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Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Scotland Day 3- The Black Cuillin and Fairy Pools

The plan was that we would leave Skye and travel Northwards (!) early on the third day. But because the previous day's weather (we were told the rain was the heaviest in Skye in the last 12 months!)  had forced us to cancel our visit to an important landmark, the Fairy Pools and the Black Cuillin Hills, we decided to squeeze that into our plans for the day. And boy, weren't we thankful that we did!


The overcast from the day before was still present, although the rain was absent. 
Note the bridge in the centre of the photo - we crossed many of those!


The winding roads, surrounded by vast ranges and leading to nowhere, that made up most of our Scotland trip.

A hint of blue in the sky; the unquestionable beauty of Skye.


As always, the signage to the Fairy Pools and Cuillin was poor. We followed word-of-mouth instructions, even though the SatNav was telling us that we had driven off into the middle of nowhere!

A Heeland Coo (Highland Cow)'s grunt told us we were on the right path.


After much trepidation and suspense, we came up this road that, again, seemed to lead nowhere. Yet, we were very confident that what lay before us in the distance was the Black Cuillin Hills. So, despite having little to go on (except nerves that were calling for a U-turn), we pressed onward.

More of the hills came into sight.


Finally, at long last, a SIGN indicated we had reached our destination!!


We parked at the designated car park and began our walk down a path that, you guessed it, seemed to lead to nowhere. At times the path seemed to disappear. At other times it made us cross rivers that were flowing with strong currents, with only a few drenched stones that we could step on. Cooperation and determination played no small part in our successful crossing of the rivers. And the Black Cuillin cheered us on, imposingly. 


After about an hour, we found what we were looking for! Along the path were pools of fairy water, filled with magic and mystery (!). 

These pools are formed by water flowing down from the Cuillin, but turn into a magical greenish blue in the pools.


Weary though we were, we were glad not to have missed out on this wonder of nature.


After going trigger-happy (poor wifey had to sift through all the 'identical' fairy pool photos!) for a long while, we retraced the path back to the car park. We didn't realise the path was downhill earlier, but the tiring walk uphill reminded us of that. Nevermind that - to recharge our energies, we had fish and chips again! Truly one of the best in the world.


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