Running and Buses, or Day 23 in Portree and the Trotternish Peninsula

We had a lazy start to the day (deceptive). We had our breakfast at our B&B, then looked at a few bus schedules and suggestions before passing by a fun run on the way into town. (I hear there was a half-marathon today, which will continue their tradition of following me around.)

We stopped at the tourist information center and got some other bus schedules and our first idea for the day: hiking up to Old Man of Storr. Our bus wasn't for another hour, so we went to the grocery for some victuals. I handed the cashier a 2-pound piece for a one pound purchase, and was halfway out the door before I realized he didn't give me any change. I went back inside, and he said he would have to count the whole register to give it to me. I felt pretty bad, and we had twenty minutes before our bus at this point, but I watched him disappear into the back. Alex bought another Irn Bru, and the cashier came back ten minutes later with my pound. Hey, that pound is worth $1.75! We caught the next bus out and began our hike.

It was a steep but hikeable mile or two up beyond the forest, then another half mile or so above the "treeline" to the rock formation that was the Old Man. However, we ended up walking between the Old Man and the cliff wall behind it (which was "not advised", but we felt safe about it) before approaching the Old Man itself.

We started up there with a group of young Chinese tourists (which seems slightly rarer than seeing middle-aged Asian tourists). They  headed down, and the outcropping got a lot quieter. There was another couple up there, so when Alex said "hi, Old Man", the woman turned around. Thankfully, Alex was pretty obviously talking to the rock and not her husband.

We had a bit of time before the next bus, so Alex and I took to wandering the hills. We ran into more sheep (including a sheep skull that transmitted its powers to Alex) before heading back down to the bus.

We weren't quite sure where we were going next, but it was still early enough for another hike (or "walk" in the Scottish parlance). We decided on a location, and the bus driver suggested a route. Thankfully, Alex had a rough map so we could sort of have an idea of where we were going.

We walked through some rolling hills up by some lochs, with only the scrubby grass and heather (and sheep, always sheep). We made it up to the base of Quirang ("queer-ang"), a cliff-structure that we followed for a while. However, we were just crossing a stream when we realized we had 35 minutes until the bus came. We spent ten of it following the stream out of the mountain, another five getting the the road, and then the final twenty walking/running the 1.7 miles back to the main road where we could hail the bus. I was pretty tired on the bus ride back to Portree.

The roads around the Trotternish Peninsula, where both our hikes were, and where the bus circled around, are single lane with turn-offs every fifty feet or so. Mostly cars pulled off for the bus, but in addition to the two-directional traffic, there were also the sheep on the roads that a driver has to look out for. They are pretty good at running from the bus (opposite of us).

An easy meal of takeout, a shower, and I was out before the sun went down.