A road less travelled – 21 September 2016

21-sept
We woke to a beautiful morning with good colour in the sky and a sprinkling of clouds.  According to the weather forecast, rain was on the way in the afternoon, so we needed to get out fairly early.  I must admit it was me who was tardy in rising and greeting the day, so there you go, blame me.

We drove up the road to Uig to visit our niece Jac who has just started work in a boutique hostel.  I think we were both quite intrigued by the descriptions we’d heard from her mother, another Jac, and Murd.  We met more than our usual lot of crazies going the other way.  Mother Jac (I think Jac the mum, we’ll call Jac1 – seniority!  Our niece will be Jac2. – There, that’s much simpler … I think).  So Jac1 had warned us about the amount of crazies driving on the single track roads and the arrogance of them.  Today we met them.  They seem to think they own the road.  They really have to understand that they are only visitors to this island.  There are other road users, people who live on the island and then there’s me and I DO own the road.  Yes, I did get it when I bought the motor!  However, we reached Uig in one piece.  The next warning we’d had from both Murd and Jac1 was about the road from Uig to the Cow Shed where Jac2 works.  I’m glad she did.  It reminded me of a road from Clydeside up to Craignethan Castle, except on that road there are warning signs.  On this wee road there are no sign.  Suddenly the road rises up right in front of you and continues to rise through three hairpin bends on a single track road.  Thankfully there were no crazies coming the other way this time.  Also, this achieved today’s goal to travel on a road we hadn’t been on in Skye.

The Cow Shed itself is very luxurious.  Calling this a hostel is a real misnomer.  This is a luxurious place.  The only ‘hostel part of it is the bunk beds in the dormitories.  And what a view!  From the lounge there is an uninterrupted view right across Uig bay.  Scamp was determined to get a look at the ‘pods’ and we did get a look in one.  Clever design and environmentally sound.  Good thinking too with mini pods for dogs on holiday with their owners.  I think we may be paying for a night in one of the pods the next time we are in Skye, but not one with a dogpod!

From Uig we drove over to Waternish and down to Stein and parked next to the loch.   That was when the rain came on.  In Skye when the rain comes on, it sometimes forgets to go off.  We headed back to Sligachan and from there to Portree.  The rain thinned a bit, but always came back with a vengence.  Got myself a shirt in Skye Batiks, another one, a purple one.  We drove back to Staffin and had a cream tea in Columba and a natter with Jac1.  After that we drove down to Staffin beach and the roads were in just as bad state as Murd and Jac1 had warned us about.

Headed back to Burnside and dinner which was boiled ham, cabbage and potatoes, my second old favourite.  Best favourite being mince and tatties!

Don’t know what we’re doing or where we’re going tomorrow.  It’s in the lap of the weather gods.  Looks good, but you never know on Skye.

There Jac1 you got a mention!  Don’t know if Jac2 reads this, but if you do, you got a mention too.

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