THE VIEW NORTH BEYOND THE COTTAGE FENCE. ALL OF THE LAMBS HAD SOMEHOW DISAPPEARED DURING MY BRIEF ILLNESS, SENT OFF TO ANOTHER PASTURE.

This week I will once again advocate a very relaxed form of travel that allows you to take it easy in the face of the vagaries of the weather and to listen to your body and just do nothing on that particular day. Since we were blessed with three and a half weeks on the Isle of Skye, we were allowed to take it easy. Even though we were blessed with unnaturally wonderful weather, when it finally did come down in buckets for two days we just had a nice time in the cottage. Our long stay allowed us to relax, since there was always another day tomorrow to run around the island.

                SEVERAL OF THE CROFT COTTAGES THAT WERE ASSEMBLED FOR THE MUSEUM OF ISLAND LIFE. ONE OF THESE COTTAGES HAD ACTUALLY BEEN ON THIS PIECE OF LAND IN THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY, ABOUT THE TIME OUR BUNGALOW WAS BUILT IN PORTLAND. A FAMILY WITH TWELVE CHILDREN LIVED IN TWO ROOMS.

The day after our disastrous Storrybreac Circuit hike I got very sick with some kind of virus, which probably played some part in our misadventures. There is only one full-time hospital on Skye, which was forty-five miles away from the cottage. Fran was very nervous about my fever and inability to get out of bed, but there was very little we could do. There is no ambulance service, and no cell phone service at the cottage. Our landlady was nice enough to lend us her landline and provided us with her daughter’s number in case we needed to consult a doctor. You see you can’t just go the hospital - you need to see a doctor before you can be admitted. In any case after a few days I was out of the woods, and could slowly get back up to leaving the cottage. Our long stay on the island allowed for a bout of sickness without ruining the trip.

Our first foray back on the roads led us to the northern end of the island. These images are from a wonderful day on the northern end of the Trotternish Peninsula, the part of Skye where the cottage was located. Our official reason for heading in that direction was to visit the Museum of Island Life, a collection of traditional houses that exhibited what life was like on Skye not so very long ago.

                THE VIEW ACROSS THE SEA TO THE OUTER HEBRIDES

The museum was actually much more interesting than I had anticipated. It was kind of like Colonial Williamsburg without any docents. Some of the cottages had actually been part of the croft, or farm, that had been located on the site, while others had been moved there to form the museum. Each cottage was set up to represent a part of village life - the store, the blacksmith, etc. - which could illustrate what life used to be like on Skye. These cottages were one or two room “black houses” - so called since the thatched roof, stone and mud cottages were heated with one fire pit in the center with a hole in the roof. This life was lived at the turn of the century - the Twentieth century, not three hundred years ago. Skye was at the end of the world, and a youngster “came of age” when they were allowed to walk to Portree, about 15 miles away, and come back on the same day.

                                                                  THE FARMS AND HOUSES IN THE IMMEDIATE AREA

The surroundings were incredible, and except for the modern single-track road, little changed into the Twentyfirst Century. The sea was ever-present, as were the animals that still chomped on the empty land on the edge of the island. The Outer Hebrides Islands of Harris and Lewis were the only land on the horizon, a multiple hour ferry ride away. Beyond them, 3000 miles away, was North America. It is a beautiful, and lonely prospect. There was a scattering of farms in the area, and the village cemetery, which contained multiple generations of the entire area’s residents stretching back several hundred years.

                                                                  ONE EDGE OF THE CEMETARY

As usual on Skye, it was all about the incredible beauty of the empty land. My camera captured  particular snippets of such beauty in every direction I turned, whether towards the sea or directly opposite to the cliffs just beyond the water’s edge.

                ANOTHER PART OF SKYE ACROSS THE EMPTY SEA UNDER A SCOTTISH SKY

Fran and I have severe doubts about whether we could actually live on the edge of the known world, but it was incredible to get to visit. I hope you can arrange an extended visit to a place that you can pretend to live, instead of just pass through.

                TURNING AROUND, A PANORAMA OF THE CLIFF JUST A SHORT DISTANCE FROM THE SHORE - ASSEMBLED FROM ALMOST A DOZEN SHOTS TO BEGIN TO TAKE IN THE VIEW. THE REAL CLIFFS THAT RUN FOR A DOZEN MILES BACK TO PORTREE ARE STILL HIDDEN BEYOND.