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<\/a><\/p>\nI saw snails in their shells! I picked one up. Hate to say it, but they\u2019re gross, worse than slugs, I think\u00a0!<\/p>\n
5:20 pm<\/p>\n
What a terrific<\/em> afternoon!!! It\u2019s about 3 miles to the Portree stables from the town centre. About \u00bd mile on my way, a lady offered me a lift\u2014she was the owner of the stable! On the way back, I\u2019d walked about \u00bc mile when two little old ladies and a not so little old man offered me a lift to the outskirts of town. Instead of walking 6 miles, I only walked about one!<\/p>\nWell… I didn\u2019t get my canter through the moors. Instead, I got something more unexpected, more frightening, and more exhilarating than I could ever have imagined: my first real jump. The horse (a headstrong but manageable purebred silvery, Highland garron male named Toby) was supposed<\/em> to pick his way across the stream. However, the horse in front decided to jump (luckily, the rider was very experienced) and mine followed suit before I could stop him.\u00a0Obviously, I wasn\u2019t prepared for the jump, so I was none too graceful but the experienced riders said I handled Toby very well. During the jump I didn\u2019t have time to be frightened. The landing was something else! I did<\/em> manage a fast trot through a heather moor.<\/p>\nSo, another crazy dream almost realised. If I\u2019ve any cash left in two weekends, I\u2019ll go out again. Amazing how your legs stiffen up after only an hour of riding, it\u2019s very much like getting off a boat after a day at sea, your legs get very wobbly! Considering that I\u2019m \u2018trained\u2019 in Western saddle riding, I think I adapted rather well to English. That, combined with a year (at least<\/em>!) out of the saddle, meant I wasn\u2019t totally up to par, but once I got an understanding with Toby about who was boss everything was more or less okay.<\/p>\nI\u2019m not too proud of my dismount, though! I got a foot caught in a stirrup, so I basically slid\/tumbled off. But, I didn\u2019t fall flat on my back or tookus, but rather on my own two feet, so I guess I still have some<\/em> dignity left\u00a0! After, I gave Toby a bruised apple I\u2019ve been lugging since Inverness. He was thrilled. So thrilled, in fact, he slobbered all over me and tried to get inside my pocket himself!<\/p>\nBut, it was wonderful, riding through a heather moor perched on the back of a surefooted hill garron. There were so many sheep and rabbits, too. Road apples aren\u2019t the only droppings to worry about in these parts!<\/p>\n
The most bizarre thing was the weather. This morning, it was freezing<\/em> and raining. It had been going on like this for hours when I stepped out of Dunvegan castle. I stepped into the loo (The Scots unabashedly use \u2018toilet\u2019. Don\u2019t bother asking for the \u2018restroom\u2019 or \u2018bathroom\u2019. They\u2019ll say the \u2018toilet is right over there\u2019!) for two whole minutes, came out, and the sun was shining!!!<\/p>\nSo, I had incredible weather for my trail ride despite unimaginable windspeeds\u00a0! It was perfect: rolling moors, the occasional hill to climb, a few streams\u2014and greenness, as far as the eye can see, an emerald greenness dotted by the woody-brown greenness of the heather held together by a cyan sky streaked with pure white cotton candy clouds. Heaven? No, Scotland. The land I dreamt about exists. I won\u2019t go so far as to claim that I am \u2018home\u2019, but I could live here, and be happy. I have rarely seen a land as beautiful as Skye, a country as diverse in its landscapes as Scotland, and a dream in my waking state. For I have dreamed of this land, never imagining that something so near to perfection could actually exist.<\/p>\n
Neither photographs nor words are sufficient in explaining how I feel about this land. Neither do justice to Alba. Two weeks from today, already, my trip will be over. For once, I am not bitterly disappointed about leaving. Why? 1) I\u2019ll be back soon enough; 2) Scotland is coming home with me, in my heart and in my head. I\u2019ll feel loneliness as I watch her lush greenness disappear from under me as I head west across the wide and mighty Atlantic. But, I won\u2019t be leaving a part of me behind as I have in other places. You see, a part of me has always been here, though I never knew it. I\u2019ve found it, am all the richer for it, and will leave it behind when I leave. I won\u2019t be losing a part of who I was<\/em>, rather a part of who I could be<\/em>.<\/p>\nI\u2019ll have so many stories to tell as I arrive in Montreal, but also so many secrets to keep. Scotia has made it clear that I must keep a part of her hidden in my heart. So, I\u2019ll return with a knowing smile, a lighter heart, say \u2018It was wonderful\u2019 or \u2018C\u2019\u00e9tait merveilleux\u2019 and leave it at that. There are a chosen few who will get to hear details and perhaps two who will get to read most of this journal. But I\u2019ll be the only one to know what really<\/em> happened here in Scotland.<\/p>\n6:40 pm.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t care what anyone says: a man in a kilt is a man in a skirt!<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
12:59 pm Today is expensive! First, a bus ride to Portree (\u00a33…return), then a bus to Dunvegan castle (\u00a35+\u00a34.50 entry fee), then horseback riding (!) (\u00a310). My rides to Portree and Dunvegan have allowed me to see a fair part of the bonnie Isle of Skye. Dunvegan is bonnie, also, but dry. I saw snails […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[636,673,678,18,3,56],"tags":[663,856],"class_list":["post-10264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-europe","category-kyleakin","category-portree","category-scotland","category-travel","category-uk","tag-castlesfortresses","tag-horseback-riding"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10264\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}