Torabhaig Distillery & Catch Ups in Sleat 27th Feb

We awoke to a blanket of white outside from the snowfall overnight. A magical winter wonderland - even Alan’s cows were out in the front field surrounded by snow.

After our normal morning chores and a breaky of Spurtle Porridge we got ourselves rugged up to set off for the day down to Sleat - to meet Ann and David Hickey, friends we met at the Distillery who were publishing a book and we were to have the first copy! (as it turned out we got the first signed copy, but second copy to be sold as they dropped some off at a local shop and the owner bought one.)

However, it took us longer than expected to leave as the snow and ice on the hill out of Willie McLeods had us slip sliding all over the place - bit of an exaggeration there - it wasn’t dangerous just a bit alarming when the tyres have no grip and the car is not responding exactly the way you expect! After two failed attempts at the hill we decided that salt was the answer - so Vince got the bag that Lorraine (our landlady) had left for us just in case whilst she was away. So that took a good 20 minutes or so and we were up no bother!

It was a careful drive through the snowy roads down to Portree via Uig where Vince stopped at the Co Op teller machine to get some cash out so we could pay the £25 for the book.

Then we were back on the road back down to Torabhaig Distillery where we were meeting our friends at 11.00am. We had morning tea and spend a good two hours or so catching up. They are away next week but when they get back have invited us for dinner at their place in Kyleakin.

As we came out to the car I saw a beautiful full arc of a rainbow and Vince fed some of the cobs we got from Alan (the crofter) to a couple of the distillery goats - but they tried to butt us through the fence when they’d had enough - not very friendly - I think I much prefer Highland Cows.

On the way back along the main road in Sleat we stopped near Camuscross to take a shot of the Isle Ornsay Lighthouse we spotted from the roadside - gotta love that 400mm Lens!

A little further along, we stopped in Druisdale at “The Bungalow” - home of our friend’s Penny and Clive and we’re invited in for a cuppa and a catch up as Penny has been away in England. We will catch up for a meal before we go home.

We stopped in a Portree for a late lunch (3.29pm) at the Granary and a few errands - including a visit to Boots to get my correct dermatitis ointment instead of the cream I had been incorrectly prescribed.

On the way home we went up the East Coast via the Storr and stopped for a few shots from Loch Fada.

Back at Willie McLeod’s we had some mail from the bank and a new LumeCube for Vince’s Drone.

Alan also sent a text to let us know he had two new highland cows today so fingers crossed I will try to get out there tomorrow if the ground is not too boggy (lately Alan’s oilskins have not proven enough due to the soggy ground and he says it’s too bad for me to go).

We downloaded our photos and just had a simple dinner as we’d had a late lunch. We sat by the fire and chatted with a dram or two.