Some astro pics taken from the cottage's garden on Skye.
No filters, scopes or mounts, just a Nikon D50 with a 35mm prime lens, a fixed tripod, an IR shutter-release and a bit of processing know-how.
Cassiopeia (the big W) to the upper-left, the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) to the lower-right
The Double Cluster and a fair chunk of Perseus.
OCD dot-to-dotters will have noticed that there are some stars that are common to this image and the first one.
Cygnus flying along the Milky Way
After packing the car and saying our farewells to the cottage we headed south on a mission to find the fabled otters of Kylerhea. It was another fine day so we had a few photo-stops on the way:
Clouds over the Red Cuillin and Broadford Bay
The same view in a temperamental scrolly-thing
Looking down Kylerhea Glen
There were good views from the track between the car-park and the otter-hide:
Kyle Rhea meets Loch Alsh
The Far Side
Down at the hide there was much to see. For starters there was this elaborate seagull-perch:
Minor Light
There were seals and birds in abundance but the otters were nowhere to be seen:
After an hour or so we gave up on the otters and went back up the track to the car. We got more pics:
Speckled Wood
Berries
How wind-power used to be
Another Speckled Wood
Glenelg Bay
As above but wider
Down at the ferry slipway:
This one's for Mr. Sloman
Slipway
Intertidal
A tad nippy
Jellyfish
After the crossing we headed up the Old Military Road along Glen More towards Shiel Bridge, stopping at Bealach Ràtagain to admire the view around the head of Loch Duich:
The view from Bealach Ràtagain
The view of the view from Bealach Ràtagain
The rest of the journey was picture-worthy but we were pressed for time, needing to get to The Real Food Cafe for some sustin. We managed a couple of photo-stops:
The head of Loch Garry - a bit of Scotland that's shaped like Scotland
Anna at the Loch Garry viewpoint
You'll know where this is
After raiding The Real Food Cafe it was a non-stop drag to our overnight stop at the less-than-luxurious Dumbarton Travelodge, but we did appreciate the fine scenery around Loch Lomond.
The next day was a drudge day as expected... motorway > Penrith Little Chef > home.
It had been a great week, it's a shame there was so much time spent in the car.
I was up and awake early on Friday morning - the previous evening the kids said that they wanted me to take them fishing. Ella managed to extract herself from her duvet but Anna was stuck fast to the bed, so it was just the two of us that went down to the rocks at An Laman.
Neither the tide nor the weather were favourable - high tide was three hours away and the water was almost flat-calm. Nevertheless we got tackled-up and were soon thrashing the water with our lures. As expected, we didn't get many takes and after a few hours our tally was just a single suicidal mackerel. The guys fly-fishing a few yards away were doing better, taking a fair few pollack. When we'd had enough and had packed away we went over for a chat and came away with the kind donation of a 4+ pounder for our evening meal. Thanks, guys!
We returned to the cottage just in time to meet Arthur, the gardener, with whom we had a delightful chat over a cup of tea while watching the birds soaring right above the cottage. One of the birds was bigger, tattier and less flappy than the others which were obviously buzzards, it's been suggested that the odd-one-out was an eagle but I'm not convinced. What say you?
Buzzagle
For all you die-hard bird fans, here's a clickthrough subset of 16 more.
After all that excitement Arthur was on his way and Chris was eager to be out for some fresh air. We went for a short drive down the coast, stopping at a few places for short strolls to the cliffs to see if we could spot any whales. The first stop was at Bàgh nan Gunnaichean where there were fine views of Stacan Gobhlach and the mirror-flat waters northwards:
We didn't see any whales there, so we drove a bit further south to the cliffs above Loch Sheanta. Chris and Ella went down to the loch while I stayed up top with Anna. We still didn't see any whales but we did see about a dozen large shoals of fish at the surface:
Two of the shoals
A couple of opportunist anglers tried their luck over one of the other shoals:
From there we nipped into the garage/shop on the main road at Stenscholl near Staffin, in order to stock up on sweets, cake and other essentials. We almost made it to the beach at Staffin but the heavens opened as we pulled into the car-park so we bailed and headed back northwards. The weather was still fine at Bàgh nan Gunnaichean from where we could see the clouds building up over Harris and Lewis:
A long shot
After a fine meal of filleted donated pollack, served with whatever was left in the cupboard, we spent the rest of the evening packing so that we could be away on time the day after. We really didn't want to leave but we knew that there was interesting stuff to see on the way home.
To be continued...
After Wednesday's recce, an ass-assessment and a back-check we thought we'd see if I was up to carrying a daysack up and around The Quiraing. The day was forecast to be fair until late afternoon so we went for it. As usual, while waiting for the others I managed to get some pics from the front garden:
Here's a snap of the northern end of the Quiraing picking up a bit of morning sunlight:
The last post
Here's the route that we would take:
We were soon installed in the upper car-park and the walk-in to where we reached the day before was straightforward, I didn't take any pics during this stage. Beyond that, however, the scenery just kept getting better and better:
Waterfall
On the approach to the step
It's only when you're beyond the step that you really get a proper sense of the scale and proportions of the place. The further you go the smaller you feel, and without a distant horizon in sight it's hard to tell when you've got the camera level. It's a very disorientating place!
Approaching The Prison
Towers, spikes and buttresses
The Prison
The track to The Prison
Sheltering behind a dyke
Looking up
Here's a thing that'll play with your eyes... mouseover the following pic to see Ella on The Prison... twice:
Hide and seek
Needles
Beyond The Prison, looking across to Staffin
Those three allegedly-wise monkeys again
Camo Girl
Hangover
Eventually the path climbs out of the trough and gains the ridge via some mild zig-zags near Fir Bhreugach. We had a breather here in the fresh breeze. Here's the view from there northwards towards Kilmaluag:
Looking northwards
The path follows the escarpment as it rises to the shoulder of Meall na Suiramach (543m), and the views over the edge are immense:
The view towards Dùn Mòr and Staffin
The Table, viewed from the north
Sròn Vourlinn and Leac nan Fionn
Chris on the edge!
The southern end of The Table
Humps and hollows
The southern end of The Table again
Anna forging on ahead
The final leg was down the steepening grassy slope of Maoladh Mòr to join with the outbound path above the upper car-park. From there it was a short drive back to the cottage.
The rest of the afternoon was spent winding-down. Showers out at sea provided some odd rainbows...
... and the hunting in the fields provided more opportunities for bird-watching:
The back and the butt had held up well to the outing, I felt that I might be on the mend but I knew that I'd need a few more days like that. I certainly slept well that night.
To be continued...
I must have slept well on Tuesday night because the next morning was awake at stupid o'clock. The kids were still snoring and Chris was dozing on the settee so I grabbed the fishing tackle, made my excuses and went down to the rocks at An Laman just in time to catch the turn of the tide after this overnighting boat had departed. I'm not sure but think it was the gaff cutter L208 Eda Frandsen:
Setting sail
I was chucking 28g Tobys out to about 50 yards (wind-assisted) and was dragging them back just above the bottom, I was getting takes every three or four casts for a couple of hours, some stayed on the hook but a lot didn't. Even so, after an hour I'd caught enough keepers to feed the family and I ended up doing catch-and-release. In all, I'd caught about a dozen and brought home only three - any more would have been greedy. The biggest keeper was a shade under 5lb, I'd lost two others about the same size and there were two huge feckers that I never got anywhere near landing, I've no idea what they were.
Anyway, here's me handling one of my three pollacks:
None of these fish answered to the name "Colin"
A while later a shower passed over and treated us to a fine rainbow:
Shame about the post
The afternoon got progressively wetter so we got in the car and hit the road. First stop was the farm on the road to Uig to pick up some logs and kindling from their roadside honesty-box, then we went on into Uig to see if we could find anywhere that sold fishing tackle. Amazingly, the is no such place in Uig, we were told that the nearest place to buy tackle was Portree! This turned out to be untrue - a few days later (and too late for us) we found that the garage/shop on the main road at Stenscholl near Staffin sells the stuff.
Instead of heading to Portree again we crossed the peninsula using the mountain road from Uig to Brogaig, stopping off at the upper car-park for a brief recce of the bizarre landscape area of The Quiraing. We didn't explore far as we were inappropriately kitted-out for the drizzly conditions, but it was still an interesting place to see:
The Quiraing
Bioda Budhie overlooking Cleat
The track across The Quiraing
Rainbow over Staffin
Back at the cottage the neighbours were having a get-together:
Soay sheep?
Choosing an evening meal wasn't difficult, we cut the largest pollack into three huge steaks and open-baked them, they went down well with some spuds and fresh veg.. The other fish were gutted and frozen to take back home.
To be continued...
Tuesday morning was looking a bit grim up north so we decided to head westwards in an effort to find more sunshine. As usual I was ready and waiting while the others were still faffing so I had a play with the camera trying to capture the ever-changing view from the cottage:
A million miles of space and fresh air
(Caption inspired by Alan Sloman)
Sunshine and shade
Soon we were on the road and heading for the area around Dunvegan. It doesn't look too far on the map, but distances are deceptive even when you allow for the twists and turns of the route. Eventually we made it to our first objective - the small car-park at the end of the road to Claigan - where the weather was sunny and warm. We were lucky enough to nab the last available space and soon we were at the start of the easy track to the Coral Beaches. At the start of the track is a sign that reads differently every time I look at it:
Are they really thanking all of the dogs on leads?
Do they shoot the farm animals if a dog is caught worrying?
How serious is worrying? I worry about lots of things, will I be arrested? Or shot?
The short walk is a delight, there being many different grasses, colourful plants and butterflies:
Purple and blue
Soon enough we got our first look at the beaches:
On the approach to the Coral Beaches
Of course, it's not really a coral beach. The stuff underfoot consists of maerl (the calcified parts of coralline red algae) with some broken shells and worm-tubes thrown in for good measure:
It's sedimentary, my dear Watson
We spent more time there than we expected, and we ran out of time to visit the nearby Souterrain and Dunvegan Castle. No matter, it's a good excuse to go back another year. Here are some more pics:
Cnoc Mòr a' Ghrobain
Over Lampay towards Duirinish
Towards Macleod's Tables
Isay, Mingay and Clett from Cnoc Mòr a' Ghrobain
Gin-clear shallows
Chris atop Cnoc Mòr a' Ghrobain
Paddling
Anna
Hooded Crows (Corvus cornix)
On the short drive back to Dunvegan we saw plenty of seals:
Seals near Gairbh Eilein
From Dunvegan we headed to Portree to pick up some supplies and some petrol, and then headed northwards past The Storr. Sadly, we didn't get a chance to walk in this area. If you're thinking of giving it a shot you could do worse than follow Jamie's route and advice here.
Anyway, here's a couple of pics:
The Storr from a distance
The Storr beyond Loch Fada
Back at the cottage all was overcast so we had a night in sitting in front of a compelling open log-fire and watching the telly.
To be continued...
