{part 9}

{parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, & 8}

we arrived in kyle of lochalsh at around 12:30. the town was beautiful and the train station was small. there was one train going towards home and one train going towards where we'd come from.



we chose option c: walk around town and try to find a bus. a risk, as there would be no more trains in or out that day, and we weren't sure about hotels or b&b's being open anywhere near.



but we'd heard of the isle of skye, and we thought we might be close. if there was one "plan" we had, it was to end up there at some point. we found a tourist information office, boarded up and looking dilapidated. it did us no good.

the thing about exploring in the off-season is that everything is pretty well deserted--which is fantastic if you don't like crowds and line-ups and feeling like a tourist. it also adds an element of adventure: you're always asking yourself, "are we stranded? where are we? where do we go? how do we get there? why didn't we bring a map? are we going to live on the streets of kyle of lochalsh for the rest of our lives?" which is why, if you explore in the off-season, you should most definitely go with someone that you like and love, someone that you trust and find good-looking. someone who will not strangle you in an intense moment of "oops, i think we're stuck in the middle of nowhere again."



but, like i always say, thank goodness for garbage men. {i always say that.} we found a helpful one loading a bag onto the back of his truck who told us, "you're in luck, kids." and pointed us in the right direction. there would be one bus in and out of kyle that day, and it was arriving and leaving in a half hour. and it was going across the bridge to the isle of skye.




skye turned out to be a lot closer than we'd originally realized. the bus ride was fifteen minutes, and the bus driver dropped us off in a tiny town called broadford, which consisted of a pub, a cafe, some elderly people, and a post office where we tried to buy a map. i say 'tried' because we got chatting with some locals and completely forgot what we were up to in there. they did, however, give us directions to armadale, where they said we could catch a ferry back to the mainland, warning us that the ferry would probably not be running and then we'd be really stranded. we smiled and said, "ok. thanks." i think the idea of being stranded was getting less and less threatening.

things always seem to work out. you know, sometimes not at first, but in the end i think.

for example, the bus the post office crew in broadford put us on took us to the seashore and dropped us off. we saw no ferry, no town. nothing. we inquired.

"this is the stop," the bus driver huffed. "you should've rang the bell back at armadale. you'll have to walk." and then he shut the doors and drove away.
ok.

the beauty of it was that barclay had just been saying how he'd love to get out and walk a bit, and it really was a beautiful day--probably only a few degrees below zero. and the isle of skye? breathtaking. nobody in their right mind would throw a fit about having to walk around on it for a bit.







so, having a general idea of the direction we should head, but not knowing how far to head in that direction, we started walking.






and it was fantastic, and i thought to myself, "things always seem to work out."
and i prayed a thank-You and smiled at the quiet water.






and before we knew it, almost too soon, we found the ferry. the office was open and the man inside looked surprised to see us.

"yep, it's going across to the mainland today. you're pretty lucky--this is the only crossing its making this week. some weeks we don't even send it out in the wintertime. it leaves in three hours."



so we bought our tickets and went off to spend those three hours exploring the island.

{part 10>>>}