Saturday, ethical tourism and karma

OK, I promise I'll explain that weird philosophical title when the time is right. But first an aside about weather. So far we've been lucky, hardly have any rain during the two and a half weeks out. That said it had been bitterly, bitterly cold on times. Kielder Forrest was the worst but there have been few mornings where I've been keen to get out of bed. Indeed, we've probably had our warm-air diesel heater on more this trip than any previous in the last thirteen or so years we've had the van. 

So this morning when it was both perishingly cold and lashing it down with rain didn't bode well. A driving day, at best. 

Now decamping isn't as simple as just driving off, when we park for the night we move the driver and passenger seats forward and fill the resultant gap with a Tetris style arrangement of clothes boxes that live in the van's Luton when travelling. This has two advantages, firstly they are carefully arranged so as to actually extend the bed by 30cm ( a foot, for my older readers) and secondly it leaves the Luton empty (except for bedding) to throw coats etc up into. 

The downside is, of course, that when we leave for the day we have to do a reverse Tetris to put the boxes back so the seats can be moved into the driving position. Then there's the electric cable, the windscreen insulated cover etc. 

Amazingly this all takes about just 10-15 mins although this morning I was pretty wet after coiling the electric cable outside in the rain.

Right that's enough about van life, you're only here to see the photos. Today's plan is to tour the N arm if the island. First stop is tomorrow's ferry port Uig and another "must do" for this holiday. 

During lockdown myself and several friends kept our beer interest alive by finding different breweries to send us beers. And a firm favourite of several of us was Skye Brewery; they must have skipped dozens of cases down to Hampshire. So I did a quick pop into their shop to say "Thank You"

Oh, and I might just have bought a couple of bottles whilst there!

I think it will make more sense if I show today's route now

(about 73 miles) 

As we head on towards the top, the outer islands come into view

All being well we'll be over there tomorrow. 

It's all single track road but with an abundance of passing places and most folks, even obvious tourists, are thoughtful and considerate. Although for some miles we were stuck behind a large (and more importantly wide) motorhome who hadn't cottoned on to the fact he ought pull over in a passing place to let our small, therefore faster, van overtake. Ruddy tourists! 

On the plus side of single track, going slower means you get to read signs. I sailed pass the one saying "Iron Age Souterrain" but a nifty bit of reversing found us in the tiny car park. So, as you all know, a Souterrain is an underground storage facility and this one dates back to the iron age with the remains of a stone round house lying next to it. It's in amazing nick and would have been really interesting to explore had I my old tatty trousers on. But not wishing to get filthy I confined myself to merely poking my head in

there's a further 15m of that!

Elven safety is a little relaxed up here

Just before rounding the top on the ness we come across a far more touristy attraction "The Skye Museum Of Island Life". A set of croft buildings explaining life on the island for crofters, the clearances etc. We were expecting something twee and touristy but it was very good indeed. Well worth the visit

Of course, the weaving shed held special interest for me

Oh yes, you'll have noticed that the sky is blue and the sun is shining, the mercurial nature of Scottish weather - still cold though. 

On round, past some stunning mountains and the Old Man of Storr. Here's the best mountain pic I could manage, you really had to be there! 

The route took us through Portree and we needed to stop for food shopping so why not take in a coffee break. But there was wild and raucous dancing in the town square

inspired by these two

We discovered it was done sort of fusion between Christian happy-clappy and the Gay Gordons. Not our cup of tea, but we were here for coffee anyway. Oh, they must have something going for them though, the weather is almost pleasantly warm now.

Remember, right at the beginning of this post, I promised I'd explain that weird philosophical title. Have you all been waiting with bated breath? Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin.

Last night we discovered a croft actually right next to the campsite that kept sheep and handspun wool, along with knitting traditional Gansey jumpers. We knew that visiting wouls make us feel obligated to buy something and that the wool would be an order of magnitude more expensive than Sirdar prices (for those fortunate enough not to know, Sirdar is a leading yarn brand). But what are holidays for if not to support the local communities? So we popped over. Gosh, what an education. Jasmin tend her own flocks of mainly Cheviot but also Hebridean, South Blackface, and I think a few Raasay. She explained she didn't kill sheep for dog food etc but kept them, living their normal life-span of 12-14 years. Although she's no vegan, some males do find their way to the table. She explained the difference between the breeds, between grazers and browsers etc. all the time plying some yarn on her beautiful Norwegian spinning wheel.  What a fascinating life, but probably harder than any of us could imagine. 

Anyway, Liz bought a couple of skeins of handspun, hand-dyed wool from sheep off the croft. To be fair Jasmin did off her wool wasn't cheap, there was at least 5 years of sheep tending to take into consideration. Still each skein was (just about) less than a bottle of single malt so the hats Liz makes will be something special! 

Oh, and the karma bit? Having deliberately tried to be ethical tourists and support small local craftspeople the island decided to reward us in a fantastic way. As I swung the van round carefully in Jasmin's narrow parking and headed back up the slope to leave, Liz shouted excitedly. There above us, was a Golden Eagle. O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! We'll probably never get a better sighting, it was almost overhead but sadly slowly moving away so rushing for cameras and binoculars would have been to no avail.  

So despite that cold, wet start, what a day!