Ade McCabe
Fairy Pools.
Again the visit here wasn't without incident. Upon arrival I found both car parks were closed. The top one for an unknown reason and the main one closest to the path up for resurfacing work. They are currently resurfacing the path too with diggers and JCB's dotted along it's length with wagons going back and forth dropping off materials, more about this later.
I got out and walked over to a stern looking man in a hi-vis jacket. He spoke with a broad Geordie accent and informed me the car park was closed and that the path up whilst open (it's a public footpath,) was treacherous and I'd be knee deep in mud if I attempted it.
After having a little chat where we spoke about Newcastle United's resurgence and mentioning how tough the weather had been for photography his demeanour softened and he told me to swing the van in next to his car by the welfare container being used for the workers but they couldn't be responsible for any damage. 'Can't charge you mate, there's no facilities open.'
I thanked him and put my wellies on in preparation for the knee deep mud. It wasn't as bad as he claimed with only a small section that was muddy but easy enough to negotiate.
The wind was just as strong as it had been in previous days and with the pools being in a valley it was funneled up like a venturi and was even stronger than lower down. Thankfully it was blowing from directly behind me so I knew I wouldn't have any issues with spray which by this point was becoming my nemesis. I only saw two other people in the couple of hours I spent here which for The Fairy Pools is probably unheard of.
After trying various compositions, as and when the wind would allow and happy that I'd have a few shots I could work with I returned to the car park and had another little chat over a cup of tea I made for us both in the van. More football talk and the relative merits of foreign owners etc. I thanked him again for his kindness and as I didn't have to pay the £8 for the car park I gave him a fiver and told him to buy himself a beer.
On the drive back I had to pull over in the passing places a number of times to let a wagon through and the fourth wagon I saw flashed me to go first. Except he pulled over on a small strip of uneven concrete that wasn't anywhere near as wide as the passing places. It seemed to happen in slow motion. The strip of surface began to crumble under the the weight and slowly the wagon started to tip over until it finally came to rest at about 30 degrees. Thankfully the driver was unhurt but he was particularly sweary and very angry. I've never heard the 'f word' used so many times in one sentence before. Think Begbie from Trainspotting levels of anger and square it and you'd still not be close.
I spent three days on Skye. I fell over, slipped or was blown over eight times. I got a parking ticket despite being the only vehicle parked at The Quiraing after a council worker dropping off fence poles told me to park in any of the roadside bays ( the main car park doesn't allow motorhomes or vans to park in it, ) but neglected to tell me the closest one to the path was allocated for minibuses only, I got a puncture shortly after the ticket on the awful road just by Loch Fada and The Storr because of the potholes and I had to change the wheel in 40mph winds and driving rain after knocking on the door of a house to see if I could use his phone to ring the recovery company because I had no reception, unless he had a scaffold bar handy for additional leverage because the wheel brace wasn't for budging the wheel nuts. Amazingly he did. I saw a wagon tip over, spent countless hours huddled behind boulders and had to dive on concrete in the car park at Elgol to save the camera after the tripod blew over. Oh and a waterfall flowing in the wrong direction.
I absolutely loved it though, but would quite like my next trip to not have so many incidents.
Fairy Pools.
Again the visit here wasn't without incident. Upon arrival I found both car parks were closed. The top one for an unknown reason and the main one closest to the path up for resurfacing work. They are currently resurfacing the path too with diggers and JCB's dotted along it's length with wagons going back and forth dropping off materials, more about this later.
I got out and walked over to a stern looking man in a hi-vis jacket. He spoke with a broad Geordie accent and informed me the car park was closed and that the path up whilst open (it's a public footpath,) was treacherous and I'd be knee deep in mud if I attempted it.
After having a little chat where we spoke about Newcastle United's resurgence and mentioning how tough the weather had been for photography his demeanour softened and he told me to swing the van in next to his car by the welfare container being used for the workers but they couldn't be responsible for any damage. 'Can't charge you mate, there's no facilities open.'
I thanked him and put my wellies on in preparation for the knee deep mud. It wasn't as bad as he claimed with only a small section that was muddy but easy enough to negotiate.
The wind was just as strong as it had been in previous days and with the pools being in a valley it was funneled up like a venturi and was even stronger than lower down. Thankfully it was blowing from directly behind me so I knew I wouldn't have any issues with spray which by this point was becoming my nemesis. I only saw two other people in the couple of hours I spent here which for The Fairy Pools is probably unheard of.
After trying various compositions, as and when the wind would allow and happy that I'd have a few shots I could work with I returned to the car park and had another little chat over a cup of tea I made for us both in the van. More football talk and the relative merits of foreign owners etc. I thanked him again for his kindness and as I didn't have to pay the £8 for the car park I gave him a fiver and told him to buy himself a beer.
On the drive back I had to pull over in the passing places a number of times to let a wagon through and the fourth wagon I saw flashed me to go first. Except he pulled over on a small strip of uneven concrete that wasn't anywhere near as wide as the passing places. It seemed to happen in slow motion. The strip of surface began to crumble under the the weight and slowly the wagon started to tip over until it finally came to rest at about 30 degrees. Thankfully the driver was unhurt but he was particularly sweary and very angry. I've never heard the 'f word' used so many times in one sentence before. Think Begbie from Trainspotting levels of anger and square it and you'd still not be close.
I spent three days on Skye. I fell over, slipped or was blown over eight times. I got a parking ticket despite being the only vehicle parked at The Quiraing after a council worker dropping off fence poles told me to park in any of the roadside bays ( the main car park doesn't allow motorhomes or vans to park in it, ) but neglected to tell me the closest one to the path was allocated for minibuses only, I got a puncture shortly after the ticket on the awful road just by Loch Fada and The Storr because of the potholes and I had to change the wheel in 40mph winds and driving rain after knocking on the door of a house to see if I could use his phone to ring the recovery company because I had no reception, unless he had a scaffold bar handy for additional leverage because the wheel brace wasn't for budging the wheel nuts. Amazingly he did. I saw a wagon tip over, spent countless hours huddled behind boulders and had to dive on concrete in the car park at Elgol to save the camera after the tripod blew over. Oh and a waterfall flowing in the wrong direction.
I absolutely loved it though, but would quite like my next trip to not have so many incidents.