Brother's Point, ICM, Camuscross and Kilmore 6th March

It was dry but freezing cold - literally with ice on the car and roads and even the grass and puddles were frozen.

I had another sleep in until 7.00am Whilst Vince got up with his alarm at 5.30am to head out to Brother’s Point for sunrise. We had been told it was quite an arduous and long walk so he wanted to check it out first before I gave it a go - his verdict - no way! Far to dangerous for me - very steep and slippery - in fact he fell and hurt his wrist, luckily not badly.

I did the usual morning chores and caught up on my blog and photos. When Vince got back around 8.00am I made Spurtle Porridge for us.

We headed into Portree as With all the media hype about Corona Virus, Vince thought we should get some hand sanitiser from Boots Chemist - all sold out and no idea when stock will come in.

I popped into the Highland Natural Accent shop in search of a Fair Isle Jumper - no luck but Sarah (the owner) took my email as she us expecting some in. She is from New York but moved to Skye 3 years ago with her husband from Inverness, he owns the framing shop next door. She said business is slow for this time of year - age blames the Corona Virus - interestingly she had a cold!

We headed down to Camuscross on the Sleat peninsula but stopped off at the petrol station at Broadford. Vince needed to go to the toilet urgently (he has tummy trouble now) so I filled the car and paid for the fuel. I checked for any hand sanitiser - none!

We drove to the Chemist in Broadford - none - all sold out and 5 of their suppliers have said they gave no stock! The UKs gone crazy and Skye has joined in. I did manage to find sone alcohol wipes at least that’s a start!

We had lunch at Annie’s Van - some cheeseburgers and chips - she had hand sanitiser so we asked her about it and she told us to try Dewsons - which we did on the way home - you guessed it - sold out!

We went down to Camuscross and Vince took some drone footage. I grabbed a shot if the Isle Ornsay Lighthouse and a nearby wooden boat. I also did a bit of ICM on some long reeds by the shoreline.

We went to nearby Hotel Eilean Irmain to use their toilet and bought a drink at the bar. I popped into the textile shop next door - Floraidh, and net Sarah the owner but she dad no Fair Isle either.

Vince did some more droning near the pier where all the ships left during the Highland Clearances. He let me have a go and I took a few panorama shots of the lighthouse. A young woman came out and told us you can’t Drone there, we said sorry but there were no signs.

The weather had been very cold but dry mostly but now the rain started. We stopped briefly for me to take a photo if the School where my ancestors would have gone just at the top of the hill opposite the turn off for Camuscross.

Then, armed with my map from the Clan McDonald Centre, it was down to Kilmore Church to see if I could locate any relatives graves. It stared to rain harder but I was like a dog with a bone - determined to find them. The ruins of the original church (the one my ancestors would have attended) are still there together with the more recent church.

I tried my best to find the graves that could be possibilities for Mary McInnes ( whom I know is buried there) but even Vince couldn’t make sense of the map - it didn’t seem to marry up properly with the actual graves. They were set out quite strangely and there were often no paths to walk on so I felt I might be standing on people at times and found myself apologising.

The rain got harder and harder and many of the headstones were so worn they were unreadable, overgrown or badly weathered. So after about an hour we were quaked and freezing and had to give up - we will come back on a dry day and try again.

On the drive home we stopped and I got a shot I have been wanting for a while of the old croft house - the kind my family would have lived in.

We stopped in at the Coop in Portree in the way home - no hand sanitiser - no liquid hand soap - not even many bars I’d soap left - so we bought some. Shelves were bare! Given the Shirley age of toilet paper in Australia we heard about from family and friends I thought I’d check that isle - sure enough hardly any left - so I bought 2 packs - I think the World really has gone crazy!

We headed up to Uig and Vince did some more droning and I took some photos of the Harris and Lewis Cal Mac Ferry in Uig Bay.

I also took a shot or two of Fraser’s Folly up above with the moon up. The Uig Tower, also known as Captain Fraser's Folly, is a nineteenth century folly. It dates from around 1860 and was built for the then owner of Kilmuir Estate, Major William Fraser. It is situated on a headland overlooking Uig Bay. Fraser was an unpopular landlord who carried out the last major clearances on Skye. Some felt he received his just desserts when Uig Lodge, the Estate house, was washed away in the devastating flood of 1877.

We stopped in at Rankins - no hand sanitiser there either! We met Alan (the crofter) coming out as we were going in - he’s such a nice chap. He’s getting two of his dogs ready for the sheepdog sales.

Back at home Vince downloaded is drone files and I put the left over pie Freon last night into the oven for dinner.

Before we knew it it was time for bed, Vince had fallen asleep on the couch!

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