SKYE HIGH WITH THE OLD MAN OF STORR
17th September, 2015
Today 29th August I am going to climb to the Old Man of Storr. My mountain guide for the next two days is Jonah Jones who is a very experienced mountaineer (check out-Skye Mountain Fever or jonah@skyemountainguides.com 01748 640518(H) 07748020595) and also part of the Skye Mountain Rescue. Also check out his video-The Cioch on You Tube or Google. We meet at the hotel and set off in his van. I am amazed when we get to our destination how steep the ascent is from the road. But the iconic Storr looks fantastic. He has a friend of his joining us called Greg also a mountaineer and a member of the Skye Mountain Rescue Team. Greg knows the area well and is a keen photographer which is helpful to me as I need as many photographs as possible. We start walking up and I need to take some breaks as I am not used to the gradient. As we approach The Old Man of Storr Jonah points to a pathway to the right saying "see that path with tourists walking , I reply "yes", and he says we are not going that way we are going this way-so we go left which is steeper more challenging and also more mysterious. Some people get to the Old Man of Storr and think that is it!!, but it isn't, it goes higher and there is more to see on upward slopes behind it.. Behind the Old Man it is very Tolkien like - eerie and mysterious like another world. Some of the Harry Potter filming was done here. . Then the weather turns nasty-really nasty, cold, extreme wind and rain and we need shelter in a bothy - it is that bad we have to stop and shelter. But the bothy is insulated and warm and we are sheltered until the wind and rain has eased. But the mist and the rain and the damp serve only to enhance the feeling of mystery in this place which was also used to film Ridley Scotts Prometheus and Jonah my guide was used as an advisor on the film set. He is also a friend of Bear Grylls-how cool is that!!
READ MORE ON THE OLD MAN OF STORR CLIMB IN PART 2
PS: I loved the rain and sheltering in the bothy-I love the Island more each day