Baden-Powell Council BSA
at the
2008 Blair Atholl Patrol Jamborette
Day 2 - July 17th - Isle of Skye
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Our day on Skye started a bit inauspiciously - the Misty Isle was living up to its name, in spades. In order to give the rain a while to clear, we spent the early morning in the Aros Centre, watching a film on Skye and visiting with a representative of the RSPB who had a live video camera on nesting Sea Eagles. By the time we were done, the rain had stopped and we went back to Portree to look at the town and hit an ATM. |
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The road north from Portree very quickly became a one lane two-way road - the standard for the Highlands and Islands. Of course, in addition to oncoming traffic, you had to share the road with woolier travellers. |
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We soon arrived at the trail head for a hike to the Old Man of Storr. The Old Man is a tall rock, standing sentinel on the slopes of a peak called The Storr. The Scouts headed off up the trail (right), and before long were into dense fog. Eventually, they reached the Old Man - but the fabulous view was obscured by a wall of grey. |
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In a minute or two, someone pointed off to the East - "isn't that an island?" It was, and within a few minutes the clouds lifted like a curtain, and the view across the water to Rona and the Scottish Mainland was theatrically revealed. |
 The road north from Storr... |
 ... leads to Staffin and lunch. Haggis Toasties - yumm! |
 After lunch, we continued north around the island, until we came to a small path leading to Duntulm Castle, former home of the MacDonald Lords of the Isles. Abandoned around 1730, the ruins are still impressive, if too dangerous to enter. |
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 The path to Duntulm Castle |
 The Scouts had fun running around the rocks under the Castle. Jordan, Jon, Nathan and Brad |
 Brad, Kyle, Nathan and Jon on the rocks at Duntulm |
 The MacDonalds gone, these are Duntulm's only permanent inhabitants. |
 OK, so I like sheep... |
 Just south of Duntulm is the Museum of Island Life |
 Kyle and Alec exploring one of the reconstructed thatched huts. |
 Pop quiz - what is this thing? |
 This is the main road around the west of Skye - the A855 |
From the Museum of Island Life we continued around the west of Skye, down the A855 to Uig (pronounced "you-wig" - the picture at the top of this page is Uig), and back to Portree. We continued on from Portree south to the Skye Bridge, and re-entered mainland Scotland at Kyle of Lochalsh and a stop for dinner. |
 Most of the group at Kyle of Lochalsh (everyone but me): Jerry, Pete, Ryan, Alec, Nathan, Kyle, Jordan, Brad and Jon |
 The Skye Bridge |
 Our route from Skye to our night's stay at Spean Bridge led us past Eilean Donan Castle (pronounced "Eelan Dohnan"). In case it looks familiar, that's the castle from the movie Highlander (as well as nearly every Scottish calendar). Answer to the quiz: It's a turnip slicer! |
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