23 Apr 19 - Storr Lochs Nature Group Walk

See the WalkHighland Storr Lochs to Portree route here

What a wonderful day to get away from it all.  

We drove to the east side today and witnessed some of the early tourist season chaos as a tour bus had partially come off the road just before Storr Lochs trying to find a parking spot - presumably to that his passengers didn't have to walk across the road from the pull off area on the left!   

Then the queues and off road parking at the Storr itself with the continuous stream walking up to the pinnacle. 

The view back as we walked upwards and away from the parking spot. The cars can be seen at the Storr.

Instead, we turned right at the end of the Storr Loch and parked by the bridge to continue walking to the cliff and the head of Berreraig Bay before turning south towards Portree. The weather was superb for walking, warm with a little breeze but we still needed to take it steady with regular breaks to take in the views as we ascended to the highest point. 

Looking down on some of the ruins in what was a very fertile and well populated area.
Holm Island and signs of a family who worked the land - poignant that in the Granary of Skye late 18th until mid 19th century
upwards of 21,000 people eked out a living

Not a lot of nature visible but we saw a group of Kayakers wending their way northwards below us an had good views of the old house ruins below. 

We stopped for a welcome lunch on a highspot overlooking Rona, Fladda and the Ardnish on the North of Rassay. 

At the lunch spot .... Colin announced "Submarine" - probably felt a "thar she blows" was inappropriate!!!

Views to the mainland were a little hazy but enough to follow Colin's cry of Submarine! to see a Trident Sub on slow manoeuvres proceeding to the east side of the islands. After a lengthy rest and some good banter, we raised our cups of tea and coffee to say thanks to John Kennedy for planning the walk and thought of him down in St Helens having recently completed the sale of his house. 

We decided to return inland as it was a little flatter and the dry weather meant it should be less boggy, which on the whole it did. 

Lousewort (Pedicularis sp.)

As a secondary mission I was looking for "David's hole" which I was shown on my Skye Trail walk some time ago. It is a cave with a river and a natural water trough away from the coast. Needless to say the search was fruitless. 

We did see a few Divers on the Loch but light was not good enough to see if they were red or black but percentage wise almost certainly red.

We reached our starting point in good time after an excellent walk where we saw no-one on the hills and with superb company. 

17 Apr 2019 - Elgol to Prince Charlie's Cave

Full description and map of the route here on walkhighlands

A lucky thirteen of us met in Broadford and packed into three cars: just as well we only took three as parking was difficult at Elgol - the woman at the café by the village hall had her hands full, chasing off people who were parking too close to her outside tables - then walked down the hill to the jetty and the start of the walk to Prince Charlie's Cave (the Young Pretender, not the modern one) where he escaped after the catastrophe of Culloden ... whose anniversary happened to be yesterday.

A bit hazy but stunning views northwards to the Black Cuillins.  

CH (who has apparently climbed every one of the peaks) says the spiky bits farthest away on the left are the location for Danny Macaskill's great film.

Erosion in progress - how long before this bridge is eaten away, cutting off the little headland?

Found our way onto the right bit of shoreline,

then had to figure out which was the right cave - there were several vaguely possible to pick from - eventually settling for this one.

Alas, no royal graffiti or barrels of French brandy - or at least none that those intrepid enough to clamber up to look inside would admit to.

Back along the shore to the bay for our well-earned lunch, after which LT produced the most delicious Black Forest cake that her neighbour had baked for her (L's) birthday yesterday.  Even more impressive, it had arrived intact in her rucksack - and she had even brought napkins!

Some then took the high road ...





... and others, the low road,

... pausing at intervals to admire the views (and catch their breath, of course).

It really was a bit too warm - or, rather, some of us (i.e. me!) were over-dressed - but this is surely taking things a bit too far in mid-April.

It was, however, warm enough to tempt most of us to have a well-earned ice-cream before loading back into cars and - somewhat reluctantly - going our separate ways from the car-share meeting point in Broadford.