Old Man of Storr

Before coming to Skye I had checked out some of the more iconic places to visit on the island, having already ticked off the Fairy Pools the Old Man of Storr seemed like a natural progression for our second day on Skye.

While only just over 30 miles from where we were staying in Colbost the journey to The Storr was over an hour, but not to worry as it takes you east across the island, and along some lovely roads, with fantastic views. The route also took us through the main town of the island, Portree, before heading back up north to The Storr.

I have already mentioned about the number of pot holes on the Isle of Skye, the local council have obviously been busy, as you can see the fresh pats of tarmac filling in some of the holes, but there are still numerous obstacles to avoid in the road - I would imagine the local tyre companies do well out of the repairs!

Anyway, the second thing of note occurred to me. I have been driving now for over 45 years, bikes and cars (oh and a 3 wheeler) and in those 45 years of driving I can't recall being overtaken as many times as I have in the last 2 weeks. Now I understand that the locals don't like getting stuck behind sight-seeing tourists driving at a snails pace, but I was shocked at how many times I was overtaken, while doing or close to the speed limit on often narrow windy roads - to have someone come flying past (usually works vans), apparently in a hurry to an early grave!

Anyway, I digress.

After the pleasant drive we ended up at what is now an enormous car park at the foot of The Storr. Kitted up we set off up hill. It was at the start of this walk that we encountered the piper, a young lad playing the bagpipes, rather well to my ear.

Apparently the path has been newly laid, with a compacted slate/gravel mix, which made the going relatively easy. To this point we haven't had much rain to speak of, so the path was dry. After a short while the path split, with an "easy route" off to the left, and the more direct, steep uphill in front.

We elected to do the easier route. It was easier in as much as the path meandered across the hill. It still meant you were climbing to the same altitude, but in a more gradual, if longer, route. It soon became apparent that this might be a walk too far for my wife, following close on the heels of the Fairy Pools the day before. To her credit, she has had a bad couple of years and to even be doing this at all is credit to her and her determination not to beaten.

We got about two thirds of the way up The Storr and within sight of The Old Man when we had to call it a day. The path was changing from the compacted gravel, to a mixture of loose stones and boulder steps, which would have been hard going for all. Little One had done so well to get this far up the hill, but he would have had to go into the back-carrier for the boulder stage - while at nearly 7 he is a little small for his age, I didn't feel I would be able to carry him up this last section. Regrettably we aborted the walk.

I think we did really well to get as far as we did, but it was a shame not to be able to get to the other side of The Old Man, where pictures taken show the stone in isolation, rather than as a foreground for The Storr, where the shape of The Old Man is largely lost against the backdrop. We ventured back down towards the car park, admiring the views that had largely been missed on the slog uphill!

As we reached the bottom the rain that had been threatening finally arrived.