“I slow down when hiking. The rhythm of nature is more leisurely. The sun comes up, it moves across the sky, and you begin to synchronize to that rhythm.” John Mackey
Anyone who knows me, knows that the sea is my first love. The first hike I ever did was part of the Wales coastal path and after a summer hiking the path and swimming in its jellyfish filled waters its safe to say that its an everlasting love affair. The second I smell seaweed I go into a trace, I could roll myself around in, The smell just makes me feel at home honestly if I could bag the smell it’s what my house would smell like!
The sea works on all emotions! Angry = Go scream at it. Happy = Go watch it. Sad = Lose your tears in it. I haven’t had a problem that looking at the sea hasn’t solved. While I stand there looking out into the world I am both at my most alive and my most humbled. I accidentally came across the Rhbha Nam Brathairean (brothers point) walk on AllTrails and with a couple of free hours I decided to go explore. Amazingly it wasn’t a point of interest I had seen on all the different Isle of Skye “must see” lists I had read before the trip, despite it being a five minute drive from Kilt Rock.
I have already said it a million times during these blog posts so I imagine by now I am sounding like a broken record but I imagine the summer months on Skye involve a lot of tripping over other hikers but in December the number of tourists out weigh the number of serious hikers, the whole trip I only saw 3 hikers on the actual trails, at points of interest I maybe saw 10-15 people.
During this walk I didn’t see anyone at all but I did see one of the most magical things I have ever witnessed in my whole life, even now two weeks on it still gives me goosebumps.
I was wandering around over the rocks that had been exposed from the tide going out thinking about the last year, all the changes in my life and how much I love the sea. Equally thinking I can’t wait for the longer days to come back so I can start back walking the coastal path.
I found the perfect sea weed covered rock to sit on while I ate an orange (in the last four weeks I have taken to eating 14 oranges a day, I literally can’t get enough of them) peeling my orange I heard a splash, I looked up and easily saw 30 pairs of eyes looking back at me. (the black dots n the pictures above). 30 seals curiously looking at me while I just stared back opened mouthed, it was the most magical thing I have ever seen in my whole life. I normally get over excited when I see one so to see 30 I practically did a sex wee.
I sat there for about an hour just watching them bob up and down, disappearing for a second then reappearing a couple of feet closer to me. I literally didn’t want to move, preying they would come right up to me but at same time scanning my brain for any stories of women being attacked by seals. Eventually I got up and saw some seals lay on rocks being guarded by what looked like 10 heron.
Hello Mr Seal!
The saddest part of this whole story is that the amount of rubbish on this beach was staggering, I filled my bag pack with as much as I could. I can safely say I have never seen as much rubbish on a beach as this one and it broke my heart!
The whole time I was on the beach birds flew overheard singing songs I had never heard before. They were so sweet and in tune, when I closed my eyes to listen to them I could have literally been on the other side of the world.
I ended up back on the trail (of which was only a couple of miles, if that). and continued onto brothers point I lay down for about an hour watching the clouds go over, listening to waves crash below and taking in deep breaths of the salty air. The one thing I hope I don’t lose about hiking is the fact I’m not in a rush, I take my time and stop regularly to take it all in. I never want to be doing it to get it down, never race to a trig or try and beat previous times.
Now up high I sat again to take in the whole place and just be in the moment.
With dusk rolling in I decided to head back to the hostel for a hot shower and some food. And of course an evening called up in front of the log fire with my book.
I am not sure there is even an inch of Skye that doesn’t look like a magical wonderland.
The sun began to set, to add to the magic of the day I was greeted with a beautiful sunset. The only nice sunset I saw the whole trip, I was still bursting with happiness from seeing the seals and this was just the icing on the fishy cake!
Mr Ram looking very cool with his horns but maybe not so practical in life!
With such a beautiful sunset there was no way I could drive past Kilt Rock and not stop, it would have be criminal! So I jumped out of my car and just watched the world as she exposed her most beautiful colourings.
