Fairylike walking in fog and rain on Skye

The Scottish weather is always changeable and often rainy. However, this is no reason to leave a walking guide. It is precisely in the rain that the rugged landscape really comes into its own.

If you know me a little, you know that (foreign) trips are always accompanied by a running contest or training with a local running guide. On Skye there was unfortunately no travel possibility where we could plan a race – there is one on the day of departure, but the rental date turned out to be impossible – but fortunately I soon found a running guide: Jordan Young from Skye Running Tours. Together we soon decided to do two tours, one of which at the famous Fairy Pools in the Black Cuilins on June 30th. Departure time 8 hours, because it is a location that is crowded by tourists.

A few days earlier I myself went on an excursion to the Fairy Pools and it is indeed busy there. Because the paths are narrow and the tourists waddle slowly past, I already foresaw the worst. According to Jordan we need about three hours for the trip and on the way back at 11 o'clock it will be busy already. The weather is also to blame: the first week it is great with temperatures up to 23 C (feels warmer). Really nice weather to lie in a pool.

Rescue dog

Two days before our trip, Jordan reports that the weather will be bad. And that he's taking a dog with him. I like the last one. I didn't believe the first one because it's been good all week. But never doubt the words of a sailor… It was raining and missing when Jordan came to pick me up and he was happy that I hadn't said goodbye as apparently often happens with tourists. Strange, because it's the weather you can expect on Skye and we train in every season, right?

With Cali – the dog – lying against me on the front seat of a red van, we drove towards the Black Cuilins. The tops are not visible in the fog and the stones are slippery. Luckily Jordan is a volunteer at the Mountain Rescue, so he knows what to do in case the weather gets us into trouble. Also little Cali is a real mountain hero. She is trained to find people in the mountains. Hardly needed, because one of the native birds has a call that is exactly the same as a standard rescue whistle…

Sheep and deer – already in the first kilometre – spot Cali by the way. Although he walks very quietly, he has to be on a leash.

Along the source

We don't start our tour in the same place as during the excursion. It turns out that on Skye there are a lot of small rivers with pools and passages that look just like the Fairy Pools. So why are the Fairy Pools so busy? Probably because of the name.

Mystical creatures and folklore is in any case something that belongs to the English and Scottish culture. In the meantime I have bought some books about the selkies (elves with sealskins), kelpies (water spirits that can turn into a horse) and other creatures from this region.

Jordan talks about folklore here, too. So we have the hill called greedy lady – we won't go into that – and the Fairy Flag of Dunvegan Castle, the castle of the McLeod clan. There are many versions of the last story, but I like the Jordan one the most. The clan chief would have fallen in love with a beautiful elf princess and that love was mutual. The elven king allowed her to marry, on the condition that after a year and a day she would return to the elven world. At that time she gave birth to a son who was never allowed to cry according to any other marriage condition. After the year was over, the woman disappeared and left the chief in grief. The people tried to cheer him up by giving him a party. During the feast, the nurse left the child alone, on which it began to cry. When the carer came back, she found the boy wrapped in a scarf: the fairy flag. His mother had put it on to comfort him. Three times they could use this flag to call back the elven world in case of an emergency: for that he had to be taken by the Fairy Poles. This has already been done twice, so the current flag could be used again.

Splash

In real life, things got a little tougher in the meantime. Cali walked along fine, but I had more trouble the first few kilometers because the blood sugars and the terrain didn't cooperate. The Altra Superior had some trouble with the slippery stones and so I hugged the Scottish highlands a bit harder than strictly necessary. Luckily no more than a few scratches and through again.

I always find the low blood sugar annoying when I'm walking with someone else. It means to hold back for a while. Not strange that I walked a lot nicer the second half of our trip. Luckily Jordan used to walk with diabetics more often and that didn't worry him.

That the second half went easier was not only because of the food, but also because of a dive in the Fairy Pools. Because of the cold water I felt a lot warmer and fitter after drying up. It looks like my lungs opened up better. In the end we walked the almost 18 km in 3.11 hours, including stops and swimming. Considering the stony terrain that is quite a reasonable performance, at least enough for the fastest regular tourist on this lap. Since Jordan also met Kilian Jornet during his Ring of Fire record attempt, I am of course by far not the fastest tourist he has guided.

Colorful splendor

The longer I'm on Skye, the more I'm going to appreciate the changeable weather. The colours of the island change greatly depending on the sun and the clouds. We look out on a bay with a mountain that is different every day. And it is that dark weather that gives nature a rough, deep tone, the island is really alive. Maybe this was actually the best weather to visit the Fairy Pools. Tomorrow I'll probably find out how it goes in the sun. Then Jordan and I will have our second appointment for another route. And it will be good weather, he predicted…