Tuesday 28 September 2010

Swift strike on superb Skye!!


AT LAST!! My 3 main goals for this year were Skye, Lewis, and Caithness, and in the last round, last minute of "summer", I finally managed to get a couple of days exploring the Skye sea-cliffs, and yup I was right they are awesome and well worth visiting, as is the island itself but everyone knows that.

The forecast was glorious and sunny so on 2 out of the 3 days at Neist it was grey bleak and bitterly windy - the wind however keeping occasional light drizzle well away from the rock. The other day at Elgol was generally sheltered and toastily hot in the sun until evening. We managed a good sample of excellent routes at both areas and of course I'm even keener than before to get back and to explore more!!

Things of note:

1. Neist is the furthest West point in the whole of Scotland you can drive to without taking a ferry!

2. The climbing there is really very good, better than Elgol in fact. Big sheer lines on truly superb rock in places.

3. Supercharger (yup it's that pillar) looks just as ace in real life and will be mandatory in warmer weather next year.

4. Seals are waaay too cute and need cuddling whether they like it or not.

5. Skye is pretty much it's own separate country. I'm surprised you don't need passports. I'm also surprised just how populated and civilised it is, albeit in micro-hamles in the arse end of nowhere. It also takes a long time to get anywhere, and I don't think it suits a quick autumn hit, but we did a pretty good job.

6. Skyewalker and Waterfront hostels are both nice.

7. Elgol is very nice and has a great view, the climbing is a bit more "Gogarth" than "Northumberland" in the harder climbs, but still very good.

8. Neist has a better view though, wall to wall Hebrides, awesome.

Errrrr that's it. Roll on the next settled weather spell, I'm syked :D

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