Peter's Random Travel Blog: The Old Man of Storr

On the east coast of Skye just north of Portree is a rock pinnacle called The Old Man of Storr. On our last trip to Skye we had driven past it without stopping other than to take photos from a distance. This time we were thinking of taking walk up to it...but we found it was covered in cloud. It is a popular walk but we were lucky enough to find a car park...and as we did, the sun came out. That was it, we decided...and we were off.

The Storr can be seen...but The Old Man is hidden in cloud

Just some of the cars

Although not a particularly long walk...maybe no more than a couple of kilometres...it is very steep in parts...no, make that most of he way. Still, by pacing ourselves and taking a couple of rest stops we made up...well, at least far enough for us. The views from up there were magnificent and the appearance of the pinnacles and cliff faces was dramatic.

The path goes on and on...up and up

Getting closer

Looking down on Skye and back to the mainland

The Old Man standing on the left

Looking up at the Storr

While we were there having some lunch the wind picked up...and that brought back the cloud. It was quite eerie to watch The Old Man disappear and reappear as the cloud drifted through. Unfortunately, the sun going also heralded the arrival of the midges...in the millions...and that meant it was time to leave.

And the clouds blew in...

More clouds coming in off the sea

Heading back down, the rain started but we made it back to the car without getting too wet. It was still quite early so we occupied our time by completing a counter-clockwise circumnavigation of the northern part of Skye...stopping off at various places along the way...eventually ending up in Portree for dinner.