Skye

From the sun drenched shores of Loch Lomond, we drove for five hours through spectacular scenery that included Glen Coe, a valley sided by huge, snow capped mountains, lochs, more mountains, more lochs – you get the theme – so much and so many, a little Welshman started to understand mountains bigger time.

At the top of Loch Lomond, a retailing phenomenon: The Green Welly Stop. A huge help yourself restaurant leads into a massive temptation of shopping, with special Scottish mementos leading into a hugely ranged sports shop – everything you’d want for hiking up and down mountains (they’re here in their thousands). Indoors bought a wet weather hat. No surprise there then. And to think she’s survived some 60+ years without one.

Having peeled off the road to Inverness, we came across this statue to commandos, some of who use this area for training. Well hard.What you can’t see is what they’re looking over, namely the UK’s highest mountain, Ben Nevis.So many sets of road works, some with the latest fashion of convoy led passing through, when you wait for ages because a lead vehicle drives at 10mph ahead of the cars so everything takes longer, then you wait for a 12 point turn from the stupidly big lead vehicle which then does the return journey, including your car, at …. 10mph. Three of these so far. No hurrying in The Highlands, then. But the roads are in dire need of repair. One’s other car’s low profile tyres would have been shredded by now.

And eventually, after a very steep modern bridge, we’re on the island of Skye. We stopped for a rest, only to discover a locally brewed beer: from the Skye Island Brewery. And it’s mighty fine, thank you. Called into the Co-op to find a moustache’d lady selling wellies, but she wasn’t there. Neither is that story, so move on.

Skye seems very big – it is, being 8% the size of Wales – and really quite desolate, with lots of little single storey houses plonked in fields, away from neighbours, and very few trees. When we have 90mph winds in West Wales, Skye has 120mph winds. Hence, few trees, which makes the desolation seem, well, just more. A bit like Hinterland making Mid Wales appear rural and rurally poor, so Skye is poorer again. Despite a number of houses, in various states of repair, being available, we agree we wouldn’t like to live here. Or have a holiday home.

At this time of year, it gets dark here at about 10.30pm and, I’ve just found out, light at 4.00am. There’s another five weeks to the longest day! And we’ve further north to visit on our travels.

Skye 2