Whilst the word “fair” was no longer in the forecast (weatherman codespeak for sunny) we felt that the day was auspicious so it was time for a tour on foot of the rugged mountainous interior of the Isle of Skye.
Diomedea had had a glorious sail in blue skies and northerly breeze for 45 miles or so up from Ardnamurchan point, around the outside of Rum, to Loch Harport on Skye the day before. We had had dress circle views of the ranges from the sea, had seen a Minke whale, and cruised past the famous Tallisker distillery to the anchorage, conveniently only 200 metres further on.
A short motor vehicle trip later, we walked out of the sea level outpost of Sligachan, southbound for the Black Cuillins and the Munro peak of Am Basteir. Weeks of relative inactivity soon revealed their toll as we scrambled up slippery scree slopes to the col at 900m. The view over the next valley to Loch Scavaig was stunning but the clouds rolled in, as did the midges which attacked in battalion strength. The final scramble to the summit, only 30 vertical metres higher looked very exposed with any slip having fatal consequences. The decision to abort was easy. We stumbled back down the crag for an excellent dram at the pub, and watched the last 8km of the men’s marathon at Rio. I think the runners were a bit fitter than us.