Kilts, Fairies and Giants

The second day of our Isle of Skye trip was by far my favorite.  We began our day with breathtaking views of the Black Cuillin Mountains overtaken by rainy Scottish clouds.  Among the Cuillins are many Munros.  Munros are summits in the Scottish Highlands that exceed 3000 ft, named after Sir Hugh Munro.  There are 282 Munros, Ben Nevis being the tallest.  If you climb them all you can call yourself a Munroer.   How cool would that be?  Although we did not to climb a Munro, we did get to take a hike up to see The Old Man of Storr (a 2385 ft peak).  Legend says that the Old Man of Storr and his wife had angered the giants of the mountains.  As they were fleeing from the mountains, they looked back at the giants and were immediately turned to stone.  You can see the Old Man's face in some of the pictures.  His wife's stone fell many years ago.  The views from the top of the hike were truly amazing.  Look in the 11th picture for a tiny Zach in the bottom left corner.  After Old Man of Storr, we went to see Kilt Rock.  Following Kilt rock we headed to Fairy Glen, quite a mysterious place.  Duncan told us that there was once a young man that practiced his bagpipes in the Glen.  He thought fairies lived there and would play for them.  As he grew his belief of the fairies faded.  One day he came back and the fairies came to greet him.  They asked him to play his bagpipes for them.  Little did he know, he had agreed under fairy rules.  This meant that he could not stop playing until the fairies allowed him to.  He played and played.  Eventually the boy escaped, but time goes much slower in Fairy Glen than in the real world.  He went back to his house and he did not know the people that lived there because hundreds of years had passed since he entered Fairy Glen.  As you can see, Scottish folklore is a bit darker than Disney fairy tales!  People had left gifts for the fairies all around Fairy Glen.

Until next time,

--grace