Staffin Carn Ban Croft and Waternish for Dinner 12th March

We both had a restless sleep so were awake before the alarm went and woke up to snow covering Pointy Mountain - being Spring we thought we had seen the last of the snow, but it snowed a bit yesterday and a lot today.

Then it was up and about and I made us some Spurtle Porridge for breaky. We did a bit of research into the property we were going to look at at 9.45am, Carn Ban at Croft 1 Garafad, Staffin - back on the roller-coaster again? Will we buy the farm? Will I get some Coara (gaelic for sheep) and a Heilan Coo or 2? Read on….

It was snowing when we got into the car and headed down to Staffin and it didn’t stop all day.

The place looked nice on the internet (see photos above) and we thought it could have possibilities as our plan B. We met Karen from the Isle of Skye Property Centre who showed us through and it was a lot smaller than we had imagined from the photographs and floor plans on the internet. It was a cute place but probably would not be suitable as our plan B.

I chatted with Karen, whilst Vince went on an adventure on the path over the hill to the common grazing land and walk to the beach and then returned to explore along the stone wall to the end of the 5 acres of croft land. When he got back to the house he was soaking wet and covered in mud. He told me as we got in the car he had taken a tumble on the hill and fallen face first into the mud and hurt his wrist on the way down. He said he felt a little concussed but didn’t want me to take him to the Dr in Portree when I offered.

So we headed back to Willie McLeod’s so Vince could get a hot shower and cleaned up. I got a fire started to warm him when he came out when I heard a knock at the door - it was Alan. Cold and wet and in the hope of a hot cup of coffee. He had been out tending to his cows, and one of the newborn calves in particular which hadn’t been fairing so well, but it was better today. So I sorted hot drinks all round and served some Digestive Biscuits and also some Scottish Oat Cakes and cheese. Alan declined my offer of a bacon and egg sandwich for lunch, and Vince was full from the snacks so I left lunch for later.

After Alan left we sat by the fire and warmed up and chatted about our plan B options. At this point we will sort out the necessary stuff with our Solicitor in Portree (Evelyn Crate) so that should we ever want to action our plan B in the future we can do so from Australia. Plan A is obviously heading home as planned, trying to get our photography business viable (which will be even harder given the current impacts on the economy and small business from Corona Virus) and hopefully make enough to support us. Failing that we may have to seriously consider plan B - but that’s what plan B’s are for - future contingency options.

I also did a bit of investigating and price matching on the Saori Loom my generous husband is getting me for my birthday - not cheep as they are crafted and imported from Japan and I would have to get it from over East in Australia - as there are none in WA.

During our veg-out afternoon Vince sent me an article from the BBC about Edinburgh Uni and a new find of two sites with about 50 fossilised footprints, revealed by a recent storm, on what had been coastal mudflats in the mid Jurassic period at Brother’s Point (Rubha nam Brathairean). The find included some from a stegosaurian dinosaur. Stegosauri are the big tank-like dinosaurs with diamond shape plates not heir back going to almost 30ft and weighing more than 6 tons. The one that left its mark on Skye was smaller, possibly a youngster. They also found three-toed footprints of different sizes from early carnivorous theropods (cousins of T-Rex) a well as a series of other large tracks which are the earliest evidence of large-bodied ornithopod (bird footed) dinosaurs. Scientist say this is world leading, since they knew there were giant long-necked sauropods, jeep sized carnivores but not they can add plate backed stegosaurs and maybe even primitive cousins to the duck-billed dinosaurs as well. The discoveries enhance Skye’s reputations as one of the best places in the World to study dinosaur evolution during the middle Jurassic. The palaeontologists speculate that all the “stomping” was probably just doing what dinosaurs do - eating and making dinosaur babies - but they joke that it could be a Dinosaur Ceilidh (dance or party). I’d love to go and have a look, but Vince when a few days back and says it’s far too dangerous for me.

We planned to head down to Portree to see the Solicitor, then on to Waternish to visit Madeline and Graeme, (who are friends of Ian and Gill - our Skye friends) whom we bumped into last weekend at the Hebridean Sea Swimmers breakfast. Madeline is an old school chum of Annie Williams (Vice Queen of my Red Hatter Group, the Dinki Di Divas back in Perth. It really is a small world! They invited us for dinner and a sleep over, but we preferred to go home to our own bed so politely declined the latter. However, Vince felt he might be coming down with a cold, and given the whole Corona Virus situation we sent them an email letting them know to check if we should cancel. But they said come anyway and the would just disinfect us! LOL

We had a wonderful evening getting to know Madeline and Graeme, and their dog Bonnie, enjoying a fantastic meal of venison and haggis and great company. It was midnight by the time we left for our hours drive home so we were pretty tired when we got in.