Adventures in Scotland - Day 6 on Skye

Today was absolutely beautiful and exhausting and exhilarating! I had the best sleep of the trip, thanks to a small table fan in our room. None of the places up here have air conditioning (it rarely gets above 75), but the rooms stay warm because they are all made of stone and hold the heat from the sun. We can only keep our windows open until a certain time, and then we have to close them to keep the midges out (no screens on the windows). They are also like most Europeans, in that they just use down duvets on the beds (no sheets). So we end up sleeping in a mild temperature room under a very warm duvet. For someone who is used to setting the AC at 65 every night and then turning the ceiling fan on high, this has taken some adjustment. And if we want the windows cracked, we have to leave the curtains open a little, and it's daylight for 20 hours! Nevertheless, I slept great last night because we had a small fan! One little thing makes all the difference...

After breakfast, we spent 4 hours hiking to the Quaraig, which is a ring of volcanic peaks and plateaus. 

Can you find me on the trail? Don't look down!

We spent part of the morning hiking through fog and clouds (and only seeing what was right in front of our faces - sometimes a little too close to a cliff). A few times we almost lost the trail and had to backtrack because we couldn't see anything.

Can you see the huge cliff in front of us? What about the sheep?

But we were rewarded when we were at the top and the sun suddenly came through.  The clouds lifted and we were rewarded with views of Skye, the North Sea, the Outer Hebrides, and miles and miles of lush green. 

It's sunny!!!

You see that plateau above Eric? That's where we are headed next...

It doesn't look very far, but it is!!

Getting closer to the summit!

We made it! 1,709+ ft to the top!

Now we have to figure out our path back down...

Amazing views in any direction!

Did I mention there are sheep everywhere?? They were all over the mountains and cliffs during our hike today. Sometimes the fog was so thick we could hear them all around us but couldn't see them.

After four hours of hiking we were pretty tired (and hungry!) We drove to Uig (pronounced Oo-Eeeg) for a very very late lunch. It is a small port town.

... Luckily we could rest and have a drink outside in the glorious sun!

Next we drove around the northern tip of the peninsula. There were some old castle ruins from the 1600's and you could look up the North Sea.

Most of the roads are one lane, so you have to worry about running into oncoming cars, but more often you have to worry about oncoming sheep.

The Outer Hebrides (island chain) in the distance.

Next we went to Kilt Rock, which looks like the pleats of a kilt. Apparently they also found dinosaur bones there recently. 

The cliffs are so striking and jagged - and they have a lot of rockslides.

Whew! That was a long day! We headed back to the hotel for drinks and dinner

Here's our hotel - it was built in 1895 as a hunting lodge. We have great views of the sea and the cliffs behind us.

The view while I lay in bed typing this! It will get dark around midnight and will be light again by 4am. It's wonderful to have so much daylight but it also really messes with your internal clock. You want to stay up too late because it's still light out!

Now time to count sheep and get some sleep...