Dreaming the Skye bridge
One day I
woke up from a dream where I was on the Skye bridge.
I understood Scotland was calling me.The last time I had been in
Scotland, about 20 years before the dream, there was no bridge but a ferry from Kyle of Lochalsh to Kyleakin.
I thought it could be
a good idea to go see the bridge, and see the isle of Skye again.I decided it had to be
a solo trip: on my own, wandering through lochs and glens, to make my dream
come true.That’s why I arrived
in Prestwick at the beginning of May, took my rental car and started my
adventure, on the other side of the road.
For the first couple
of hours I drove like safety
cars do in GPs: never exceeding 40 miles per hour, and every time I looked
in the rear mirror there was a moderate and patient row of cars behind me.
In
my defence I say that I used to pull over and let them pass.
My first stop was in
Arrochar, and I must say it took some time to get there.
Of course I got lost
around Glasgow, but I found myself not far from the Erskine Bridge,
which I later understood is the better way to reach Loch Lomond.
There I met Scottish kindness at its best: I pulled over to ask for directions, and the man I asked told me:
“Wait just 5 minutes, I need to finish what I’m doing here and then I’ll lead you to the right road”, and
then he did so, he led me to take the right road and left me with a most
accurate hand-drawn map to my destination.
Loch Lomond is
wonderful, large,
surrounded by hills and mountains and with hundreds of lovely paths to walk,
but I could only look at them with longing eyes: I must in fact introduce here
my travelling companion, the
rain, and I’m sorry but I don’t like it that much walking and getting
soaked.
Arrochar is a small
nice village between Loch Lomond and Loch Long, which is famous because during
WWII it was home to a submarine
and torpedoes testing station. Now the station is dismissed. The
site was chosen because the Loch flows into the sea at Greenock, and also
because it was very unlikely the enemy could spot the facilities, because of
the usual heavy layer of clouds… The very kind owner of the B&B where I
stayed told me about this, as well as about the recent plan to build a luxury
hotel on the other side of the lake.
This was another encounter with Scottish kindness and the love for sharing stories about their place and their life, and making you feel at home.
On the second day my plan
was to reach the Isle of Skye, and make the dream come true, by crossing the bridge.
I drove via
Inveraray, passed the
“Rest and be Thankful” site, and then headed to Fort William on the A828,
the road of the Sea-Lochs.From the “Rest and be Thankful” there’s a great view over the
glens
Later on during the day I found more travelling
companions, besides the rain (and my map, and the guide): a couple of very young
hithhickers from France. At first I was to leave them close to Oban but they ended up
coming with me up on Skye.
The road was peaceful and lovely, winding through woods
and close to lochs.
I must say something about Fort William: it's the only place in Scotland I don't like that much. There must be one, I think.
I’ve been there twice in 4 days and it never stopped
raining for a minute. It was very windy, too. The mountains around are gorgeous
and beautiful, Loch Linnhe is a big beauful loch, but the town...
No, wait, I like the happy resting hiker statue:
After Fort William it’s another pretty stretch of road to the Skye
Bridge. The landscape is more rugged, woods and trees are sparse, and the mountains then were
still snow-capped.
At Spean Bridge we went to see the Commando Memorial, fighting
wind, rain and tourist buses.
A little before the Skye Bridge there's the famous castle, you probably heard of it, Eilean Donan, the Highlander castle.
After crossing the bridge everything changed.
Somebody says that because of the bridge Skye is no longer
an island, but the feeling I got from my 2 days on Skye is that Skye is remote, distant, different.
I cannot say that the West Coast
of Scotland is crowded, especially from the point of view of somebody living in
a really crowded big city like me, but only when on Skye I really felt
emptyness and solitude. And enormous beauty.
Skye really is beautiful, inspiring, magical,
moving; even though temperature
was 8°, the wind was strong and it rained, too
.
On my full day on Skye I went to see the Old Man of Storr
(well, “see” isn’t fully right: better say that I reached a place where
there was a big dark shape looking like a standing stone, whose summit was deeply
covered in fog and clouds. Which I took to be the Old Man of Storr
Then I went to see the Diatomite beach and the Kilt Rock waterfall
By that time I had
already experienced driving
on single track roads, which is exciting and exhilarating, and I had already had the proof that
highlanders do wear kilts:
Then I drove the single track up to Uig along cliffs, meadows, rocks, the sea, streams, fences, barren hills, sharp bends, and even an en-plein-air toilet.
In Uig I went to see the ferry to the Outer Hebrides, with Harris a powerful shape just in front of me, and I promised myself I'd go there, too.
Then I drove along a deserted and sunny road to Dunvegan castle: maybe because I finally saw the blue sky, maybe because of the sun, but it really looked wonderful to me, with amazing gardens full of flowers
And suddenly it was time to go back to Glasgow, via Glencoe.
This is another truly
magnificent area
Some things I learned
from this short trip: Scotland needs time, to allow the weather to change. And time to enjoy
its many wonders. Then I learned I wanted to come back, and walk those beautiful walks on loch shores. And get lost in glens and lochs, and streams and hills.
And I learned that
travelling alone can be wonderful: you are seldom alone, because you are open
to the world. But being alone in such a remote area as the Isle of Skye gives you the chance to get to
know yourself better, to rediscover, and redefine yourself.
And I think that there
must be a meaning in that dream about the Skye bridge. A bridge is a symbol, a
link from somewhere to some other place, a connection between people, a way to
move distances closer.
A short rainy trip, mine was, but a very
inspiring one.
Io ho fatto una passeggiata tra un treno e quello successivo, lasciando la valigia alla station House, poi ho preso il treno delle 11:20. A Crianlarich la West Highland Line si divide, da una parte raggiunge Oban, dall'altra parte arriva a Mallaig via Fort William, ed è l'itinerario che ho scelto io.
A Mallaig il treno e la West Highland Railway finiscono.
Mallaig è deliziosa, ogni volta che ci torno mi piace di più, è affollata, da qui oltre al treno partono il traghetto per Skye e il barchino per la Knoydart e anche qualche gita per le small isles, per le quali però conviene partire da Arisaig, ma rimane un paesino molto accogliente.
