
1. Cows and Clouds, 2. Pan Fried Salmon Fillet, 3. About As Free Range As It Gets For A Sheep, 4. Smoked Salmon Paté with Highland Oatcakes, 5. Remains of the Crab (2), 6. Smokey Roast Salmon, 7. Dew Drops, 8. Chocolate Truffle Tort, 9. Warm Clouds
So, what to tell of our fourth annual Skye sojourn? Let's see...
- A glorious return to The Greatest B&B In The World, known to the outside world as Tigh an Dochais. Rightly popular, you'll need to book months in advance to stay there, but by deuce it's worth it. Immense beds, soothing views of the bay and every morning the breakfast of the gods.
- An equally triumphant return to one of our favourite eating establishments in the land, the Harbour Restaurant in Broadford. Three evenings of glorious feasting that have inspired me to attempt a wider variety of recipes in the very near future, with the seafood a particular high-point.
- We spent one day walking out to the old settlement of Boreraig, the last on Skye to be forcibly cleared in the 19th century, via the old marble quarry. A great walk under normal circumstances, we angered the weather gods after crowing about our new waterproof walking clothing, who promptly sent a seemingly endless rainstorm our way once on the furthest point of the walk, the kind from which the only clothing suitable is a wetsuit. Walking back was an insanely soggy ordeal - it's a wonder we avoided trenchfoot - but the pleasure we got from putting dry clothes on back at the B&B was indescribable. And we saw golden eagles in flight, which is pretty fab.
- Some other nice strolls around Broadford - nothing interesting to report, but a pleasure to experience.
- Soundtrack for this holiday: a recording of the Bonnie Prince Billy 2006 Edinburgh gig, soon to get a proper release.
- I didn't produce any artwork this time around - still too much fear of the empty page and stupidly intimidated by how impressive the landscape there is. Absolutely ridiculous, I wasn't half as bothered in the past so why now? Hopefully I can still get some Skye-related artwork produced using the photos taken as source material.
- No artwork, but plenty of reading - a book review post is brewing nicely - and lots of working through a children's book story that's been bubbling away in my head, gradually turning thoughts into words. If it works out, it'll be a cracker.
- We also saw a submarine. Cool!
- And a long chain of sheep walking single-file with no shepherding in sight. Hypnotic!
- And a truly tragic man on the train in the midst of a midlife crisis reinventing himself as a fun-loving Geordie swigging back a 6-pack of Fosters at midday on the train and groping with his giggling harpy of a companion with a laugh that only an idiot could love, making us wonder why we'd ever got on a train back to the city. We eventually switched carriages to avoid his boorish bellowing of self-obsessed hedonist-wannabe philosophy, the kind that comes from leaving a trail of emotional wreckage through other peoples lives. Twat!
And... that's pretty much it. It wasn't an eventful holiday, but sometimes events are the last thing you want, with far more pleasure to be had letting days gently drift by in the company of your sweetheart, savouring that sweet fresh air as it rolls in off the bay. I cursed myself for the thousandth time for not choosing a vocation that allows me to make an affordable living out there, but hope springs eternal, and even a few days is better than nothing at all. Still, when Will Oldham sings My Home Is The Sea it resonates all the more with every year. In particular, one day the closing lyrics of that song make me long for the day I could say such words myself:
And with the sea air in my lungs
I am home
(You are home)










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