Day 4 - Tuesday 28/04/15

Pulling back the curtains to my private bunkhouse I was again startled by deer at the window. This time they were females and were eyeing me a little more cautiously than the stags and retreated a few feet back whilst still chewing the lush highland grass. After a good night's sleep in a real bed I was quite refreshed and managed to set off by 9am. I had a vague idea where I wanted to go but I was conscious that it would probably include some mileage.

It seems that every time I had come across scenery previously it was bettered by what came around the next corner. Within 2 miles I pulled over to take a picture, and after about 3 further stops, I decided that I should just enjoy it and stop taking pictures. I literally would not get anywhere otherwise.

I headed east in the direction of the Isle of Skye. I had heard good things about it and the couple I met in the pub the other night raved about it. The satnav took me through the most stunning of rural roads. Often the road was about 50m or so up the side of a valley, traversing it's way between the mountains, which gave unparalleled views. There was nearly always a river to my left and a railway 10m or so below the road and quite often the river would turn into a loch and expand outwards. The surrounding mountains remained snowcapped which I know started at about 700m so these ones must have all been over 1,000m.

Just before I got to bridge to the Isle of Skye I pulled over to go for a walk in some woods. It was a 2 mile woodland walk which was quite pleasant until I realised that the people who put out the signs were either really drunk or plotting to capture unsuspecting tourists in the woods forever. I was led all over the place and nothing seemed to lead anywhere other than round in circles. In the end I resorted to trespass in order to escape as I had spotted a wall of rain coming across the bay. I hopped in the van and ventured onto the isle.

I was not disappointed. I was met with rocky mountains (the highlands are mostly green and brown) and the most stunning bays and seascapes. Along with coast though came the incessant rains that battered me almost immediately after my arrival. I decided to head to the far side of the island and perform a loop, perhaps finding somewhere to stop for the night, but I seldom saw anything that resembled a decent campsite. In a gap between showers I noticed a ruin off the side of the road so I stopped and went to have a look. It was a 2,000 year old 4 storey building (or at least it was 2,000 years ago, now it's just rubble) and I pondered what life would have been like living there. I had seen something similar in south west Ireland and it was almost exactly the same experience, cold and raining. How did people survive when the weather was this bad? My tummy rumbled so I moved on.

Through the downpour I noticed that I had arrived on the northern side of the island so I stopped to grab a bite from a village shop. It appears that Scotland is full of English because out of all the people I have met here, only about a third have been Scottish. Anyway, at little bit windswept I moved on and again stumbled across another large dwelling. This time it was Castle Dunvegan. Another Scottish thing to tick off the sightseers list!

This castle is still in the hands of the original family who built it some 800 years ago and at one point they owned 3/4 of the Isle of Skye. Quite an important family for Scotland it would seem but they, like other riotous dukes and earls of england, lost most of it gambling. It survives though and appears to be doing well by the public, and in particular the french. They obviously like Scotland

A little weary I set off to find camp, but looking at the openness of the landscape, it didn't look very inviting, so I set my satnav for Fort William. I've been to Fort Bill a couple of times for 3 peaks challenges so I knew there would be amenities abound there. As it turned out, that is exactly where I ended up. I did not see anywhere else to stay but that could have been because I spent most of my time looking up out of the window or fighting with the radio to get some sort of fuzz-free reception. I saw a sign for Glen Nevis campsite and waltzed into reception.
"Er hi. Do you allow camper vans without windows?"
"Do what mate? How do you see to drive the thing?"
"No, sorry, let me explain..." I told him about my previous encounter in the Cairngorms.
"What a load of shit" he exclaimed. "The only thing I care about is whether you've got traveller's accent". He was referring to our lovable gypsy traveller's irish accent and proceeded to try and demonstrate.
I left him to berate the caravan club to his colleague and parked up directly under Ben Nevis.

I forgot to mention that I had heard of my friends out in Nepal and apparently they were found safe in the mountains and were airlifted back to Kathmandu. I dread to think what they must be encountering at the moment because the place looks a terrible state. I've been in a 5.4 earthquake and that was pretty crazy, 7.8 must be insane. They are going to have some stories to tell when they get back. They're on a plane home now I understand.