Today was my day to explore the Isle of Skye (Cloud Island
in Gaelic) and the weather was extremely cooperative. It was a fairly sunny day
for a change – the perfect day for a hike. I began the day with intentions of
driving all the way around the Trotternish peninsula on the northern end of the
island with a hike in the midde, but things did not play out quite as I had
hoped.
As soon as I began to drive up the east coast of the
peninsula, spectacular views of the mountains and seaside cliffs greeted me. I
seemed to be pulling over every mile in order to take pictures. A key stop
included Kilt rock, which is a cliff on the sea that is said to look similar to
a kilt, which it does with vertical ridges that look almost like pleats.
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| Kilt Rock |
After a quick break for lunch, I headed up a side rode
towards the center of the peninsula towards my mid-day hike. (For the most
part, my lunches have been very light – the heavy Scottish breakfasts have left
me full until 2 or 3 in the afternoon. But today I wanted to at least get a
little something additional in me before I began my hike.) The hike I had chosen
is called the Quirang, which none of my books seem sure of what it means. I
made my way up a very narrow and steep road that led to a low ridge from which
the hike begins. From there, I
parked (had to park in a “passing place” because the parking lot was full –
popular hike, apparently) and started out by foot.
I had borrowed a hiking guidebook from my B&B that said
there was a difficult side trail up a narrow ridge on the right that was only
for skilled scramblers, so I naturally naturally headed up the first ridge I
came to. One side was a rocky cliff, and the back side was a very steep grassy
hillside. Even the grassy side was incredibly steep, and I found I had to
zig-zag to make progress. There
were little mini-grass ridges all along the hillside which I tried to stick to.
Presumably these are created by sheep as they make there way up and down the
hills. Without them, the hillside was so steep, there was serious risk of
slipping and then tumbling down the hill. I finally summitted the ridge,
snapped some photos, and then slowly descended the other side of the ridge,
only to have to then make a rather difficult ascent back up to the trail.
The whole time I had hiked this ridge I had not seen a real
trail. I presumed this was because it was so challenging and out of the way
that most people avoided it. However, as I made my way along the path, I
discovered a side trail to my right which ascended another rocky
protrusion. And that’s when I
discovered my mistake – I had gone off piste in my eagerness to climb something
challenging.
My next adventure involved hiking up a very steep scree
field to my left between a rocky pinnacle and cliffs. It was so steep and there
were so many loose rocks, I started several rolling down the path. Each time it
would happen, I would stop and watch its progress, ready to shout out a warning
to anyone below, but luckily they would stop each time as if by their own will.
After some more exploring, I descended this area (luckily by
a less treacherous route), and continued on the trail towards a pass that would
lead me up to the overhanging cliffs atop the mountain. I was hiking at a fast
pace (at times jogging), and soon found myself on the ridge and ready to make
my way back to my car. As I ascended
the ridge towards the summit of the mountain, I was quickly surprised by how
different these mountains are from what I am used to. Probably because they are
so old, the tops of most of these mountains are not a peak, but rather a long
“gently” sloping side on one end that leads up to a cliff face on the other (by
gentle I mean not as steep as a ridge, but still an incline worthy of
significant effort). These sloping sides are covered in heather (thick, soft
plants low to the ground) and look like a giant sloping field raised in the
sky. As I neared the summit, the field became less steep and the path became less clear. Once I actually
reached the summit, the only trail I could make out at all was the one I had
just come up. Confused, I headed in what I thought was the right direction.
Soon, I saw some hikers in the distance and started to follow them. Before long, I found that I was hiking
towards what were actually probably sheep farmers, and I began to find the
going quite challenging, as the ground became increasingly wet and uneven.
Before long, I was stepping on heather and other spongy plants that would sink
down until water was poring over the tops of my shoes, and I was quite
disoriented. Eventually, I decided I must be going the wrong way and decided to
turn around and try to make my way back to the summit. Luckily, I was able to find
it, and tried a new route down, which also ended in me being confused and
frustrated. At this point the sun, was starting to dip and I began to become a
little nervous. I probably still had 3 hours of sunlight, but I had neglected
to bring my headlamp (I had packed it, but thought this hike would be short
enough that there was no way I would need it - lesson: always bring a flashlight). After some consideration, I
decided to go back down the way I had come until I found the cliff face, and
then follow it around until I could not proceed or I hit the trail. (In the
former case, I was probably going to have to rectrace my steps the whole way I
had come in, which was going to be significantly longer, but at least I would
know the way).
Thankfully, my plan worked out and I soon found what seemed
like a reasonably well-travelled trail. 30 minutes later, I could see the
parking lot, and another 30 minutes and I was safely in my car. Unfortunately,
between my excursions off the trail and getting a wee bit lost, I had spent
most of the day on my hike, so I wouldn’t have time to see some of the other
sights I had planned to visit. Nevertheless, overall it had been a great hike with lots of
adventures and good views.
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