5.5 miles of hiking • 750' elevation gain •
Our last day in Skye: an introduction to the Black Cuillins. This is where I would return for backpacking. Jagged ridges, high lonesome lochs. Best of all-no sheeps! Makes a big difference in the botanical diversity. The big gabbro slabs are so grippy and invite scrambling up the ridges. It was an overcast day, and my pictures do no justice to the ominous beauty of this place.
We took a boat across the bay,but many people walk it from Elgol going round Camasunary Bay, which is idyllic. We sat on massive boulders and dreamily sketched, and oops,we just missed the last boat back to Elgol. Luckily the boat company did not want to strand its customers, so we got picked up by a speedy RIB boat and blasted our way back to town.
WE thought we had timed the tide right to visit nearby Spar Cave. It was going out but the when we neared the cave entrance,the channel still had knee to thigh deep water, so we got to do some fun climbing along the edge! Spar is another term for limestone aka calcium carbonate. This cave is really an amazing feat of geology. It is located up a narrow sea canyon(called a geo), and inside is what looks like a frozen waterfall with a continuous thin layer of water cascading over it. It looks like ice, but the texture is not smooth- you can climb it. When you reach the top you find yourself in a chamber of macabre shapes and textures and an amazing color variety. On the other side is the mermaid pool and you can walk down to it. We were blown away. About the coolest place ever that you could take a 15 year old. Of course my camera battery died trying to figure out flash adjustments in side the cave, so the first two pictures were borrowed from the internet to give you an idea of what we saw inside.
