We were up bright and early on the Wednesday morning to catch the ferry from Mallaig cross to Armadale on the Isle of Skye. The weather was not the best with low cloud and very fine rain, the sort that gets you wet without you noticing. It was something new for me as I had never been on a car ferry before. I had to drive the campervan up a ramp at the bows of the ship and onto the parking deck. I was directed by the seamen to park the van and I managed without hitting anything else. Everyone else piled out of the van and we headed out on to the deck. It was open to the elements but no one cared we were having a lot of fun. It only took about twenty minutes to cross to the island and we drove off and down the road from Armadale pier. The drive across the island is something that I will remember forever, wonderful views across the heather moors and the craggy mountains. I even saw a golden eagle high in the sky.
We had planned to stay on the island for five night but our first bed and breakfast could only let us stay for two nights as they were booked up for the rest. The house was in the hamlet of Coillore and near the village of Struan. It was really just a group of three cottages overlooking the sea loch. What a picturesque site this was is hard to believe, it was on the side of a hill which ran right down to the tidal shore with large rocks coated in sea weed at the bottom. Behind the house was the heather moor all in bloom, the scent was overpowering. The water for the house was provided by a well in the back yard which was pumped into a holding tank in the loft. All the rooms had wash basins in them and the water came out brown from the tap. It may have looked dirty but it was so soft that the soap seemed to lather up with the slightest touch. We were asked not to have baths as the water was that low in the well. Eating that night was from the local fish and chip shop, Fish suppers all round washed down by cans of McEwans Export. I had run out of cigars so we visited the local post office in Struan to buy some, Heather did not like me smoking cigarettes but would put up with the smell of cigars. The postmistress was selling Castela cigars at five pence each when at home in the pub they were twelve and a half pence. They came in singles or in tins of twenty five , Ken and I cleared her stock out, I think we bought two tins of twenty five before we left the island.
After the two night at Coillore we moved to a bed and Breakfast in Dunvegan which is a larger village. It was still not as big as Burscough with two pubs and one school. One night while we were there we were told about a celigh going on in the local village hall it would be all in gaelic but we would be made welcome. It was a real treat to see the dancing and the bands, all the songs were sung in gaelic and the poetry was all in the native language of the islands too. Morag seemed to understand every word and laughed along with everyone else while we all stood and looked dumb. We visited the Dunvegan Castle the spiritual home of all the MacCleods, where the fairy flag is kept. This ancient banner is reputed to be older than the first crusade and if it is ever lost or destroyed the clan MacCleod will cease to exist.
One day we went off to have a look at a distillery on the west coast of the island. I do not remember which distillery it was but we had a good visit. We saw the oast house where they smoked the barley with burning peat to give the whisky it’s smokey peaty flavour. The beach with a lovely bay was below the oast house down quite a steep incline. We decided to drive down to the beach and do some fishing while Lou and Heather cooked the tea on the camper stove. They were doing a pot roast of brisket beef. They had peeled spuds and chopped cabbage too. Ken, Kenneth and I went off round the headland to the rocks and started fishing. We were doing quite well spinning off the rocks and we had caught a few coley. Ken really wanted sea trout but there did not seem to any about. Suddenly there was a scream from the direction of the van. I looked up over the headland and realised that the tide had come in. The water was lapping at the step of the campervan and the three girls were inside screaming and waving to attract our attention. I dropped my rod and started running back towards them, when I got there I had to wade up to the van and try to get it started. I was praying that it would or we would be in real trouble. It started first . I shouted hold on and drove up the steep ramp from the beach while the girls, Lou and Heather, held on to the boiling pans on the stove. No time even to put the pans down on the floor. They screamed as the water splashed in the pans but they did not get scolded. We all laughed at the adventure when we got round to eating the meal on the cliff top above the now flooded bay. The van was OK just I had to make sure that the brakes were dry before we drove away.
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