Blue Skye
We promptly left Arisaig at 9am and drove to Mallaig to catch the ferry to Skye. We had an hour to spare which gave us time to buy some groceries. The Co-Op would not let us buy the alcohol until 10am so I returned to Vincent with the food whilst Mike waited to buy the wine and beer. When I got to the ferry a very friendly ferry man told me that we were parked in the wrong place (I had questioned the man who had told us to park there) and asked me to move Vincent straight away. This was pretty nerve wracking as I don't usually drive Vincent but I managed to reverse and park in the right place which was a relief. The ferry left on time and sadly we had to stay in the motorhome so could only watch the foot passengers enjoying the view!
Once on Skye we drove to our campsite which was about half an hour from the terminal. This site is very different from the last place - no cut grass in sight and on quite a busy road. But we managed to secure a great spot next to a large grassy bank so plenty of space for the dogs.
We sat outside and had lunch as it was really hot and then wondered across the road and followed the lane to the amazing beach - it is huge. There is a small cemetery next to the beach, which we had a wander around and looked at the immaculate Commonwealth War Graves. These are for sailors killed on HMS Curacoa that was sadly hit by the ocean liner RMS Queen Mary (337 men were killed - there were about 20 graves in the cemetary).
We then had a lovely wander about the beach and the dogs had great fun running around, before walking down the lane towards the village of Waterloo and admiring the houses with amazing views.
Today we woke up to thick fog so took the dogs for a mini walk and admired all the amazing cobwebs.
We eventually left for our cycle at 11am - once the fog had begun to clear. We had an amazing day cycling across the island to a village of Torrin. The route took us to the base of the Cuillin Hills, a stunning range of rocky mountains. The fog lifted to leave a beautiful blue sky without a cloud in sight so the scenery was breathtaking. We took a lane towards a small bay (Camas Malag), where some cows blocked the path so we had to ask them very politely to move out of the way. Once at the bay we managed about 1km of the well known 18km Boreraig mountain bike loop - very technical and scary! But we got far enough to admire the views and chat to a few walkers.
We then continued around the coast and found a lovely little cafe so we enjoyed a coffee and cake.
All in all we managed a few meters short of 50km before returning to Vincent and letting out the dogs. They were quite pleased to see us and the van was still cool so that was a relief. After lunch and relaxing with the paper we took them back to the beach for another run around. Luna managed to sit in something that made her whole bum including her tail black so Mike had to cart her into the sea and dip her - Mitzi kept well away.
We had planned to have a BBQ tonight but there seem to be a few midges about and the temperature has dropped so we are happily cooking in Vincent again.