Skye - Day 4

There was no early morning photo shoot today due to the rain - it gave me time to pack up before breakfast. After breakfast the rain stopped and we headed off to Glen Brittle to see the Fairy Pools. These are a series of pools and little waterfalls cascading down a small gorge. 

It was a very difficult walk to the top of the pools, in the current icy conditions. In the summer the walk should be no longer than about 40 minutes but because it was so treacherously icy we had to watch where we were going and be very careful where we placed our feet down, so it took double the amount of time to get to the top pools. I was so busy watching where I was putting my feet that I missed seeing the top pool and carried on all the way up the valley until I realised I had gone too far, so I had a really long walk today! The can walk forever but carrying the extra 10 kg of my heavy camera bag and tripod on my back was a killer!

These images were taken at the pools - the weather changed from misty conditions one minute to blue skies the next, with two brief interludes of showers. There are more images here.

By the time we came down much of the ice had softened to a slushy mess, so we got wet feet but at least we were not slipping and sliding everywhere.  We had checked out of the hotel after breakfast so we were now ready to start our journey back to Inverness. The scenery going back was stunning, especially around the Cluanie area where there were also many deer roaming and a few feral goats. 

We got to Inverness at about 5.30pm and everyone was dropped off at their respective overnight hotels (as no flights back to London at the end of the day). I have just had a most delicious supper in my hotel (apparently it is one of the hotel restaurants that Gordon Ramsay rehabilitated) and will be getting an early night as my flight home is at 6.40am (groan) so I have a 5am taxi pickup.

Thank you for looking at all my Skye photos, it has been a wonderful trip and I am totally in love with the wild and rugged beauty of Scotland, and I cannot wait to return here.

PS My brother is much improved and was discharged from hospital tonight - the doctor diagnosed a very aggressive form of tick bite fever, which the initial blood tests did not pick up and it only became apparent after further blood tests.