The Morning After - Carbost Hebridean Sea Swimmers 8th March

The morning after an overindulgence is never good - but surprisingly, although a bit delicate and feeling a little wobbly, I was fine. Not really hung over or ill much to my surprise!

Gill and Ian did the car shuffle to collect the BMW from Edinbane Lodge and we got ready to go with them down to see Gills group the “Hebridean Sea Swimmers” who were mad enough to go into the sea on Skye in freezing temperatures, claiming it is good for their health.

Vince and I followed Ian and Gill down to Carbost Bay Slipway, just past Talisker Distillery. We met their friends and everyone was very friendly. Vince really hit it off with another Ian and his wife Janet who have invited us out to their home in Waternish where they have 12 pet sheep and 3 horses - so we exchanged details and will catch up with them in the next week or so. It’s obviously a small island as one of their friends was Mike from Skye Skyns whom we bought our quad sheepskin from.

The water looked extremely cold and it not only rained, but hailed whilst we were there. Vince and I thankfully could sit in the car when it got bad, and I suppose the swimmers couldn’t really get much wetter - or colder. One of their dogs didn't seem to mind.

After the swim we all headed to the nearby cafe for breakfast which was delicious! We were joined by some more of Ian and Gills friends and one of the ladies came up to chat and asked if I knew Annie Williams in Australia (which I do she’s one of my Red Hatter friends). So Madeline and her husband Graham took our contact details and will call us next Tuesday to arrange a catch up. People here are just so welcoming and friendly.

I took a few ICM photos whilst we were down at Carbost.

After saying our farewells, we headed back to Willie McLeod’s and as we pulled into Shulista Vince stopped to speak to a man walking down the road with a crook - he was the ex school teacher and writer that Alan the crofter had told us about who has an amazing library. We got chatting, and were invited to pop in anytime for a cuppa and to check out his library - people really are unbelievably kind here.

We unpacked our gear at Willie McLeod’s House and I downloaded my photos and caught up on blogs, whilst Vince went to do some droning nearby as the weather had cleared up a bit and the wind was low.

We just had soup (homemade scotch broth) for an early dinner then headed out to meet up with Alan (the crofter) at the Uig Pub at 6.00pm. We got to meet his friend David (who worked on Willie McLeod's house). David's daughter Katie is a local artist who lived down the road from us in Aird. She was supposed to join us but couldn't make it. David and Vince made plans to catch up and drone together and we will try to meet Katie and check out her work before we leave Skye.