Day 7: Isle of Skye 2/2

Around seven o’clock I am waking up as usual because of the need to go to the toilet that I have been trying to postpone for almost two hours already. Unfortunately, I am also waking up Stepan who is really happy about it. Especially when I am opening the tent and in a second there is a huge flock of midges inside. Midges are Scottish beasts which are super small but can cause big problems.

We read about them before our trip in the guidebook where they suggested to buy really strong repellent and a head net. We couldn’t imagine that it can be that bad so we bought just repellent. Well, our mistake. Midgets are most active in the morning and they can’t handle wind. That is also why we are meeting them face to face just now, the third day. Today is a very clear, sunny day, no wind at all. They are immediately coming after us. Not just one of them, but believe me…tons of them. We can’t even breath normally otherwise we would have them for breakfast. Horrible. The worst thing is that there are plenty of midges in our tent. The midges are bitting a lot. After the toilet, there are even more of them in the tent and our attempts to kill them all are not very successful so we are giving it up and trying to cover ourselves in our sleeping bag from toe to ear and go to sleep for a while. Around nine o’clock we are gathering the courage to have breakfast outside when we have such amazing weather but after a few minutes, we are again giving up and eating our pancake with jam in the tent.

We are packing everything for the day and trying to leave without letting more midgets inside.  “Zk, Zk” and we are gooone. What will we do about the flock in our tent? Well, we will have to figure out during our trip.
For today we have chosen the Fairy Pools. One of the top 10 places to see on the Isle of Skye. Most of the people who own a car are just driving to the car park and then they walk around pools. For those who don’t have this option and are too poor to pay 9 pounds for a bus ticket, there is another option – use your legs to get there. Stepan has found 10 kilometres long way with only 300-meter high elevation. That is after Ben Nevis nothing. Even though we felt our legs still yesterday we are not discouraged and starting from the camp fearlessly.

Nothing has warned us that the road will be soaked so we will have to jump from one dry spot to another, sometimes end in a swamp, have to come back or jump on the rocks like chamois. Luckily after an hour, it is getting normal. Surrounding is beautiful. Finally pure nature without any interruption of technology or people around.

We are meeting many sheep on the way and many others we can see around the top of the mountains. We are trying to figure out how they got there and if it is eventually worth it when there is plenty of grass wherever you look. At the crossroad, we have two options. To go right to the car park and from there around Fairy Pools OR go left. On the left is around that goes right below the peaks of the mountains.

Not many people know about it and it is a shame. The view is spectacular. You can see mountains that are special at first sight. Mr Goggle is telling us that they are made out of some magnetic rock so the compass is not working there. Well, we don’t really need to worry about that because without any climbing gear you will not get there. Right below is spreading a beautiful meandering river with already mentioned pools.

In the beginning, it is not the area with Fairy Pools but just a river that is already beautiful on its own – crystal clear with small waterfalls. That together with mountain background makes a perfect package. Unfortunately, after a few more meters and more people are on the road and in the end, there are tons of visitors.

I have to admit that Fairy Pools are really beautiful natural phenomena, but I think that the most amazing was the way to it. That is what I will remember. Pure nature where you can hear only sounds of a rumbling river and feel the wind slightly touching your face.
The way back is another 8 kilometres and we are as always unprepared, now we don’t have enough water. We are looking forward to sitting down and have cider in the hotel pub. Finally, we are at the camp and it is time for dinner. In the middle of our cooking, we are running out of gas. Greeeeeat. Slightly underdone, but we are eating it anyway. There is beautiful but cold weather. The trip made us really tired so after 20 kilometres we are going to sleep.

---