We took a drive around the NE and NW parts of Skye today. It was not far as the crow flies, but took us the whole day to accomplish between pictures stops and slow narrow roads. The views were great though! Our one disappointment was that the clouds were so low we didn't get to see the 'Old Man of Storr' - a pointy rock formation (all the island was volcanically formed).
The sheep were everywhere, including in front of our car. Fortunately, even though they were right along the sides of the road they did not tend to jump out into the road (these were just moseying in front of us). Apparently during the famine times in the 1800s, many left the island, and others were forcibly removed so that the land could be used for sheep instead of farming.
Lealt Falls and gorge.
Wildflowers were everywhere, though not quite as prolific with all of the sheep grazing across the land.
I loved this sheep up against the cliffs - no problem.
Waterfall coming off the cliff (Kilt Rocks in the background)
Kilt Rocks. The stripe was formed when molten rock pushed between the sedimentary layers of rocks on the cliff and volcanic activity pushed the rocks upward creating the jagged coast.
Looking straight down from the cliffs into the very clear water (you can see my foot in the edge of the picture). Not sure of the height, but guessing 200 ft.
Classic image of Skye. Mountains rising, clouds over them, white house sitting by itself with a few sheep around. I think there would likely be an uprising if any neighbor painted there house any color other than white.
Coast off Flodigarry (tide is out). The tides seem to go up and down quite a ways here.
Our B and B host told us to stop for dinner at the Flodigarry hotel. We assumed that Flodigarry was a community of notable size (over 100 perhaps), but only our car GPS gave us any indication that we had arrived in "Flodigarry". After driving very slowly along the winding road and figuring that we were in for backpack snacks for dinner, we stubbled on a sign for the Flodigary Hotel. We took the turn off and several sharp switch backs and came to this lovely building with gourmet dinners. What a treat!
We continued our drive around the northern most part of the island. Not in a big hurry after a delicious dinner, and not worried at all about finding our way home in the dark, because it doesn't really ever get dark here. The pictures below were taken after 10 pm. This Duntulm, an old fortified ruin. We actually had to walk through a sheep field to reach it.
No comments:
Post a Comment