The Skye Boat Song
July 6, 2008 | Leave a Comment |
Speed, bonnie boat, like a bird on the wing,
Onward! the sailors cry;
Carry the bairn that’s born to be King
Over the sea to Skye.
We did not actually sing it but we could have when we joined Donald - skipper of the Lady B, and a true Skye man - yesterday for a sea cruise from Portree harbor to see the sea eagles. Unfortunately the eagles were lazy that day and not the least bit interested in Donald’s mackerel but we did see a family of three porpoises gently swimming next to the boat. Quite amazing and very elegant creatures.
The blog has been a bit quiet as of late. That has to do with the building of the shed, which takes the better part of each day. Next step in the project is doing the roof. Yesterday I managed to get the wall plates done (pieces of timber bolted on top of the top row of blocks) together with the joists (6” x 4” and 4.80 meters long, if you’re interested). Now the joists are in place, I need to saw all the rafters. Unfortunately, they’ve not been delivered yet so in the mean time I will install the window frames. Cutting the rafters is a precise job. For this I decided to buy a new piece of equipment: an electric mitre saw. An amazing device capable of cutting along different axes with high precision. It projects a laser beam over its cut which makes it a nice gadget as well 
I should have had that when I did the rabbit hutch last year…
Also, we had another amazing sunset, last Thursday. Check out the picture…
Weather: not too bad, warm yesterday with lots of sunshine, colder today with winds from the North, mostly dry with overcast
Erm… where’s that city bypass?
December 20, 2007 | Leave a Comment |
Today we went to Glasgow to choose our puppy Labrador. Quite a journey, with well over 450 miles there and back. All went reasonably well until we hit the Glasgow proximity. We had to be in a sub-urb of Glasgow, south of the city while we were coming down from the north.
So by now we were desperately looking for a city bypass and my guess is that Glasgow doesn’t have one (if it has, it’s very well hidden ). Nor are there any signs that help out passing-through traffic, like the ones you find around Edinburgh. So eventually we did get lost and wandered about for an hour or so.
Unfortunately my PDA with TomTom wasn’t charged (yep, not too well prepped, I agree) so we had to rely on the Google maps print out which was pretty lousy. Don’t trust them. If we’d sticked to the Google route we’d still be driving in circles somewhere in Glasgow. So we decided to backtrack and use the directions sent by the breeder. Those got us right to his front door, at about 13:30 in the afternoon.
As we were the first to buy a male, black puppy from him we got first choice out of three sturdy looking fellows in a litter of 8 pups. They were all lovely pups but our “Jingles” stole our heart immediately. Take a look here at his picture where he’s engaged in some heavy duty action….
At about 14:30 we decided to head back to Skye. The journey back went a lot smoother. By 19:45 we were back at Skinidin.
The airstrip
December 2, 2007 | Leave a Comment |
While browsing the local newspaper, an item on the Ashaig airstrip caught my eye. Ashaig has the only available airstrip on the island however the last regular passenger flight service was in 1988. Now a number of improvement plans have been identified to bring the strip back to life. The plans vary from £11 million to £24 million to execute. According to the article, it was unlikely that air services to Skye will be introduced before 2012 - 2017.
We used the airstrip once, flying a Piper Saratoga from Holland to Skye. The local services are indeed very primitive and the tarmac of the runway is in very poor condition: holes everywhere, lettering and arrows hardly visible and the runway generally very bumpy. The flight to Skye was great with a custom clearance at Coventry airport. Especially spectacular was the approach to Skye: Cuillin in the afternoon sunshine, sparkling blue water and clear skies.
The return trip was pretty horrendous with very strong winds and rain. It was good that we had secured the plane with the concrete blocks which were available at the shed of the airstrip, otherwise the plane might have been blown away. Also, Scottish ATC let us fly above the clouds so once taken off, we were cleared from the bad weather.
Check out the Skye Map and drag the map so you have Broadford, just past the Skye bridge, in sight. The airstrip is just east of Broadford. I also dug up some pictures from that trip…
Glenbrittle revisited
November 12, 2007 | 1 Comment |
That title is not entirely correct but it was our second attempt at getting to Glenbrittle. The first time we tried, we missed the road sign just before you enter the village of Carbost.
The Glenbrittle road - a good quality single track road - will take you towards the south of the main part of Skye. You’re approaching the Cuillin mountain ridge, so you’re bound for some spectacular views along the way. As this was our first visit, we decided to park the car half way between the road that leads from Carbost to Glenbrittle. There are many parking places besides the road, most of them marked with the famous green signs indicating a walk. We choose one at random, and ended up at a rather stiff 9 mile walk.
The whole scenery reminded me a little bit of the road through Glencoe, although Glencoe looks a little bit more barren. The Glenbrittle road is next to a winding river, which must be lovely during the warmer days of summer. Today it was cold with a quite a blistering wind. When we eventually started our walk, the partially blue skies had almost disappeared. After 45 minutes of walking it started to rain and we decided to head back to the car.
Check out the pictures we made during the walk. It’s a gorgeous area with very nice footpaths, so no island hopping to prevent muddy feet. A part of the walk runs through forestry areas which add to the experience, varied with broad views across the glen and an impressive mountain ridge to the east. Definitely a place to visit again.
Unfortunately the pictures look quite dull. During our drive to Glenbrittle, the initial blue skies quickly disappeared to make place for heavy gray clouds full of rain…
The north route
October 30, 2007 | Leave a Comment |
As both our mums have to take on a serious journey to get to Skye, we pick them up from Inverness airport. You can get flights from Amsterdam to London Luton and then onward to Inverness.
The journey from our house to Inverness airport takes between 2.5 and 3 hours, depending on traffic. One has a choice of two routes. The north route and the south route. The south route is via Loch Ness and Drumnadrochit and we hardly ever take that one unless we fancy a nice fish & chips, as there’s a very good shop located just outside Drumnadrochit. The south route has much more tourist traffic (camper vans, caravans) making the whole trip a bit of a pain. Also the approach of Inverness from the south is more difficult, as you will have to go through the city center to get to the airport.
The north route on the other hand is quite spectacular and has a far better appraoch to the airport. It takes you past Loch Carron, which is truly beautiful. Lochcarron, the village named after the loch, is supposed to be the longest village of Scotland measuring two miles. Past Loch Carron you come through rough woodland and small villages, all with spectacular views over green hills and winding rivers. The road has steep ascends and descends, some up to 14%. As parts are single track it’s tricky to get distracted by the beautiful surroundings.
When we’re early - before 10:00 - we always spot deer and during one of the recent trips we watched them cross the road and gracefully jump the fences surrounding the fields. A magnificent sight…
To be honest, the above image was scooped from the internet. The next time we’re due west for Inverness, we’ll take some pictures of our own and publish them here on the blog.
Lazy
September 26, 2007 | 1 Comment |
Today we just didn’t feel like any garden work and decided to leave it for a day. The weather being unpredictable, this wasn’t a bad decision. So, first we went off to Dunvegan for some fresh fruits and vegetables. We generally buy our stuff at the Fruit and Nut Place (see picture), a shed-like building hosting an amazing assortment of fresh fruits, vegetables and things you just can’t get at the supermarket. We found out that - to our knowledge - they’re the only shop selling buckwheat flour, an indispensable ingredient for making “poffertjes” (small Dutch pan cackes, eaten with butter and icing sugar).
Next we headed to Struan. We decided not to build the chicken hutch ourselves but in stead buy it ready-made from Mr. MacDonald whom we buy the hens off. As we still have no shed, I otherwise had to make the hen hutch outside. With the weather being so unpredictable, we decided to choose the easy way.
While driving back from Struan, we now noticed that the earlier mentioned Ben Aketil wind farm is quite visible from large parts of the B884, the road which runs from Dunvegan past our house to Glendale and beyond. We drove up to Osdale Farmhouse to check out the views from there and were quite astonished by the fact that the two turbines (of a total of ten) are so clearly visible.
On this picture you see the turbines in the distance (right of the middle). The road in front is the B884 running from Dunvegan to Glendale and past our house.
Back home…
August 19, 2007 | Leave a Comment |
We’re back from Inverness… and a memorable weekend it was!! We did a bit of shopping of Friday afternoon, then went to “Beat the Drum” on Saturday and did some more shopping on Sunday. We stayed at friends of ours in their house in Culbokie, a little village close to Inverness.
Visiting “Beat the Drum” was without doubt a very special experience and the highlight of the weekend. The bands performed on a field of a farm near the village of Drumnadrochit, the home town of the Loch Ness monster about a 40 minute drive from Inverness. There were about 17.000 people attending, which is like a complete invasion for a small town like Drumnadrochit.
The music was great, the organization of the event spotless and smooth but the weather was absolutely horrendous and totally gruesome. It rained all day, without stopping… And not just a drizzle but an all-day solid and steady shower. So by seven in the evening the whole field was covered in a thick layer of mud. It was our estimate that after the show, the field would have to be ploughed and seeded again to restore its original state. It was that bad…
Luckily we were well prepped and wore our rain suits so we stayed relatively dry. However, after so many hours in the rain you start to get cold and by 8pm there were people with signs of hypothermia. Obviously those received immediate medical attention.
Although all eyes were geared towards Runrig - a very famous Scottish band - I was personally very much impressed by the performances of The Great Big Sea - a Canadian band from Newfoundland - and Wolfstone, another Scottish band. Wolfstone had a front man who played the fiddle and I thought he played absolutely amazing. Their music was a good blend of Scottish folk and rock… and if you’re into that sort of music, both bands are really worth your attention! You will find them on the iTunes store…
Well, looking back it was a great experience. It’s really amazing to see the different kind of people attending: basically young and old having a party and their spirits high as can be… not at all lowered by the appalling weather. The crowd danced and jumped on the beats of some of the fast paced songs.
It turned out to be a real happening…
Beat the Drum
August 17, 2007 | Leave a Comment |
Today we’re off to Inverness for a couple of days to do some shopping and go to the open air music happening “Beat the Drum”. This event starts Saturday afternoon and goes on until about midnight with a gig of the famous Scottish band Runrig as the finale. Click here to check out the event on the web.
Although the weather looks a bit ominous we’re in good spirits and will let you know about our adventures in the big city!
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Latest music...
Hair (1968, Original Broadway recording). Some naughty lyrics for that time!!
An Rathad a Bhatarsaigh, by the Vatersay Boys