Isle of Skye – Day 2

This was our most hike-intensive day on Skye, even though the day started at a slow pace.

I woke up after 9am, looked outside the bedroom window, and was stunned by the view.

I decided that we should find time to eat outside on the patio. And enjoy the view.

However, we did not have a lot of time because we had to cover a lot of ground. Our first stop was the Fairy Pools site on the southeastern side of Skye.

The Fairy Pools

From Uig to the Fairy Pools is about a 30-mile, or 50-minute, drive. Slow traffic and windy roads along the way.

The Fairy Pools is a beautiful place. The only downside is that it is too crowded on a nice and sunny summer weekend. We could not find a place to park on the parking lot, so we parked along the curb. There were lots of cars parked the same way.

The place is magical, with so many small waterfalls and emerald pools, that it awakens your inner child. I wanted to pick some wild flowers, make a wreath and hop from boulder to boulder, and finally dive into one of the pools.

However, my inner child was suppressed by the fact that other people’s inner children were already hopping around. And there were too many of them. Many of them were taking a soak or diving in the pools. I tried the water, and it was icy cold. No diving for me :).

My mind switched gears, and I concentrated on taking pictures. It was a challenge of its own. Taking pictures without getting people in the frame. I succeeded. but in a way, those pictures are deceiving. Imagine the same pictures with hundreds of people roaming around. Not so tranquil.

We did not get to the end of the Fairy Pools trail. I got tired of navigating among people and trying to take pictures without anyone in the frame. I proposed leaving and going back to Trotternish peninsula to hike the Old Man of Storr.

The Old Man of Storr

Parking near Storr’s trailhead was actually better than at The Fairy Pools. We had no problems, which saved us quite some time.

The hike is not long, only about 1 km in length, but it is quite steep, a 250 m ascent.

The first half of the hike is not in any way remarkable in terms of views. Yes, it is nice, but for some time I was quite disappointed, until I turned around and looked back.

Soon the trail became steeper and we saw the Old Man.

The rock formations around the area are spectacular. Thankfully, there were not too many hikers around.

The hike is a loop that circles around the rock formation. However, when we circled to the back, we saw a sign, “You are not advised to go beyond this point,” which was altered to read, “You are advised to go beyond this point”. I decided to follow the advice of the fellow hikers and go beyond that point. However, I think the reason for the warning is to let people know that they are about to enter the area where falling rocks are possible, and it could be dangerous. You have been advised.

We went through the falling rock side as fast as we could. And the views on the other side did not disappoint.

On the other end of the rock falling cliff, we saw the same sign that was the same way altered by the fellow tourists. 🙂

The whole hike took only an hour and a half, round trip. My knee was still weak, so I did not try to climb any rocks. Alex, on the other hand, climbed as much as he could.

The Quiraing

We were done with the Storr hike around 4:30pm, so we still had a lot of daylight hours left for the day, and we wanted to use them all. Therefore, we went on to another hike — the Quiraing.

The Quiraing is not too far from The Old Man of Storr, only about a 30 minute drive. We arrived there after 5pm, and the parking near the trailhead was empty.

We knew that the Quiraing has upper and lower paths, so that you can either take each in both directions or “mix and match” to make it a loop hike. We wanted to make it a loop hike to be able to see all possible views. A worn, muddy trail took us along the lower part of the loop. Actually, we wanted to take the upper path first and return by lower trail, but we missed the fork and didn’t realize in time that we were on the wrong path. However, that turned out to be a lucky accident. Views from the upper trail are better in the direction facing the road on the way back.

The lower path was sometimes narrow and on a steep hillside. There was enough space for one boot at a time. I cannot imagine taking this trail on a busy day.

The views from the lower trail are pretty good, but the views from the upper part are simply breathtaking and spectacular. Especially when the time is right. And in our case, it was. We were the only hikers on the whole trail, so we did not have issues with extra people in the frame (only with the eerie silence from time to time). However, the main advantage of hiking the Quiraing that late is the lighting during the sunset. The magic sunset light worked its magic.

Our only companions on the trail were sheep. They were grazing everywhere along the upper trail, which means we had to be very careful not to step into their final product, so to speak.

During the whole hike we faced only one challenge. When we got to the end of the flat part of the upper path, we could not find a trail that led downhill to the carpark, even though we could see our car very well. In general, the upper trail was not as well marked or trodden as the lower one (the cairns were a welcome exception, though). The absence of people was another disadvantage at this point — we did not have anyone to follow. Finally, we had no choice but to use the sheep paths and our common sense and carefully descend.