{part 10}

{parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, & 9}

when deciding which way to walk, it is a good thing to know where you'd like to end up. if you don't know where you'd like to end up, or if you would just like to end up, eventually, where you began, i usually like to turn my feet 90 degrees to the right, and just set off.

so, that's what we did.



we walked for a good half hour and didn't see a single soul. in fact, the whole time we were on the isle of skye {approximately 4 hours}, the only people we saw were service people. bus drivers, ticket handlers, post office workers. it was as if the island and all of its services were all for us.

but like i said, a half hour. a good half hour, at least. maybe fifteen minutes.

we found a gate. a boarded up office. we found our way past the gate {because there's always a way past a gate} and found ourselves in a beautiful forest garden.



the forest garden had trees and plants and bridges over little waterfalls, but most of all it had a certain feeling. and that, i'm afraid, i can't describe to you very well, or show you a picture of. have you seen a movie or read a book about elves or invisible things or fairies or dragons or ogres or magic or adventures of any kind? alice in wonderland, the voyage of the dawn treader, that?



the feeling was like that, only pricklier and shiverier and more dense, because we were in it. and we were the only ones in it. and it was as quiet as a place could get, and there was a little drizzle, and the sky was grey and orange and purple and i thought i saw a dragon. {i probably didn't.}



but i did see a castle. or the ruins of it, anyway. and i looked in the falling-down rooms and through the falling-down windows and imagined people living there and walking around the gardens and having parties and that.














and further in the forest, i saw a boat, and some strange sculptures, which i didn't touch even though there were no signs telling me not to.





soon, the rain was inside our clothes and the weight of our backpacks reminded us that our three hours were probably soon up. so we did what you should do when you need to go back to where it is you came from: we turned our feet 180 degrees to the left, and just set off.

{part 11>>>}