We have settled into our third Helpx host - the Skye Backpackers in the village of Kyleakin on the Isle of Skye. The work is pretty easy here; in exchange for 2 hours of cleaning/bed making, we receive free accommodation and breakfast. It’s a pretty sweet deal.
The Isle of Skye is amazing, we are bursting with love for it. It’s jam packed with beautiful hills, snow-capped mountains, lochs, faeries, mountainous walking routes, viking history, dinosaur foot prints, standing stones, and even the Tallisker Distillery. Similar to the other islands that we have been to so far, the public transport is expensive, irregular, and also doesn't service any of the aforementioned places.
Yesterday we were treated to a spontaneous perk of working in a hostel – free island tour! MacBackpackers (shit-hot tour company that runs bus tours in Scotland) works in partnership with our hostel, so as there were a couple of seats spare on the bus yesterday we got to go along. We took a MacBackpackers tour back in 2007 and it’s the best tour we’ve ever done by a long long shot; I dare say it’s the reason we wanted to come back so much because we had such a good time. So as expected, the tour yesterday was just amazing. Actually it’s probably one of the/the best things we have done since we have been in Scotland.
The great thing about the bus tours are the stories given by the tour guide. You aren’t just driven from site to site; the whole time you are being told local legends about the area as well as folk tales and historical info about the viking invasions and the old kings and queens. I’m sure half of it is made up, but that’s not really the point is it? It’s immensely entertaining. First off we were taken to a stream that legend says will give you eternal youth if you dunk your face in it for 7 seconds…I was pretty sure this is just something they tell the tourists because it’s good laugh for the guide, but most people actually did it (including Isaac). Apparently Skye also has the most faerie lore/tales other than Iceland. We were taken to one of the many Faerie Glen’s, which was really cool and totally whimsical. It had the same sort of majesty as Glencoe, but on a smaller, more intimate scale. It was basically an area that was full of these weird conical hills.. .the photos will explain it better, but it was really amazing. We were warned not to sing as that would encourage the faeries to come and take us away.. faeries are bad here in Scotland by the way. They are kinda evil and scary..the sort that would pull off Tinkerbelle’s wings and feed them to her.
We were then taken on a ‘hill walk’ (called The Quiraing in Trotternish)…which was really a long hike in the rain through the freakin mountains which we weren’t really dressed properly for. Not only did it remind us again that we have become very unfit, but I’d say it’s the best thing we have done in the past 6 months. It was like Mordor..and we were being followed by Orks..or maybe we were the Orcs chasing the Halflings.. so freaking cool!! The clouds were hanging low throughout the mountains, and our path lead us up into the hills/mountains and around the sides of them right up into the clouds. Our path was narrow and rocky with valleys and lochs below us, and we could see the sea out in the distance along with the outlines of other islands. It is such an unspoilt beauty out in the hills on the islands..you can really picture Vikings raiding the lands or Orcs stealing the fat sheep which are sprinkled over every hill and field. Hobbits would love it here. But only when the Orcs aren’t around, obviously.
We are looking at hiring a car with a few of the other Aussies here so we can visit the distillery among other things. This hostel is overrun with Aussies by the way, the manager is even from Brisbane.
Feast your eyes on these babies:
