Another great breakfast with our host Jacqui and a very interesting conversation about spirits residing at her house. Both nights, I've woken up to see a shape/presence in the upper corner of the room we were staying in. On the first night I tried to convince myself that it was just a trick of light/coats hanging there, but on waking a second time, the coats were there, but the shape/image wasn't there that time. No sense of malice or harm intended from the presence, but there nonetheless. On the second night, on seeing it again, I tried to let it know I knew it was there before rolling onto my side away from it. Soon to be replaced by the sense that there was now a very strange sensation down my back as though a light pressure and tingle was there. Quite weird and unlike anything I've had before. Not harmful but also not entirely pleasant either.

In chatting with Jacqui at breakfast time, the house isn't new but the site has been used as an orchard with high Georgian walls around a citrus tree orchard where they used to light fires inside the walls to reflect warmth to induce flowering and fruiting in the spring. Cool. She also said that a previous owner had been a lady painter who had suffered a heart attach in the garage and later died in hospital. I do wonder about the presence who was watching me during the nights...oh well.

We set off and actually I decided I wanted to go back to visit the Old Man of Storr, despite the crappy weather (rain and wind again). On arriving there, again, felt a little compelled to take on the conditions and charge up the hill towards the mountains. The upwards walk was pretty exciting with the low clouds covering the Old Man intermittently, occasionally revealing the mountains but at other times, shrouded in mist. Very windy and quite hard rain at times with the wind coming over my left shoulder and side. I got most of the way up but decided to stop short of the staircase and steepest sections as they ascended into the higher winds and complete cloud cover. I turned and started back down. A lone raven came across and startled the hell out of me, calling just over my right shoulder and again from in front as it sailed in the strong wind. Up higher, the rain was more like tiny stingy hail on my right cheek which made the trip down somewhat less pleasant. I returned eventually to the car, quite wet, cold but properly energised by the impromptu exertion.

With the rain and high winds pretty much set in, we decided not to venture any further north today and instead started to head in the general direction of our next accommodation about 2.5 hours drive away. En route, we took a diversion to the south before leaving the Isle to head towards Talisker Bay and the fairy pools. Incredibly high winds, driving rain, wild scenery was is store. The road down towards the Fairy Pools (where we elected not to get out) was steep, windy, windy (one for directional change) and a bit nerve jangling for the driver. We cut our losses and decided to head to the nearby Talisker distillery where Bronnie put us impromptu on a tasting experience.

Well, they hadn't fliffed around with the polish on the presentation. A big audio visual display, celebrating the wildness of Skye, its history and imploring visitors to get out and about to feel the elements, the cold, the water, the ocean...it was exactly how I'd felt through the morning despite the nerve jangles. I felt quite inspired and it made for the experience of the 3 whiskies we tasted little bits of all the more special. I loved it. At both tastings we've done, they offer for you to take drivers packs where you decant leftover samples into small bottles to enjoy later. A great touch and we've done it both at Talisker and Dalwhinnie. Talisker are a hugely growing distillery, producing 3.3 million litres per year and with demand could even double production. They are building a new distillery too. A great experience there!

We took a short detour to Talisker Bay but the wind was soooo high, we just couldn't feel safe enough to venture the 1km down to the beach. The scenery was again huge and imposing, just great to have seen it even from the car on a wild day.

So, we then set off for South Erradale which in a straight line was about 30 miles away, but by road was 110 miles. Doesn't sound far, but howling wind, rain and narrow windy,potholed single lane roads with passing bays makes driving tricky. Add to that the impending evening darkness, tiny single track roads and an isolated part of Scotland so holding the nerve to get to our accommodation was a bit tricky. But, we did make it sure enough and our place for the next 2 nights looks nice! It is a house in a field really with no neighbours yet a closeness that is hard to describe. A little unsettling but enjoyable nonetheless. A quiet day tomorrow with not too much on the agenda :)