What a difference 8 hours can make. This morning, Jeanine and I arrived early at the trailhead for the Old Man of Storr hike. It was overcast with intermittent rain. Jeanine turned back at the halfway point when it became apparent that the pinnacles would be shrouded in clouds. I continued to the top where I waited for an hour hoping the clouds would lift. They did not and the best image I have is the one below.
Later in the day after driving around the entire Trotternish peninsula, a challenging drive on one-track roads that I will not soon forget, we returned to the Old Man of Storr trailhead. Naturally, the clouds had mostly cleared and the sun was shining. My knees would not tolerate another ascent so I decided to fly my drone up the mountain. Having hiked the trail earlier, I knew just the path to fly to position the drone for the photo I wanted. I an extremely pleased with the image I was able to make. It is possibly the best landscape photograph I have ever taken.
After lunch, Jeanine wanted to visit a nearby wool crafts store. In the quaint little shop, we learned that all the wool for sale was from the sheep on their farm. While Jeanine was shopping, I photographed the father of all the sheep on the property. He looked like a pretty happy dude.
The Fairy Glen was not on my radar but Jeanine learned about it and thought it would make for a nice place to visit. Indeed, it was a whimsical area filled with small conical hillocks created by an ancient landslide. We did not see any fairies, but if they are to be found anywhere, this is the place. Below is a basalt “castle” adjacent to one of the hills. Falling from the top would be sure to result in severe injury but probably not death. For this reason, I was able to climb to the top despite my intense fear of heights which can be more accurately described as my acute fear of falling to my death.