A quiet start to the day with a short walk into Portree harbour to get some supplies for picnic lunch in order before meeting up with Rachael at 1pm. As the morning grey clouds began to clear, we ventured down to the water, passing a group of crab fishermen who were sorting their catch by type and size. Smaller velvet crabs are apparently destined for swanky bar snacks in Spain by midweek (Sunday today) after being transported live in salt water to retain freshness and I assume for them to clean out to minimise unpleasant flavours. The other larger crabs in their catch were brown crabs, destined for restaurants as picked crab meat. They had bagpipe music casually playing in the background, cool to see rather than other modern stuff.

Once we met up with Rachael, we headed off in the car to explore the northern regions of Skye whilst chatting about the life and times of the last 30 years or so. First along the road was the Old man of Storr, a striking geological formation shaped by millions of years. Moody mist was descending as we passed it, so we continued north towards a rock platform for our lunch stop...whilst also having a search for some Jurassic dinosaur footprints that are visible at low tide. Big tides in Skye (metres) and a low tide with recent storm activity having cleaned out the sand in the prints meant we found many of them. Unfortunately, Bronnie joined the "I've had a fall" set of our touring party with a slip, not on ice, but on a seemingly innocuous rock on our way onto the rocky shoreline. Boo. A sore couple of days coming up :( At the footprints at An Corran beach, there is a narrow stretch of water that a farmer used to swim his cows across periodically to allow them to graze on the nearby Staffin Island. Very funny.

Oh, actually, we made a stop before the rock platform at Kilt Rock and Mealt waterfall (that goes straight into the ocean). The pillar rock formations that also form Fingal's cave offshore and also the Giant's causeway in Ireland (that we'll try and see in Ireland later) are all the same. Similar to the ones near Coonabarabran NSW. Viewed from the side, it does look a bit like a kilt.

Varied and interesting geology on Skye. Most significantly is that the north part is from the giant caldera that eons ago blasted all of the british isles away from America apparently. Loads of different rock types and minerals are there including copper, a long gold seam that stretches through the ocean to Ireland; very interesting.

As we neared the northern tip of the Isle, we stopped briefly at a recreation of crofter's hut that were common until the 1800s. At that time, many of the residents who subsistence farmed on smallish farms/crofts were moved forcibly off the island and either moved to smaller ones on the mainland where many of them starved, or to other UK colonies like Canada, NZ or Australia. The population at the time was in the 40000s, reduced down to about 12000 that there are today. Amazingly, over a million tourists visit every year such is the draw of the place. On a fine weather afternoon like we had today, it is easy to see why people are drawn there. Hopefully the photos do it some justice.

Next stop was the coastal ruins of Duntulm castle (David's fort), very scenic and lovely in the afternoon sun. The castle was originally there during the Iron Age, further fortified by the Norse, subsequently by the MacLeod's clan from Skye. James IV visited in the 1500s but by the 1600s the MacDonalds from Sleet. Some great stories from that time including a possible reason the clan left it to ruin when a nursemaid dropped MacDonald Clan Chief's baby out of a window to his death. She was killed in response and is said to still walk the castle as a ghost in 1730. A couple of sheep decided I must have been likely to have some food with me and raced along a fence, into the nearby yards and even looked like they wanted to hop in the car as we left!

As the afternoon drew on, we drove up and around the northern end of Skye before diverting across the top to the viewpoint of Quiraing. As we arrived, there was a wedding happening nearby with kilted groom and traditional Scottish gowned bride (velvet dark blue with fur trim). Another iconic geologic formation, made popular in images from Scotland and in films such as MacBeth, Stardust and the BFG. Many of the places had short/medium walks on offer but we didn't have time today which was a bummer. Undaunted, I did run along the pathway towards the Quiraing to get a couple of extra photos but can confirm that the windchill made conditions feel a little cooler than the official 8C of the day...

We then made our way back down to Portree, chatting away with Rachael about her hopes and dreams for her future, eventually leaving her role as Skye's ambulance service boss and relocating back to Australia in 2026, but not before taking some time to adjust to her soon to be experience as a Granny!!!! Spinout.

Anyway, after saying bye to an old friend we again had tea at the Isles Inn before a quick dram (complimentary) at our great accommodation.