4 Seasons in One Day - Waiting for Snow 12th Jan 2020

It’s Sunday today - so pretty much everything on Skye shuts - its the day of rest! Since last Wed they have been forecasting snow at ground level, and have been gritting the roads. But it changes on almost and hour to hour basis on Skye. We have had lots of high wind, rain and hail - but no snow yet.

Vince went down to Ballamaqueen Sea Stacks for sunrise, I stayed home and caught up on chores. But still couldn’t help a quick trip outside in my PJs to take a snap of the snow on pointy Mountain. I made a great fire to warm the place, but managed to burn the top of my left index finger on the top of the great - F#%KING HURT! Luckily no Grandies here to listen to their YaYa’s swearing!

I also got the chance to talk to my Mum and Dad (visiting Perth from Darwin), my Daughter and Grandies (in Perth) and my Sister (in Darwin). We try to stay in touch at least once a week but with the time differences (8 hour behind in the UK) we often find ourselves playing phone tag on WhatsApp. Although we are having a fantastic time here, I do miss them, and my dog, Cebar!

By the time Vince got home the weather had started to change and it looked like at least the rain and hail might hold back. So I got changed and packed up my gear to head out in the hope of some great shots. The weather on Skye is so unpredictable you can literally have all 4 seasons in one day, it can be blue sky and sunshine on one side of the road and pissing down rain or hail on the the other - freaky!

I’m on a mission to collect a wide variety of Heinan Coo shots - as I have decided on a project or two I need them for (Children’s Books). Just out of Shulista we stopped to take a few shots of some calves. Vince dropped me and drove on as there was nowhere to park on the single track road. The wind proved a challenge to hold the camera still and they were so friendly they kept coming right up to the fence making it hard to shoot them without clutter. I even sneaked a little pat on ones head which surprised him!

A car stopped and a young woman from London got out to join me. She had been living in Melbourne and was surprised to hear an Aussie accent. But we were both thwarted when the hail came in. She offered me a lift, but I assured her I had a husband and a car somewhere and he would return - soon I hoped. I zipped my camera inside my North Face Parka and pulled my hood up around my freezing ears, hearing and feeling the hard ice battering into me. It took a little while but eventually I saw headlights coming back for me and was thankful of the heater in the car to thaw out my hands.

We carried onwards towards Portree, and by the time we got to the the Old Man of Storr the roads were again clear of hail. There was more snow on the Storr today and I tried to get a shot. But the wind was so strong it was almost blowing me over and buffeting the camera so badly I’ll be surprised if they are even in focus.

Back in the car, more thawing out by the heater and on to Portree, but not before stopping to photograph Mable and her boyfriend, whom I’ve named Bruce. Bruce was right against the fence and although this mean I could get really close to him, it provided clutter in my shots. I tried moving this way and that, but it continued to be problematic. I moved to another cow further down but somehow in my manoeuvring I managed to catch rip my finger open on the barbed wire at the top of the fence. And which little finger was is? You guessed it - might left index finger. So not only had I burnt it, but then I’d frozen it to frostbite level in the hail storm, and now I’d ripped it open - F#%KING FANTASTIC! (Again no Grandies present so I’m ok to swear!).

Bright red blood spilled everywhere, over the camera, down my hand onto the ground, all over my Patagonia pants (the only warm ones I have). Trying to find a way to stop the bleeding I just had to grab it with my other hand - what a mess! Then to top it off in all my trying to avoid getting blood all over everything I found myself almost knee deep in bog and sinking! FFS!!!! I should have stayed home! At great effort I manage to extricate myself from the squelching vacuum of the bog and move towards the roadway - never sure if the ground underneath my feet would be solid or not. Vince, seeing my predicament had driven the car down to me but couldn’t park there and a car was coming so he was yelling at me to just get in! So there was nothing else for it apparently, I launched myself into the front passenger seat as he sped off - blood and mud everywhere in the car!

Once settled into my seat I found a glasses cleaning cloth to try to stench the blood which seemed to be working. Vince enquired if I needed a hospital for stitches but I assured him it was a long rip but not deep - I just needed a Chemist.

Once we reached Portree, the bleeding had appeared to stop so we went down by the Quay to have our thermos of Pea and Ham Soup and Bread as Vince was famished. A cheeky little Robin Red Breast joined us, getting so close we fed him some bread. Unfortunately, when I opened the thermos hot soup went everywhere and my wound reopened in a flood. This time I grabbed my big blue camera microfibre cloth to stench the flow - it really wasn’t my day!

The Boots Chemist was shut - we thought it might be as it was Sunday - so we headed for the Co-op where all we could find were “Frozen” band aids suitable for children’s fingers so I needed several to cover the wound! But thankfully they worked! We got a few food supplies we were running low on and headed back home.

I spent the rest of the day trying to catch up on my blogging - I’m about a fortnight behind and Vince hasn’t even processed the last 4 or 5 Vlogs - there’s just not enough hours in the day.

I cooked us steak and vegetables with a creamy black pepper sauce for dinner and we pushed the lounges together and put our new Skye Skyns Sheepskin on top (we’d tried the floor and it was too hard) and snuggled up in front of the fire to watch - One Day.