I think I'm going to wait to upload most of my Scotland pictures at this point. There's a ton and it really takes up some time to go through them, organize them and label them all. I'll toss a few up here and there under the 1000 Words, but the big load will probably come sometime late next week after I'm home. I've got too much else to soak up this week to spend too much time dealing with photos. Plus, once I'm back stateside, I'll get Justin's photos too, as he's got some I'll want to include as well.
I do want to tell one tale from the road though, of a particular favorite memory. On Thursday we explored the Isle of Skye, which was hands down my favorite part of the whole trip. Simply stunning scenery and a great, rustic cultural feel, very different from Strathspey and the eastern Highlands, and of course the cities of the Lowlands.
In the late afternoon, we decided to hike up to the Old Man of Storr, a crazy rock outcropping high up a hill overlooking the Sound and Isle of Raasay and back towards the western Highlands. It's a well-marked and well-travelled path, but still a bit of a climb.
Near the base, there's a final slope up to the rock pillar itself. I climbed about halfway up this slope, found a good spot to dig in, and enjoyed the view. There were some backpackers a bit below us, so I waited for them to round the bend and be out of site, then I pulled out my whistle and naturally, the Skye Boat Song came out. A few other tunes followed it. It only took a few more minutes for a few of the backpackers to come back from around the bend and be standing at the bottom of the small slope watching and listening. A few had climbed up to the path that was about parallel to where I was. After playing my few tunes, I started making my way back to meet back up with Justin and Nathan who'd been exploring the area around the base just below me.
When I came across the backpackers on the path, they practically begged me to play some more. Always enjoying an appreciative audience, I sat down and played a bit more. I was fighting off the wind and the midgies (small, biting gnat-like bugs), but it was fantastic. Justin and Nathan later said that it was just ringing off the high stone cliffs behind which really added an amazing, magical quality to the music, befitting the scenery around us.
This is the Old Man of Storr, as seen from about half-way up from the road. It was another 20 minutes or so of hiking from this point to reach the final slope at the base of the spire, which just sort of blends in with the rest of the hill from this angle. The clouds that were dancing with it cleared up by the time we reached it. Steep rock cliffs stand just behind it, which bounced my tunes around in the wind.
1 comment:
That sounds so lovely...I know there have been times when I have been walking alone on the beaches along one of the Great Lakes, or even along the ocean, and wished I had my accordion with me, to play by the water and just find my own sense of place. How I envy you.
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