Traversing the Trotternish

An epic 2 day traverse of the Trotternish Ridge in Skye, north to south, from The Quirang near Staffin to The Old Man of Storr just north of Portree. 23 miles of breath-taking and rugged geological scenery for the humans and 23 miles of relative freedom apart from a mahoosive cliff drop-off on one side and walking to heel at the tricky bits.... only because of Mr Finn's adrenaline junkie side & previous history of cliff diving!!

Keeping well away from the edge

After a few hours of hiking up & down the various inclines and undulations of the first part of the ridge, we found a suitable flat(ish) spot to set up home in the form of a tent for the evening, eat some food and get warmed up. For us there's something quite natural and instinctual about living out in the open, smelling the fresh air and watching the light dim & fade then slowly stars staring to appear in the darkness of the night sky... Our 2-legged friends were rather more cold, wind-swept & exhausted than us and after a brief half hour or so of taking in the stunning view from high up on this prehistoric plateau decided to get snugged into their sleeping bags for the evening! And so we too get curled up and cosy and flake almost instantly.

Our camp spot up on the ridge

In the morning quite a different view greeted us all when the tent was opened up. Still blowing a gale, and bitterly cold but also a deep greyness that masked all features of the land. We ran out to stretch our legs only to be called back... "Its morning, we want to run!" But no apparently this grey mistyness hides some treacherous feature.... oh yeah that big scary cliff-edge that keeps spoiling our fun!! If we hear that "heel" word again I think we may be slightly grumpy for the rest of this walk! "Heel, heel, heel, heel" Why do they need to say it every 10 seconds, surely after 10 seconds we can go ahead again, I mean, surely after 10 seconds if nothing bad has happened that must mean its safe, no?

Focus? Ok... Ball Ball Ball

Mel has said we need to work on our focus & concentration....

 

I've been trying really hard but I don't think I can give any more concentration to a ball... my eyes might pop out!!

Finn, on the other-hand puts a whole lot a effort into relaxing & chillin' out!

September Sun, Surf & Sand

Mega Monoliths

Well what started out looking like a normal forest walk quickly turned into an exciting rocky, scrambly walk up to these amazing stone towers of huge proportion. Just what we love, somewhere new, weaving along the path, adventuring off down slopes and inbetween rocky outcrops. We had an epic time although not quite as epic as these pinnacles... they made us feel awfully small!!

 

On the way back down the steep slopes we paused for a moment to look out over the Sound of Raasay to the islands beyond....

....then quickly, we were off again, racing down the grassy foothills.

Chilled-out Camping

Chillaxin'

A Mutt & His Mountain

A Man Mutt & His Mountain

 I (Drift) really do feel on top of the world when standing atop some rugged mountainscape viewing the great expanse of land that lies out before us from way up high, nearly touching the clouds... Mr Finn, on the other hand permanantly has this attitude of aloofness! 

 We revel in the days where we have the complete freedom that the Scottish landscape allows us, every inch of it is our own, no restrictions, no restraints, no roads or people to consider or worry about. We run and run.... and run and run, like we'll never run out of energy. 

 We wonder sometimes what keeps them (Mel & her friends), we could have climbed this mountain 4 times in the time it takes them to summit once! But we don't care, we just run ahead to just out of eyesight then back again, checking they're still there. 

"They're knackered, but we're ready to go again!"

 More often than not the Scottish highlands provide us with so many treats, pebbly burns running with icy cold mountain fresh water, deep gloopy muddy bogs to bathe in, the odd grouse that entertains us by not going up till its inches from our noses. If it had just sat still we'd have been none the wiser, but instead we give chase... until those flappy things they have take them far out of reach.

Mucky Pups

Late Summer Sun