Day 9 - Loading, Loading, Loading

Seriously getting fed up with this lack of connectivity. I pay for unlimited data... so far I've had unlimited sod all for the past 3 days. I am irritated and annoyed. That and I've managed to pick up a cold so I feel like shit too, just to add insult to injury.


Anyway... on a more positive note we have taken today as a pure rest day so Prince and I are hanging out in our tent drinking Irn Bru and eating chocolate.

The view from our campsite is lovely, a valley between two mountains/hills (we've been having the hill vs. mountain debate all journey), but sadly it keeps raining :(

There was a break in the rain long enough for me to go and grab a shower (lovely, warm shower!) and do some washing, strung the washing line up between the two tents and happily hung it all out... for about fifteen minutes before it started raining again. I'm really over rain now!

We decided to actually do SOMETHING with our day so headed into Portree again for fish and chips by the seafront. One thing that has seriously pissed me off so far is so many places near the coast (and, lets be honest, we've been near the coast quite a bit) that don't sell fresh fish? Just crap from bookers out of a bag?! The fish and chip shop we went into has been frequented by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, who featured it and cooked in it for River Cottage: Gone Fishing where he did beer-battered pollock as an eco-friendly alternative to haddock.

Sad to say that Hugh Fluffy-Lovelystall must not have had that much of an impact and pollock wasn't on the menu, just normal fish and chip shop stuff, and my scampi was out of a bookers bag yet again. The chips were a bit crap too. Doggies enjoyed it as we took their food and bows with us so we could all have dinner together!

I'm not impressed with Skye so far, perhaps it's the weather I don't know... it just hasn't grown on me yet?

Tomorrow's plan: all the tourist crap around Skye!

Day 8 - Over the Sea to Skye

Today has been mostly driving... we had some bits planned (like Strome Castle, which we couldn't find) but mostly just spent our day driving through some more lovely scenery on our way to Skye.

We left Gairloch/Strath and travelled West towards the Kyle of Lochalsh, through Kinlochewe, Stromeferry, Torridon, Shieldaig, Lochcarron (Which was lovely). We stopped in Ben Eigh for a spot of breakfast, we thought the large mountain looking thing might be Ben Nevis but apparently it wasn't. We were trying to check Google to find out, but as usual no bloody phone signal... (yes I have tweeted EE!).

The Whistle Stop Cafe in Ben Eigh is quite nice and worth a visit. They were kind enough to let us have breakfast outside with the kids (dogs) and provided tables etc. I would say, however, that the price you paid was definitely a captive market price! Nearly £8 for very small smoked salmon with creamy scrambled eggs & toast and £8 for a tiny "Full English" with no toast. The smoked salmon was good and the black pudding was nice though and tasted vaguely haggisy?!

Onwards and upwards, we were really looking forward to going to Skye as The Old Man and The Old Lady have holidayed there a few times and say it's beautiful. We shall see!

I have to share the pictures from the "petrol station" though as this is becoming amusing. Where I am from, when you think of 'petrol station' you think of Esso or Texaco or a supermarket like Tesco or Morrissons. Here it's just a tiny pump from the 1950s and a few days ago I actually had a serviced pump... I didn't even know they existed any more?! Anyway....

We arrived at the Kyle of Lochalsh and crossed the bridge into Skye just before it began to tip it down with rain. As promised The Peatbog Faeries were bellowing out nice and loud with The Folk Police as we crossed over and prepated for the hour's journey to our campsite in Torvaig. We had e-mailed them and had no reply for a booking so we really were working on luck!

We drove through civilisation then back out through more mountains and hills and rocks. Skye has some beautiful waterfalls, but then again I can't say I've ever seen an ugly waterfall! They all seem to have a mysterious look to them that makes them magical.

We arrived at Torvaig fairly early, having still not got a reply from their email. Pulling into the carpark it was still raining and I was desperate for a pee. We noticed that, yet again, there was no phone signal and the campsite was charging £3 PER HOUR for WiFi. Seriously. £3 PER HOUR. After using the facilities (and finding them seriously lacking in cleanliness) we decided that actually, Torvaig campsite is a bit of a dump... That it it seemed that none of the tents had electric hook up, and by this point my phone and tablets were running out of charge (my phone drains VERY quickly when searching for data unfortunatly).

We left Torvaig and went back through Portree (the main port, apparently) to Sligachan where we noticed a campsite on the way past. This was great! £20 per night is a bit steep, but it seems normal for Skye (welcome to tourist heaven...) but we have electric hook up and phone signal, albeit slow phone signal. The Toilets and showers are kept pretty clean too so no complaints. The chap who runs it seems a bit standoffish but I am sure he's cool (UPDATE: he's actually really nice!).

Got the tents up in daylight again (thankfully...) and headed into Portree with the doggies to pick up supplies for dinner (chicken tortellini with a pesto sauce! mm!). I reserve judgement on Portree, but it seems very touristy. Quite pretty but very touristy...

Into bed and the pub across the road were having some live music we could hear, I love the fact that they finished with "I will walk 500 miles..." I suppose it's like us finishing with something proper British like BohRap!

Tomorrow's plan: Nothing, quite literally!