Читать книгу The Isle of Skye. Graded walks and scrambles throughout Skye, including the Cuillin онлайн

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PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION

Sgurr nan Gillean (Walk 3.1)

In 1968, youthful and blissfully receptive to a new world of exploration that was only then opening up for me, I first set foot on Skye. An uncomfortable, midgebitten night in the car on the edge of Camas na Sgianadin gazing out to the island of Scalpay did nothing to diminish an enthusiasm to explore this remarkable island that has been sustained through all the following years. This was a vision of the Promised Land, full of hope and endless opportunities, a place of raw elemental forces, a land barely scratched by man.

On that first, exciting visit I travelled northwards through Portree and around Trotternish, round to Uig and out to Dunvegan, all on narrow, serpentine roads the remains of which you can still see beside the carriageways of modern-day Skye, bringing back happy memories every time I travel them. Bracadale, Glen Brittle, the Cuillin, the Elgol peninsula and Sleat, all were crammed into that hurried, mesmeric journey of discovery; it was a journey I have been making ever since, year on year, sometimes many times a year, and still, with the remarkable virtuosity for which Skye is famous among those who have fallen under its spell, I discover new nooks and crannies, odd corners never found before. It seems it will never end.