I had a very comfortable night's sleep, although as is often the case I did have to sleep with my head at the foot of the bed to get maximum distance from Ian's nocturnal rumblings.
Continental Breakfast was included in the room rate and Morag had left us a fridge stacked full of food to choose from: apple and orange juice, 3 types of cereal, porridge, fresh strawberries, 3 types of cheese, 3 types of cold meats, croissants, bagels, 3 types of bread - an absolute feast.
Breakfast over, we were packed and ready to leave well before 08:00, keen to get to the Fairy Pools before the real crowds, as it was a 30 mile/45 min drive and that's without the inevitable photo stops. The first views being view of Macleod's Tables (North and South).
Then just a few random scenes of lochs and boats. What a stunning place Skye is, particularly when the sun shines.
There were already a few cars in the Fairy Pools car park and we were assured that crossing the little streams would be no problem today - ha! My ankle was still rather sore but this was the one thing I'd wanted to see on Skye and I wasn't going to miss it. Unfortunately, the stepping stones were spaced quite wide apart and required a little jump to get from one another, they were also higher off the ground than I'd expected - cue meltdown. After several abortive attempts Ian found another easier way to cross and although he didn't let on at the time, I think it involved his feet getting a little wet (I had boots on). We had one further smaller crossing to make and again Ian found an easier way but it was frustrating watching other people just jump across like mountain goats. It took me most of the walk to the first pool to recover from the upset and I wasn't overly impressed with the view. The one day when light cloud was preferable and we had strong sunshine which causes burnt out highlights on the water and makes composing the shot onscreen very difficult - typical.
We saw quite a few people swimming - I'm sure the waters were beautiful and clear, but very cold.
I know long exposure milky water isn't everyone's cup of tea but it was what I wanted to achieve - so I'm quite pleased (can't help wondering how it would have come out with my 24-105mm but actually I think this might be better as it gives more of the landscape).
Taking long exposure shots involves a great deal of patience on my part too, as no one realises what you're doing and many, many attempts are messed up. If someone walks into the shot and keeps going it's fine; they disappear in the long exposure and if they stand still it's fine; I can easily clone them out. It's when someone does a mixture of the two that really causes problems as you end up with a long fuzzy trail across the image.
This illustrates quite well how the water can easily be burnt out by the bright sun (left) and a few seconds later the clouds have moved (right).
Ian proved once again that he has infinite patience as he stood idly by watching me clumsily faffing around with tripod and filters. Occasionally though he was allowed to sit down.
A few "normal" shots, in no particular order.
I think this look is saying "enough now, it's a long way back to the car park and don't forget we have to navigate our way across the rivers again"
I was determined to cross by the stepping stones on the way back and carefully packed everything safely away. But when it came to it, I just couldn't take that first step; Ian was already on the first stone and I was really worried I'd land badly and push him in the water - he was wearing the backpack so his centre of gravity would be compromised anyway. Some young lads came down to cross and I told them to go ahead and if they'd like to carry me too it would be very helpful. I gave them my tripod to carry and asked Ian to give them the back pack to make it easier but he wouldn't. In the end we crossed over very easily this time just a little way upstream and no wet feet.
This shows how far we walked and my ankle was certainly rather sore when we got back to the car.
Last views of the Cuillin Hills.
