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Our last stage into Broadford started inauspiciously in the car park beside the quarry at Torrin. If anyone's paying attention you'll notice we’d missed out a couple of kilometres round the head of Loch Slapin, but hey, it was my birthday so I think we can be excused. We followed the side of the access road to the quarry, crossed the stream and headed up a muddy banking to reach the road coming down from Kilbride. Some might say that taking the road would have been easier, but Murray is from the Paula Abdul school of hillwalking – straight up.
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The road ends at an isolated picnic spot overlooking the Loch and continues as a track to the headland of Rubha Suisnish. Today was a bit duller and seemed slightly anti-climatic after the delights of the Trotternish Ridge and Glen Sligachan. The abandoned village of Suisnish made a melancholic spot for a tea break, moss-covered stones half-hidden in the scrub, all that remains of a way of life cruelly cut short by the Clearances. A few sheep were the only inhabitants of the headland now, a dead lamb’s bones testament to the harshness of this environment to man and beast alike.
The route continued on, now a rougher path with the rocky sides of Carn Dearg and Beinn Bhuide above and Loch Eishort below.
The day was brightening up as we approached the ruins of Boreraig, some still managing to look like homes after hundreds of empty years. Boreraig, in particular is in a spectacular setting, its flat, grassy surroundings presumably remnants of fields cleared laboriously by the tenants who were later to be forcibly evicted.
A fairly steep path leads up and we met a large group of fellow walkers coming down. Aside from the tourist hotspots of the Storr, the Quiraing and Portree, we had encountered few other hikers. Only one French group seemed to be tackling the whole trail at the same time as us. Although carrying their own tents they were much faster than us and we trailed in their garlic-scented wake.
A pleasant glen of young trees led to the remains of the quarry with the impressive corried summits of Beinn na Callich and Beinn Dearg rising above the Torrin Road. More ruins scatter this area, more recent remnants of the marble industry.
We passed the circular base of the former railway winding wheel and followed the well-made path to Broadford and a celebratory ice cream.
Brian and Alan shared the comfort of a bed .......and Breakfast, Murray and I headed out to the campsite at Breakish and we said goodbye to Peter and Frankie who headed home that night. Later, we were joined in the Gabbro Bar by our friend Louise who helped celebrate the end of our walk, my birthday, the birthplace of Drambuie and anything else we could think of. Our plan to climb some hills the next day vanished into as the night progressed. A great end to our Skye Trail week.
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- Are These Two Holding Hands ?
The Brownies went home next morning, probably still wearing their gaiters, while Murray, Louise and I headed up to the excellent Skyewalkers Hostel at Portnalong to continue our adventure which included an ascent of the Inn Pinn in monsoon-like conditions, but that, as they say, is a different story.
