I woke up early and Chris’ private corner was quiet, so I decided to step out and explore on my own again. As I stepped out, I was mind blown by the splendour of the landscape about which we had no clue while we drove in during the previous night to park. There were mountains, ridges and grazing sheep on one side and a steep cliff behind a little hill, overlooking the North Atlantic Ocean. The Lealt Falls had less water but looked formidable nonetheless!

A short walk took me to the lookout point over the ocean. The beach below was a black rock one, was quite a contrast to the green landscape and together they made quite an image! I realised there were two tents pitched right at the edge of the cliff and shivered at the thought of the elements overnight! After taking some nice pics of the sunrise, I ran back to the RV to find Chris just waking up. We had a great breakfast outside in the picnic area of the camping ground and contemplated the day’s plan!

We decided to trek to the Old Man of Storr and headed back towards Storr. Once there we parked comfortably in the RV area where they had all the amenities we needed. At 9am, we started our trek up the Storr which is at almost 1000 metres above sea level.

The path up towards the Old Man of Storr was both rocky and steep. We didn’t sulk a bit as it was encouraging to see scores of people, young and old who marched enthusiastically up and down the narrow footpaths. In some places it was skidding and I had to shamelessly grapple on all fours to steady myself and move the treacherous bit of land. It was humbling!

Oh the views! As we climbed higher, we found the place looking more and more beautiful. The hard trek up felt like heaven!

The Old Man of Storr was quite a sight. Well worth the hype. Most people didn’t recognise the old guy, they think it’s just a rock. But when we got around it, I noticed the distinct shape of his face, beard and the spade he was appearing to hold! Majestic!

When most of the crowd was returning down after seeings the old man, Chris suggested we head up towards the ridges further ahead, where a handful of people were heading. It was the best decision of the whole trip because we ended up trekking for an extra 2 hours into pristine Scottish highland ridges with nothing but us and raw nature!

I don’t think there is another patch of land that I have been on where I felt one with nature to this extent. The wind was pushing us to the ground, the coarse grass was pulling us in and the smell of the soil was binding us together! What an experience!

The decision to head back down was one of the hardest! So it was 4+ hours of pure grace and pleasure, a once in a lifetime experience that I will always cherish!

We had booked ourselves for a little bit of bay watching for the afternoon and headed next towards the Portree Harbour to catch our boat tour. Stardust tours was hassle free online booking, affordable and with good reviews so we got the Sea Eagles tour. The Whale watching tour was sold out so I had to settle for the next available one.

Originally sceptical, we actually ended up loving it! The Portree Bay was filled with wildlife. It was fascinating to hear about and see the endangered Sea Eagles, which were almost extinct due to extensive hunting until early 20th century. With relevant policies and protection efforts for decades, now the population has increased to 120 odd birds in the UK. About 1/3 of them live in the Isle of Skye it seems and our guide was very proud of the preservation efforts that are paying off!

We saw a family consisting of a shy male and a bold female and learnt from the guide that they have some chicks together. It was interesting to see a colony of native seals and some rare Arctic ones too sharing their space with the Eagle family.

I save the best for the last! WILD DOLPHINS!!! What a joy to see those beautiful wild dolphins all around us on our 2 hour journey in the Portree Bay Area!!! They swam around us, under us, beside us and made every possible effort to engage us!

We saw several schools of them. They enjoyed their own company as much as they seemed to enjoy ours on board. They responded to noises we made and performed more when they knew they had our attention!

There were several species of birds too! Though we didn’t sight any puffins, we saw scores of seagulls, gannets, shags, cormorants, guillemots, etc. The most interesting thing was to watch the dynamics between the flocks of birds hovering over the sea and dolphins which followed the birds to find fish!

After a good 2 hours we headed back to the harbour with beautiful memories of the pretty dolphins and the noisy birds!

A rather long day but we had the immense satisfaction of having covered the mountains, ridges and the seas of Skye that day. We decided to leave Portree, drive up north as much as we could and camp somewhere in the northern tip of Skye. As we drove on the narrow single lane path in the dark night, we were the only vehicle for most of the drive. It was pitch dark when we reached a location near Flodigarry near the northernmost part of the island and decided to halt there for the night. We pulled into a clearing, had our hot chocolate drink and crashed for the night!

We slept like a log for two reasons: exhaustion and no passing vehicle overnight!