Broadford

During the night the rain lashed Marge. However, she was spared the wind as we had positioned her to face into it. This morning we awoke to a dreary drizzle. The view however across the bay was clear. John spotted an otter just off the shore.

We watched it in the water and on the nearby rocks where it ate the fish it had caught. Then it disappeared back into the water near to a bobbing seal.

Not to be deterred by the weather we clothed ourselves in our waterproof clothing and walked around the bay to the ruins of Dunscaith Castle passing some cows, one of which was chewing on a length of plastic rope. John tried to coax the animal nearer to him so he could retrieve the rope, but the cow was having none of it.

The cattle and sheep roam free here, and we realised that plastic was not just a threat to sea-life. Our feet slipped on the wet pebbles and rocks as we picked our way across the beach and by the time, we reached the castle we were nearly blown off our feet by the wind so we only stayed a short while before walking back to Marge, this time via the path and roadway. 

Right Marge, time to navigate our way out of Tokavaig. Gird your loins this may be scary. It was! Narrow, winding and steep 14 % climbs. Where are we? In the clouds Marge. We knew on a nice day the view would have been fantastic. The weather forecast today was for rain all day so we drove the few miles along the wet road back to the ferry terminal at Armadale where we knew we would have signal to check messages, post the blog and catch up on Master Chef. There were other vans there with the same idea. Let's just sit the weather out Marge. It was obvious that our visit to Skye would not be like last year when we enjoyed the natural wonders and amazing scenery of the island. We had returned purely for one reason and that was to once again climb the Old Man of Storr approaching it and photographing it from the Trotternish Ridge side. So, we are leaving early in the morning to climb it in the hope the weather will hold. 

Whilst at Armadale the mountains on the mainland slipped in and out of the cloud and the rain felt unrelenting. Marge knowing, she had outstayed her welcome got ready to leave. The vans were circling, who would get her space. We'd decided to overnight at Broadford in a parking area overlooking Broadford bay, just beside the road, purely because we knew it was a good spot (despite the road), and we would not have to negotiate narrow roads first thing in the morning which was time consuming.

On the way we stopped off at Isleornsay, a white-cottage village overlooking the tiny island of Ornsay. On a sunny day it would have been beautiful. 

Just before eight this evening, the sky dark, the rain gave in and we were able to walk out glad to be out of the confines of Marge and out in the open air. Today had been a real washout, but you can't win them all. We just hope tomorrow the weather will be kinder to us.