Walking

Going for an afternoon micro-adventure, fancy coming along?

We're going to just step out the back door....

and head for the hills and the moors.

There is a brisk breeze, warm and dry.

My hair will flap and flip around my head.

 We will follow an old stone pathway, called the Moor Road

down to the village of Wycoller. 

Along the way, we'll stop and admire the view

wonder about the ruins

take time to think

to day dream

to enjoy a brief promise of summer. 

We'll sit on millstone grit boulders and watch the world go by

Watch out for puddles along the way

last night's very heavy thunder storm 

has left watery evidence everywhere!

 And in places, we stop and share stories

of people we have met

of anecdotes we have heard

and we'll smile and nod

as if this was the first time

we'd heard these tales.

Sharing our history with the boys and with you

helps us relive our past

helps keep memories fresh and alive.

 We can admire the heather 

and watch the bees foraging.

Then we'll work our way back home and put the kettle on

we will hand round the remains of birthday cake

and fudge

and agree that

this wasn't a bad little walk

Thank you for walking out with us,

we'll do it again some time :)

Birthday weekend round up

My Youngest turned 15 (yes 15!) this weekend ..... woah! Where has time gone? We spent all weekend celebrating his birthday - well why not :)

It feels oddly right that my youngest is the tallest in the family - he lopes around on slender gangly limbs. His feet are big and he leaves his huuuuuuuuge walking boots, enormous school boots and humongous sneakers all over the house - never mind them being a trip hazard they are bordering on being tank traps!

He has a booming laugh yet can still produce a squeaky giggle at the drop of a hat. His appetite veers from elephantine to picky and he is quite partial to a naughty snack when he is feeling 'nibblish'.

His birthday was on Sunday where afternoon tea was the culmination of the celebrations and as we had family coming, Eldest and I turned the kitchen into a bakery while Himself and Youngest set off on their bikes for a birthday ride out.

Youngest had requested a chocolate cake,  a really really chocolatey one.

So that is what he got!

A chocolate cake covered in chocolate :)

One happy young man.

It was interesting cutting it!

Eldest manfully stepped up to the mark and made the most delicious fudge.

He watched it most attentively

continuously stirring for over half an hour from start to finish!

Then, when it was pressed into the pan to set,

he placed it on top of his laptop fan and switched it on 

to speed up the cooling!

It was absolutely delicious.

I also made fruit scones, jam and cream and a fruit loaf,

but they were scoffed before I remembered to take pictures.

Then when all the baking was done, Himself and Youngest returned from their ride

splattered in mud and sporting the widest grins imaginable :)

All in all, a good weekend.

Happy birthday my beautiful boy- you have such a cheeky grin - keep on smiling like you do :)

The Fairy Bridge

At the bottom of the Waternish peninsula where the coastal road splits dwells a small stone bridge - almost unnoticed by the passing traffic.  The Fairy Bridge.

We almost didn't stop. 

There already was a minibus full of bored looking tourists standing about looking - well - looking bored. However, Himself needed to look at the map so he pulled over and while he studied it, the rest of us decided to look around.  The bored tourists filed back into the bus and trundled off to their next boring stop.  

Then, once they'd gone, the magic quietly started.  

The bird song and the wind in the grass were a gentle background. 

I returned to the car to collect my camera.

The teenagers quietly slipped through the heathers and ferns then on the bridge edge. 

Each seemingly in a world of their own.

Alongside the babbling burn, protected by the narrow gorge, the wild flowers flourished . 

The water itself was stained a dark tea colour, 

tinted by bracken and peat. 

It looked almost syrupy as it flowed over the rocks.

 I loved the framed view the arch of the little bridge created.

While we were there, several cars drove down, their occupants wound down their windows, stared nonplussed at the seemingly 'boring' stone bridge and then left - their lives not enriched by the magic of the simplicity, the magic of the natural and restrained yet wild beauty.

And to think we nearly did the same...

I hope you are not tired of my posts of Skye - I hesitate continuing for fear of boring you!

I just want to share with you a most magical and wild place

that seems to have wound itself in to me.

Walking to Vaternish Point

There a some walks in my life time that will always remain a favourite, the type that you walk over and over again delighting in the seasonal changes and the views.

Then there are some walks that fill my heart and soul with such power and immeasurable pleasure that I feel completely consumed by the all encompassing beauty.

Vaternish Point did this to me.

On the furthest north wing of Waternish on Skye is a small lighthouse with eye-filling views of the sea and the sky as well as the islands of Lewis and Harris. We started our walk from the small hamlet of Trumpan (which deserves a posting all of it's own) and ....well, let my photos do the talking...

Just a word of warning- it is a photo heavy posting :)

On the way to Trumpan, our starting point, 

we stopped just to gawp
at the blueness 

and vastness 

and beauty of it all.

A small spit of land seemingly held just by a slender thread of land to Waternish.

Trumpan seems to have had it's fair share of clan fighting with the most disastrous results. 

I do recommend reading THIS to find out it's dark and murderous past.

We set off, following the hamlet's narrow tarred road.

It seemed that nearly every second house was a holiday home,

the whole area had a feeling of a ghost town.

However, alongside a house with a garden riotously filled with flowers

was this dark wooden stall,

just inviting to be opened.

And inside were fresh breads and biscuits,

jams and an honesty box.

We bought ginger biscuits and Himself chose a jar of gooseberry and elderflower jam.

A happy man:)

Our purchases stashed safely in our haversacks,

we carried on.

Our gaze dragged out to the sea

watching the sky

watching the water

watching the yacht 

Silently it slipped through our view

Then, when my eyes were almost aching with the beauty of the blue.....

...something moved in the water.

Something absolutely enormous.

Whales? Had we? Did we? See actual real live whales?

We stood and stared

Our eyes beseeching the water to reveal more.

Then the dark shadows vanished.

Did we imagine them?

Then, more obvious and everywhere

were the magpie moths.

Hundreds and hundreds of them.

Our track became more wild and stony.

Along the way we visited the ruins of highland blackhouses, 

left from the days of the highland clearances. 

Dark days.

We also discovered a large cairn in honour of Roderick MacLeod of Unish, 

who died during a battle on Waternish in 1530.

Enroute we explored two brochs - historic dwellings - the first with large and impressive remains where we stopped for lunch and the second - Dun Gearymore which was smaller and more tumble down but with a surviving access passage way.  Within moments of discovering it, Himself, the boys and Girlfriend squeezed in and disappeared from view. Ergh - not for me!

I chose to take photos of the view, the broch and the beautifully coloured rock while I tried to imagine what it was like to have lived here 700BC during the Iron Age.

Eventually the broch spat my family out and we continued towards Unish House - a huge and imposing stone farm house. All along the route were stony mounds - evidence of ruined blackhouses.

At the farm, we discovered ruined outbuildings, so we explored and imagined life.

Through the doorway of one such building

I spied the lighthouse.

Our destination.

I zoomed in with my camera and was delighted to also capture a small ferry.

And....

was that a dark mark in the water?

To the left of the lighthouse?

YES!
A whale a whale a whale!

In fact - two whales. 

Two Minke whales.

We all stood absolutely delighted!

I zoomed in and scanned the sea

look what popped into view....

We hurried down to the lighthouse for a better view and for the next hour we the only witnesses of feeding and surfacing. Each surfacing was punctuated with a gentle fuff of air from the blowhole.

Himself brewed up mugs of steaming tea, 

the purchased homebaked ginger biscuits were munched 

as we sat spellbound.

Then, when the whales had quietly slipped into the distant, seals and seabirds captivated us.

The teenagers dropped down off the cliff edge and climbed down to the water's edge.

A large seal seemed very curious and kept bobbing up high to have a good look at them.

 

Eventually the air cooled and the sun lowered

Time to return.

We still had a fair walk back to the car.

And the track was long.

Finally, six hours after we set off,

we returned to the car

foot sore

but heart happy.

Then in the last of the evening light, 

as we arrived at our campsite nestled below the range of hills,

a cloud 'table-cloth' slid up and over the brow of the hill.

Magical.

And Himself's gooseberry and elderflower jam?

Well.

Eaten the next day for breakfast on toasted bannock buns.

What better way to start the day?

This walk keeps invading my memory

making my heart both sing and feel sore.

I would love to return to this wonderful peninsula

to walk

to watch

to be

Until then, I shall just have to enjoy the memories

look at the pictures

and

dream.

Thank you for joining me xxx