put in the rain pants and tighten up our jackets. No rain was forecast for today until three or four in the afternoon. It is not yet eleven and it is pouring rain. The rain is constant for an hour . We complete the tough section and merge onto a single lane road. In Scotland they cal a single-lane road a “)





For the next 8 hours we follow the single. The intro photo shows the “single”. The rain changes to on and off and on and off….the entire remainder of of the hike.



Two miles before Portree, our destination for the day, we finally leave the road in exchange for another mile of boggy path. We are soaked and ready to get the the Portree Hotel, located in the town center. Portree is the largest town on Skye. We will stay here for the next 4 nights, one day starting our hike from here and getting a shuttle at the end of the day and the other 3 days we take both morning and evening shuttles.There are few places to stay at this northern part of the Isle of Skye so the shuttles are the only solution unless you backpack the trail.



The long-haired Highland Cow


                                          The River Varragill near Portree



Due to upcoming weather forecasts we have switched our hikes for tomorrow and Monday and will now be doing the “extreme” rated hike tomorrow!!







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