Sunday morning was dry and calm, with the rest of the day forecast to be warm and sunny, so we decided that a gentle walk was a good idea. While the others got ready I sat outside watching the birds and the sea:
There were many of these things in and around the garden
Stac Lachlainn and Rubha Bheanachain
The decision was to head for Rubha Hunish, the northernmost tip of Skye, to see if we could spot any whales and/or otters. Here's the route:
The Rubha Hunish route
Suitably armed with navigation aids, Smidge, binoculars, cameras and very little else, we headed off towards the bay. Here's a shot of the view behind from a point halfway to the bay:
A look back
Another look back, from near the bay
We took a break at the small car-park/picnic area by the bay while the kids went down to the shoreline. There were many mackerel shoals in the bay, so we resolved to return later with the fishing tackle. There'll be more about that later, but for now here's a shot of the bay:
Kilmaluag Bay at low tide
We backtracked a few yards and bypassed the graveyard, taking a fair track that was heading in the right direction. There was a fair bit of wildlife on display:
Scotch Argus (Erebia aethiops)
This thing was over twice the size of the Buzzards that were common over the ground in front of the cottage. Judging by that and by the calls that it was sending out, we're fairly convinced that it was an Eagle of some sort
Yet another look back
After a short diversion to avoid climbing a barbed-wire fence we eventually arrived at the Lookout Bothy which is supposed to be the best place for spotting whales, basking sharks and other such beasties. Needless to say, we saw none despite giving it our best efforts. The view was to die for, my camera skills do it no justice whatsoever:
Rubha Hunish and the view towards Harris and Lewis
Looking up The Minch, Eilean Trodday on the right
The Lookout Bothy
270° panorama with dodgy stitch-work
270° view in a scrolly-thing that works when it feels like it
We decided that the clamber down to the headland wasn't for us so we picked out a route past the eerie deserted settlement of Erisco and headed towards Duntulm, being in need of sustenance. We kept watching the shoreline but saw none of the resident otters. On the way we found loads of these critters:
I'm fairly sure that this is a Fox Moth caterpillar
We decided that the best point of vantage for viewing Duntulm Castle was the garden of the Duntulm Castle Hotel, as it had obvious other attractions:
Duntulm Castle
The roadblock benches were remarkably comfortable, allegedly:
R & R
The intake of an appropriate amount of alcohol made the short road-walk to the cottage quite bearable... until the need for the loo kicked in. During the last few hundred yards there were many moans, funny walks and contorted facial expressions:
Strained relations
Back at the cottage we took some relief and had a relaxing evening. I was in surprisingly fine fettle considering how bad my back had been during the previous couple of weeks, I put the recovery down to having an excellent driver's seat.
Before bedtime we were treated to a fine sunset:
Blue and Orange
Later the clouds departed and after midnight the sky was alive with stars and a fair few meteors. I did take some pics but I'll leave them for a suitable post later on.
To be continued...
