Weather forecast for today is clear morning turning overcast later in the day …
so it’s up at 5am, breakfast and hit the road as light starts entering the sky.
In fact it is quite overcast right from the beginning but it’s up to 4 deg C so it’s not too bad, and the car heaters in this part of the world seem very effective!
I have been told by our photographer guide of Tuesday last week that the drive to Armadale detouring via Tarskavaig is a “worthwhile” trip, whatever that means, but it’s nearby so that’s where I am going. Apparently “worthwhile” means “goat track” in Gaelic …
As I turn up this narrow avenue the sun breaks through the clouds for a moment with the first real golden light of the trip … unfortunately the only subject around is a grove of trees off the side of the road which are only momentarily illuminated before they are returned to dark shadow.
It would have been better to let our guide drive us on this trip last week … I can barely afford to glance out the side window as I need my eyes riveted out the front windscreen. Despite the bonnet of this miniscule car ending at about my toes, there are still innumerable blind summits on bends wrapped precariously round the side of mountains plunging thousands of “feet” into the “glens” and “lochs”.
I am so absorbed in staying alive I miss what would have perhaps been the best photograph of the morning by something like two minutes. I have just rounded a turn and crested a summit when a glance to one side reveals the sun is breaking through the morning clouds and lighting up lochs and mountains gloriously. Well that’s how it flashes through my mind … There was a “passing point” about 100 yards back which I need to reverse into to get the shot, there is nobody behind me so I jam the car into reverse gear. The entire time I am reversing, about 30-40 secs, the light holds but as reach the appropriate point the clouds begin to sweep across the sun and I don’t have time to set up the camera. It’s a bit like fishing …. and the one that got away.
I continue on crestfallen and have to console myself with views of moutains across the lochs seen for the first time in the morning calm. Each morning seems to have a still period which seems to disappear as the sun rises along with the wind and its accompanying chill factor.
I eventually arrive at Tarskavaig which is a town of perhaps 20 houses scattered around the hillsides and with no apparent purpose to it’s being here other than the view …
… mind you that is like much of Skye … I am amazed that “crofters” (farmers) can eke out a living in this land. Perhaps these are also more of the ubiquitous B&B’s which are still closed waiting for the season to begin.
I continue on to Armadale where the main ferry crosses from Malaig on the mainland. This was my original intended route when I arrived but due to the inclement weather at that time the ferry crossings were closed. There is a stone jetty, a number of craft, clothing, leather, pottery and artist studios scattered about, a couple of hundred yards between each, and a “waiting room” about the size of a shipping container. It is at least better than yesterday’s experience with ferry ports where there was only the stone jetty!
There is an abundance of “Closed” signs on the shops, but it is 8am so I go searching optimistically for some establishment where a cup of coffee may be served … in my dreams!
I decide to return up the main road rather than the goat track and am surprised that the direct route is all of only twenty miles. This time through the windscreen, I am able to observe a bank of cloud rolling across the distant hills in what looks like a perfect blanket so I pull over to take a photograph as it begins to break up from one end …
you have to be quick in this land!
I'm back in time for lunch and to try and decide what to do for the afternoon.
The clouds are building up and promise fantastic skies in the background of whatever takes my fancy.
After studying the maps for quite a while it seems I have surprisingly exhausted most of this end of Skye unless I take to hiking ...
Given my fitness levels at the moment that is not about to happen. So failing a return to the North, which may yet happen, I decide to foray onto the mainland and head Northeast on the Wester Ross Coastal Trail. a 60 mile loop which would take about about an hour at home, I have learned, will take several hours in this neck of the woods.
This area boasts some spectacular mountains but the weather is playing game swith me ...
Everytime I find a great view the sun hides behind the clouds ... here the clouds are moving from left to right so there is going to be at least an hour or so before there is a chance of a bit more sunlight on what was until a moment ago a beautiful blue loch.
The same happens again to produce what turns out to be a particularly uninspiring colour photograph but I don't mind it in monochrome.
As I start on the last half of the loop the little town of Torridon appears tucked away in its cove but the sun plays hide and seek with me once again.
By now it is getting late in the afternoon and I still have another hour of driving to get back to Otterburn so decide to put the camera away until tomorrow.
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