The Old Man and The Old Man of Storr

We were up early and hiking by 6.30 on another bright, beautiful morning!

The Storr (the mountain) and it's Old Man are iconic landmarks on Skye. "The Old Man (Bodach an Stòr in Gaelic), is a 55-metre-high pinnacle of basalt rock which is all that remains of a 2,800-million-year-old volcanic plug." When arrived there were about 10 cars in the parking lot. When leaving there must have been over 200!

Slow and steady but we did it and were richly rewarded for our efforts! Richard, the other "old man", did great while I managed to land on my backside not once but twice within a minute! 🤦🏻‍♀️🤭

Escaping the crowds, we headed on to Staffin and the "dinosaur beach"! I scooted down to the beach (the tides were right for viewing) and saw one very clear, 3 toed footprint. 🦖 The tidal pools were stunning with such clear water.

As I said earlier, the negative to no rain so far is the waterfalls are quite sad. Can you find the pic that has a waterfall in it?!?

The Skye Museum of Island Life was an interesting look at the hard life folks had living here. It was quite chilly with the winds whipping off the sea. Hard to imagine how brutal the winters are...the Croft House had once been a family's home (not a reconstruction). One couple, 10 kids in 3 rooms. Of course, that meant more body heat too!! ☺️

Stopped at a cemetery and saw a couple of interesting gave sites. Flora McDonald, who helped Bonnie Prince Charlie escape is buried here. The other 2 were kinda funny stories.

Old Angus had seen a slab that according to tradition marked the grave of an early Scottish king. Angus decided he wanted it for himself so he hauled it up to be used on his own grave when the time came.

The other was for Charles MacArthur, a famous piper to the MacDonalds, Lord of the Isles. The inscription is only half done as the son who had it commissioned for his late father died before it was done. The stone carver decided he was not going to get paid now so he quit!

We wrapped our day with a drive through the Quiraing. Some lovely evening views with the sun slowly setting.En savoir plus