the night before the storms, near our cottage
Last night we heard the wind howling over the hills and glens of Kilmuir as we slept, and this morning we awoke to an uninviting horizontal rain. Jason made a mental note to wake up at about 7:30am to see the England match in the World Cup, and I dragged myself out of bed an hour or so later. England successfully advanced into the next round, although unexcitingly so, and we went back to bed.
The second waking was no better than the first, and as I looked out the glass doors in the living room, I could picture us stumbling along muddy farm fields to see an ancient site. We both settled into our history books with a cup of tea, postponing the inevitable. After eating lunch, I had a burst of energy, and off we went into an utterly miserable day.
an example of a broch
We drove to see a neolithic burial cairn in the pouring rain, only to be stopped by a "keep out" sign at the fence leading to the mound. So we headed to see the best broch on Skye, Dun Beag, and trudged away from the road through muddy sheep fields to get there. This broch is dated at about 500AD, and the walls still reach to about 9 feet. Brochs are circular fortresses or houses, with stones stacked tightly together like bricks without mortar. We have no pictures of this one because of the stinging rain. We dried out while eating an early dinner in Portree, then followed the signs downtown to Skye Scene, where admission was 6 pounds per person.
Skye Scene is a friendly group of locals, most who speak Gaelic, offering traditional song and dance to visitors. I was worried that it might be just a scramble to make tourist money, and I was glad to be proved wrong. Many of the artists were young, learning music and doing an excellent job at performing. They were from local clans, often wearing their own tarten, but it seemed natural for them, not too showy. There were Gaelic songs, and tunes we hadn't heard before on bagpipes, fiddles, the old celtic harp, and the accordian. The program lasted three hours, and the final minutes were filled with a slide show of Skye scenes. So a bad day turned around in a major way, and I believe Skye Scene was one of the best things we've done yet. It is a wonder to hear music that blends with this island so perfectly. I bought the CD and love it.
