Over the sea to Skye

[Rolfe]

The place I camped last night has no phone signal and I'm going back there now. Just in Malaig to pick up some extra provisions and I need to get Caliban off the charger by 11.25. So no update posts for now.

 

[decrep]

Great camping spot Rolfe

 

[Rolfe]

Sure was! Now I'm back I need to fill you all in on the details. (I'll be typing on the computer but adding the photos from my phone, so it might look a bit odd temporarily.)

The Gaelic course finished on Friday 15th August and I had my room till the following day. I drove into Broadford to the Co-op for supplies and charged Caliban on the CPS charger at An Crùbh (The Hub, not to be confused with Craobh, a tree, which is pronounced exactly the same). There is no time limit on that charger and I was lucky enough to find it unoccupied every time I wanted it (although I caused other people to wait a bit once or twice). I don't think that picture is my first visit - the other guy arrived after me and plugged in to the AC socket until I moved off the charger. Maybe his car could get more than 7 kw from that - it was rated at up to 48 kw.

There is a wee shop there, toilets, and a nice restaurant which is sadly closed Monday and Tuesday so I only got to sample it once.

After that I went to claim the camping spot I had already identified just half a mile from the college.

The adventures proper started on the Saturday afternoon with a bike ride as far south-west on the Sleat peninsula as I felt like going. The map suggested it was a nice easy run along the coast, unless you really looked at the contour lines and appreciated the awful truth. Sleat is corrugated. There were 14% gradients even there. Most of the way was on single-track road, but then after An Àird it was a stony track with no cars allowed. I went about half way along that before seeing a drop and then a very steep climb ahead and decided it was time to turn back. I did get some view of the peaks of Rum though (from the hillock ahead with the wee cairn on it - I left the bike and walked there).

Back at the car the back of six for Pot Noodles - the college had fed us all like prize cattle and I didn't feel I could justify anything more substantial after that. We will call that Day One.

 

[Rolfe]

Day two, the Sunday, I planned to cycle this square(ish) route to the north of Sleat then back again.

I think it was barely 20 miles altogether, but again, corrugated.

I got to the beach at Achnacloich without actually having to push the bike though, and ate my packed lunch by the shore. Very relaxing.

After that the gradients got steeper and I had to push a few times, but the beach at Tocabhaig was pretty nice too. After that I went down a hill marked as 1 in 25, wheeeeee!

The last beach was at An t-Òrd, and after that it was fairly good going with only two sections where I had to push the bike for a bit. Back to the parking space for meatballs and pasta, thinking I deserved it. So endeth Day Two.

 

[Rolfe]

Day three I decided to drive to Elgol for a boat trip. I reloaded the car completely, bike and all, although it turned out that I could have left Hilda at the camp site. Absolutely amazing view of the Cuillins from the road into Elgol.

Elgol was unsurprisingly heaving, but I was able to get a place on the trip I wanted, to Loch Coruisk with wildlife watching on the way. I got the usual shot of a patch of sea where a whale had been about a tenth of a second earlier. Cormorants and seals were more accommodating.

Then there was about an hour and a half ashore to walk to Loch Coruisk, which I'd always wanted to see since CalMac put the Coruisk car ferry on the Cumbrae run over 30 years ago. The loch is almost at sea level but almost entirely surrounded by Cuillins with just a wee gap where the river runs down to the sea.

On the way back we were accompanied by a pod of dolphins. The video didn't seem to want to load, but I did get one still frame with a cetacean in it.

I thought I had found a camping spot on the Elgol road, on the way back, but when I got out of the car I realised the wind had got up and there was almost no shelter. Also, not just no phone signal but no radio either, so I just went back to my previous spot in Sleat, which wasn't actually all that far, and I knew it was sheltered and had both radio and phone coverage.

After I had set up camp a huge camper van tried to park itself within a few feet of Caliban, looking right into my front windscreen, even though there was plenty space elsewhere. The driver tried to make out he didn't understand English when I told him in no uncertain terms that this was not polite, and to move his arse. Figured out they were French, rummaged down past all the Gaelic in my memory and managed, Ce n'est pas gentil d'etre si près de mon voiture! That did it, and he moved.

I think it was all about that spot being flatter, because he drove the van up on to wedges or whatever they're called to stop in a more public-spirited place. Then changed his mind and drove off completely. Some people are just weird.

 

[Rolfe]

Day four was my last day on Skye. I had changed my ferry ticket when I realised how good the weather was and that I did not after all want to skedaddle home as soon as the course was finished, and chosen the last sailing on the Tuesday to give me more or less another full day on the island.

I charged up at An Crùbh again to have enough for a long drive. It was a very hot day, so let's hear it for the MG4 aircon. I did a route more or less round Skye, right up to the north past the Quirang, then across to Dunvegan and back through Bracadale. It was close on 150 miles altogether. I only stopped a few times for photos, and snacked while I was driving.

I find it a lot harder to get the horizon level using the phone than with my camera, but the sun was so bright I don't think I could have seen the camera's screen. So sue me.

I had hoped to get charged at Dunvegan, but when I got there there was a car with Dutch number plates on the charger. There is a 45-minute time limit, but no way to tell how long the car has been charging! I went to the loo, but still no sign of the driver. I took some more photos, still no sign of the driver. Reckoned I didn't really have time to hang around there if I wasn't charging and I had enough to get back to An Crùbh, so I just went on.

Oddly, Google maps had shown the Dunvegan charger as vacant, when it wasn't. I got to An Crùbh and Google maps was showing it occupied - but it wasn't. This was handy, because I could just sit on the charger until it was time to leave for the ferry terminal, less than 15 minutes away. (Plan C was just to get on the ferry anyway, if I couldn't charge at An Crùbh, and charge at Malaig on the other side, but fortunately I didn't have to do that as it would have made the finding of the next camping spot rather late.)

So here we are, on the last ferry - the Coruisk, now re-christened the Coir' Uisg' for added authenticity, although the lifebelts still say Coruisk. I'll figure out what that means at some point. Kind water, or something like that.*

And now a mystery is solved. I remember the Coruisk on the Cumbrae run in the 1970s, and I remember her as something little more than a landing craft. But when I said something like that to my cousin, who lived in Millport, she said no, the Coruisk was a good boat. Then last month when I stayed with friends in Oban it was the Coruisk we sailed on to Mull for a day trip, and she was indeed no landing craft. Lounge and snack bar, not the sort of craft you put on a five-minute crossing at all. Now I'm really confused.

Then just now when I went to check Wikipedia to see how they were now spelling the name, I saw the boat was launched in 2003. But I have a clear memory of trying to do that boat trip from Elgol in 1994, because of the car ferry on the Cumbrae run. (The day dawned with a cloudbase of about 100 feet and raining, so we didn't go.)

Wikipedia pointed to an earlier boat of the same name, and this is what I remember.

Apparently this is the second boat of the name, with another Skye ferry before it, making the present much bigger boat the third. This is the boat that was on the Cumbrae run in the 1970s. I still don't know which one my cousin was referring to when she corrected my somewhat disparaging reference to a landing craft though. Every day is a school day.

I got to Malaig about seven, and abandoned my original plan to look for a camping spot somewhere on the scenic coast road between Arasaig and Mòrar, on the principle that everything was probably already taken despite there being about five actual camp sites on that road. I headed up the dead-end road along the north bank of Loch Mòrar and found that great spot by the lochside I pictured earlier.

So that's me off the island and back on the mainland, but there's still plenty to come. However, bedtime now, so tomorrow for day five and onwards.

* No, second thoughts there. While "coir" does mean kind (cho coir ris an oir means "as good as gold"), note the apostrophes. I got the second one, not uisg but uisge, water. On the same principle, coire, a corrie. (Also a kettle, don't ask.) So the water corrie. I always thought of a corrie as being high up, but right enough, that could be described as the corrie to end all corries, with a great deal of water in it. Corrie loch. Until someone tells me different. Couldn't CalMac just have called it the Coire Uisge, which would have been obvious to most people?

Later, I saw this on the OS map, apparently referring to the burn(s) feeding the loch. The loch itself is always marked as "Loch Coruisk".

 

[Archev]

All sounding grand there. Those mountains really are fantastic no matter what weather you get but seeing then clear and in their glory really is special. Finding Coruisk in their midst is like finding a hidden jewel.

 

[Rolfe]

I wouldn't even have known about it if it hadn't been for the name of the boat (the small one) causing me to look it up on the OS map, as in "Where the hell is that then?" When I saw the location I was consumed with a desire to see it. Fifty years later, bucket list, ticked. (In 1994 we would have seen precisely nothing, I assure you. The cloudbase was almost within touching distance.)

 

[decrep]

Thanks Rolfe, a great tour of Skye with Caliban and Hilda.

 

[Rolfe]

Day five (we're at Wednesday now) saw me waking up beside Loch Mòrar and realising that I should probably have done more shopping in the community shop at An Crùbh while Caliban was charging on Tuesday morning. Although his SoC was perfectly adequate for at least one more night, possibly two, it made sense to go back into Malaig, put him on the charger there for the allocated 45 minutes, and visit the Co-op. I did that, also had a coffee to ensure I got my 45 minutes.

I then returned to the camp site, where I'd left Hilda securely padlocked to a tree at the side of the road. As the charger was less than five miles from the camp site, I was on about 93% when I got back.

After lunch I set off to see how far west along the north bank of Loch Mòrar I could get on a bike. The initial effort was quite significant, a gradient of about 14% and I didn't get much beyond the yellow road salt bin before I had to GOAP. (I actually took this photo after I got back, hence the evening light.)

A pleasant run after that to the end of the public road, where I'd been advised bikes ought to stop because it's just a footpath after that. There were a couple of bikes parked there by people who had obviously gone on on foot, but it was a track rather than a path, so I went on. It was very pleasant indeed, but the track was rocky - not stony, actual rocks - and in some places this was bad enough that I had to dismount. A true mountain bike would have eaten it for breakfast, but Hilda is a hybrid. So when I reached a beautiful bay with a pebble beach and a green meadow sloping down to the water, I settled myself under a tree and read for a couple of hours.

Sure, the track went on, and on, and on, according to the OS map. But even then it didn't go to the head of the loch (Loch Mòrar is long) and as far as I could see the scenery would just be more of the same.

So when teatime was approaching I went back. The gradients on the return journey were shallower so I didn't have to GOAP in that direction.

I decided I should give the new induction hob a try, because I had brought a camping meal (pasta bolognese) meant to be heated in a pan. It worked very well, and didn't seem to take much power at all, but I should probably have remembered to bring a pan scourer and maybe washing-up liquid. This game needs dishwashing on a level that the "just add boiling water" things don't.

 

[Rolfe]

Day six saw me head down towards Arasaig and Loch nan Uamh. I was a bit careless at this point. I didn't recharge Hilda because I hadn't gone that far the previous day, and I didn't fit the range extender because it didn't look that far on the map. I decided I would take the main (bypass) road down to Loch nan Uamh because reasons, then work my way back up along the coast road seeing the scenery in a leisurely manner. The main road is well graded so although there were some significant climbs there was nothing I couldn't cope with using the maximum assist level on the bike. And swooping down the other side was tremendous. I did the whole helmet-and-high-viz-jacket thing for safety. When I got to the point where I could see Loch nan Uamh though, I had second thoughts. I was high above the loch at this point, with a significant descent to the lochside, and I was conscious of how much charge I was using going up these well-graded hills, and how much more I'd use if I went down that last section and came back up, if I even could have ridden up that.

There's not a lot to see at Loch nan Uamh anyway. So I started investigating a possible off-road coastal route back to Arasaig, only to be thwarted by the most bike-unfriendly kissing gate that I have ever seen. So after taking a photo of a road I didn't intend to descend to "Prince Charlie's cave" (there are dozens of these, there's one in Elgol as well) because getting back up again didn't look like fun, I headed back up the main road to Arasaig.

I stopped for lunch in the village, and an ice-cream cone. I was disappointed by the beach, because my flute teacher had written a piece called "The Sands o' Arisaig" and I was expecting something better than this - seaweed and a bit of shingle.

A text conversation ensued, with him protesting that "well it's near Morar", but a couple of miles or so further on (which might still be Arasaig at a pinch) I decided to forgive him.

This road didn't have hills long enough to need the GOAP gear and it was a lovely run up to Mòrar where the white sands actually reside. Great views of Eigg (which is a really bizarre shape) and the extinct volcanoes of Rum.

And the real silver sands, and the little river that flows from the loch into the bay.

I noticed the bike's SoC indicator turn amber (50%) just as I turned back, confirming that the decision to do that was correct. But still, I hadn't started on 100%, and I wasn't doing the long uphill stretches on the main road this time... As I negotiated the cycle underpass under the main road into Mòrar village, the indicator turned red (20%). Not much more than two miles to go, should be fine.

There were several uphill stretches to get to the camping site, including one just before it. All was well, but when I pulled up beside the car I saw the SoC indicator was flashing red, which is not a good sign. I checked the phone app, and it actually showed 14% charge remaining, but a warning saying that power would now be liable to restriction to protect the battery, so plan your onward route accordingly. I had realised once previously that once the indicator went to red things started to go south pretty rapidly, so this was confirmation. This thing is only going to play ball down to 15% charge. If in any doubt, charge to 100% before setting off and take the range extender (also charged, obvs). I put the bike on charge and left it charging for nearly three hours while I had my tea.

 

[Archev]

Day six saw me head down towards Arasaig and Loch nan Uamh. I was a bit careless at this point. I didn't recharge Hilda because I hadn't gone that far the previous day, and I didn't fit the range extender because it didn't look that far on the map. I decided I would take the main (bypass) road down to Loch nan Uamh because reasons, then work my way back up along the coast road seeing the scenery in a leisurely manner. The main road is well graded so although there were some significant climbs there was nothing I couldn't cope with using the maximum assist level on the bike. And swooping down the other side was tremendous. I did the whole helmet-and-high-viz-jacket thing for safety. When I got to the point where I could see Loch nan Uamh though, I had second thoughts. I was high above the loch at this point, with a significant descent to the lochside, and I was conscious of how much charge I was using going up these well-graded hills, and how much more I'd use if I went down that last section and came back up, if I even could have ridden up that.

There's not a lot to see at Loch nan Uamh anyway. So I started investigating a possible off-road coastal route back to Arasaig, only to be thwarted by the most bike-unfriendly kissing gate that I have ever seen. So after taking a photo of a road I didn't intend to descend to "Prince Charlie's cave" (there are dozens of these, there's one in Elgol as well) because getting back up again didn't look like fun, I headed back up the main road to Arasaig.

View attachment 39358

I stopped for lunch in the village, and an ice-cream cone. I was disappointed by the beach, because my flute teacher had written a piece called "The Sands o' Arisaig" and I was expecting something better than this - seaweed and a bit of shingle.

View attachment 39359

A text conversation ensued, with him protesting that "well it's near Morar", but a couple of miles or so further on (which might still be Arasaig at a pinch) I decided to forgive him.

View attachment 39360

This road didn't have hills long enough to need the GOAP gear and it was a lovely run up to Mòrar where the white sands actually reside. Great views of Eigg (which is a really bizarre shape) and the extinct volcanoes of Rum.

View attachment 39361

And the real silver sands, and the little river that flows from the loch into the bay.

View attachment 39364

View attachment 39363

I noticed the bike's SoC indicator turn amber (50%) just as I turned back, confirming that the decision to do that was correct. But still, I hadn't started on 100%, and I wasn't doing the long uphill stretches on the main road this time... As I negotiated the cycle underpass under the main road into Mòrar village, the indicator turned red (20%). Not much more than two miles to go, should be fine.

There were several uphill stretches to get to the camping site, including one just before it. All was well, but when I pulled up beside the car I saw the SoC indicator was flashing red, which is not a good sign. I checked the phone app, and it actually showed 14% charge remaining, but a warning saying that power would now be liable to restriction to protect the battery, so plan your onward route accordingly. I had realised once previously that once the indicator went to red things started to go south pretty rapidly, so this was confirmation. This thing is only going to play ball down to 15% charge. If in any doubt, charge to 100% before setting off and take the range extender (also charged, obvs). I put the bike on charge and left it charging for nearly three hours while I had my tea.

I’ve really enjoyed your tales but none more so than these episodes around Morar. Fifty five years ago tomorrow I married my lovely late wife in Banchory on Deeside. The following day saw us drive home in our Morris Minor and pick up my parents' wee caravan. We headed to Malaig and were getting on grand. This was before the road followed its present route and our journey ceased abruptly at a right hand corner followed by a steep hill. After a few attempts and trying to ignore the stink of a burning clutch, we finally had to give up, unhitch, turn round, hitch up and admit defeat. We stayed somewhere on the shores of Loch Morar instead. Happy happy days and I can’t remember any details of what, when or even if we dined

 

[securespark]

Some gorgeous pictures.
Fantastic!

 

[Susanna]

@Rolfe - I very much enjoyed reading about your trip, and your photos are fantastic. I am planning to use one as a screensaver.

 

[Rolfe]

I’ve really enjoyed your tales but none more so than these episodes around Morar. Fifty five years ago tomorrow I married my lovely late wife in Banchory on Deeside. The following day saw us drive home in our Morris Minor and pick up my parents' wee caravan. We headed to Malaig and were getting on grand. This was before the road followed its present route and our journey ceased abruptly at a right hand corner followed by a steep hill. After a few attempts and trying to ignore the stink of a burning clutch, we finally had to give up, unhitch, turn round, hitch up and admit defeat. We stayed somewhere on the shores of Loch Morar instead. Happy happy days and I can’t remember any details of what, when or even if we dined

Shades of me deciding to go up to Plockton and Loch Maree last year because of my parents' story of trying to get there on their honeymoon in late December 1950, and being stymied by the weather. I like to have a reason to go wherever I'm going, more of that later.

I guess you must have been past Mòrar before you hit the unclimbable hill then, so you went back there rather than continuing to the end of the road. Honestly, you had the best of it. The Loch Mòrar shore is a far far nicer place to camp than Malaig. The old road between Mòrar and Malaig has been obliterated by the new one, which I note is in a cutting. It doesn't go that high, but of course it's not how high it goes that's the killer, it's the gradient. (I think I might have driven the old road in 1994 when I went to Skye with my mother, I'm not sure. But her 950cc Polo, which I was driving, wasn't towing a caravan.) Honestly, if you were on your honeymoon I'm suprised you even remember or noticed where you were.

Also, bittersweet congratulations on your Golden Wedding anniversary tomorrow. (ETA: On re-reading I see it's actually Golden-plus-five, but a nice anniversary to remember anyway.)

 

[Rolfe]

@Rolfe - I very much enjoyed reading about your trip, and your photos are fantastic. I am planning to use one as a screensaver.

Which one?

 

[Susanna]

Which one?

The last one on post #31 - absolutely stunning!

 

[Rolfe]

The last one on post #31 - absolutely stunning!

The River Mòrar? Glad you like it. Not sure which one I'd have chosen, maybe one of the Cuillins, or Loch Mòrar.

 

[Rolfe]

On the morning of Day seven I packed the car again, bike and all, to head for pastures new. I had decided to go back to Ardnamunchan as it was so close, and I'd never done the drive through Moidart that would take me there. First I went back to Malaig for more electricity to cover the trip, and more teabags since I only had one left by this time. Look what was in the station when I got there. (Photo taken through a chain-link fence.) Apparently Harry Potter fans do this trip because they associate it with the Hogwart's Express, which probably explains the number of Griffindor t-shirts in evidence.

On the way I made a stop at Loch nan Uamh to see the only visitor attraction it seems to have. I was dead lucky because as I was returning to the car a huge tour bus had just stopped in the car park and Hordes of the Things were trooping in the direction I had just come from. (Looking at the gradients involved I'm damn glad I didn't try it on the bike, it would have been pointless.)

Then I had a really pleasant drive through Moidart and since the weather forecast was getting a bit iffy decided to go back to the camp site at Kilchoan rather than find another roadside camping spot. (I have spotted a really good place on the Sanna road though, for future reference.) I got a pitch for two nights, confirming the second night after I'd visited the charger at Mingary pier to make sure it was working OK and I didn't have to worry about charge. And here we are, with Hilda on charge because I'm not cutting it as fine again as I did yesterday.

I got the bottom individual pitch in the row, next to the one I had last year, which was already booked. The owner warned it was a bit midgy and said there were alternatives in the open field, but I value the privacy of these individual pitches, and I'm getting pretty good at coping with the midge issue (which wasn't as bad as it was last September anyway).

 

[Rolfe]

Day eight, and I awakened to dull skies and rain, or at least rain overnight. I pulled my sleeping bag over my head and gave it another hour. At that point I was thinking that I should have gone home the previous day and then used my (free) ticket to the bring-it-and-sing-it day of Mendelssohn's Elijah at the Usher Hall. I'd been looking forward to it, but decided to let it go because I was enjoying the trip so much. But the forecast said it was going to clear up mid-morning and it did exactly that, and I had a brilliant day.

I had planned to cycle to the north coast of the peninsula to see the small crofting communities there, especially Kilmory. I was all charged up for that, because it's about 25 miles with hills. However, chatting in the morning to another cyclist setting off, and then another chat with the camp site owner, and I was persuaded to go to Sanna instead, a much shorter and easier ride and apparently the one all the tourists do because of the interesting volcanic geology and the lovely beach when you get there.

Here we are on the road, and here is one view of the ancient caldera.

If you have no idea what that is, there is a big explanation board at Sanna itself to enlighten you.

The beach had not been oversold, and by this time the weather had brightened up a lot. I sat on the sand dunes and ate my lunch and read and observed the passing shipping.

About quarter past two I decided to make a move back, and here's another photo of the volcanic landscape for your edification.

I was back in Kilchoan by about ten past three, and realised I had time to do the other sightseeing thing that was on my list, a visit to the ruined 13th century keep of Mingary castle. So instead of heading back to camp, I made my way there. I noticed the word "hotel" on the map somewhere around there, and started to wonder. Then there was a board at the road-end advertising a "dining experience" in a small hotel, which close examination suggested was in the actual castle. However, all the way down the road there were notices about "private road, farm traffic only" and the road actually went right through a farmyard, so I was fairly unclear about whether there was any hotel around there at all. Well. Some ruin.

So I went in and asked whether random non-resident cyclists might order coffee. Indeed, they could. They could also climb up on to the battlements and admire the view, and walk down on to the rocks behind the castle for a better perspective of the castle itself.

And actually I've reached my quota of photos for this post, so I'll have to spill on to the next one as I have lots more.