Dreich - Scottish word, meaning miserable cold gloomy weather.

The title of this blog pretty much sums up the weather for last few days, on a trip with my gorgeous wife Heidi to photograph Sea Otters on the magnificent Isle of Skye, and the word ‘Dreich’ was mentioned quite a few times during the trip.

The trip started after work on Monday where we wanted to break the back of the journey and save 4 hours, and once clear of Manchester we made good time up to Glasgow for a comfy night in a relatively cheap hotel. This then allowed us a much more relaxed day on Tuesday for a leisurely drive to Fort William. The drive over Rannoch Moor was interesting to say the least, with driving snow threatening a road closure, but luckily a fleet of gritters ensured the roads were kept open. One of the normal highlights of this route is the breathtaking views of the mountains as you approach Glen Coe, however poor visibility prevented any of these usual views today, and this lack of views was pretty much the theme of the trip.

At Fort William our planned walk at the end of Glen Nevis was cancelled due to driving rain and flooding; I distinctly remember 2 words from the local weather report being “Heavy and Persistent”, and sadly the weather man wasn’t wrong. However not to be deterred we drove round to Neptune’s Staircase for a short walk on the beach to grab a photo of an old ship wreck. Fort William then kept us entertained until the following morning staying at the reasonably priced Imperial Hotel. We spent the evening painting, but apparently I’m not allowed to discuss Heidi’s cow painting that looked human, which we nicknamed ‘The Cuman’.

Wednesday we continued North to Skye and drove down the Strathaird peninsular to enjoy the lack of views of what should have been the Cuillin Mountains from the little fishing village of Elgol, and our planned stop at the Blue Shed Cafe to check on wildlife sightings on the island never happened because it was closed. High storm waves and slippery wet rocks with high winds also stopped us from visiting the ethereal Spar Cave. Not a problem I thought, as there was plenty to look at to the North of the Island, so we headed North to enjoy the view of the thick bank of clouds that had replaced the Old Man of Storr. So, not to be beaten by the Dreich weather, we pushed a bit further North to the viewpoint at Kilt Rock and finally our first view of a recognised Isle of Syke landmark, but with driving rain and a cold cutting wind we didn’t hang around too long. Eventually we admitted defeat and returned to our accommodation at Portree and a first class meal at one of the many excellent restaurants in the town.

Thursday I left Heidi to enjoy the pleasures of Portree and I headed out on my own to a possible Sea Otter viewing spot. Once I had secured permission from the land owner I made my way down to the coast line and within seconds I caught sight of some movement on the beach, Crouching down I managed to get the camera up just quick enough to grab a few out of focus shots of a big male otter, but it had also spotted me and it was off, and out of sight. I continued down the beach where I found a large mound of Otter spraint and some fresh crab claws nearby. After donning my Ghillie Suit, I was just settling down behind a rock to monitor the scene when I noticed some movement out of the corner of my eye and there not 20 feet away was another otter, this one hadn’t seen me and I daren’t move, but as it went past I just about managed to grab a photo as it disappeared from sight. I settled down for a few hours in the cold driving rain, and other than a couple of Oyster catchers and a Curlew there was no more sightings of any Sea Otters. Eventually the cold got the better of me and I retired back to the car for a 20 minute drive back to a nice warm room. An excellent meal in Portree and a nice bottle of red wine then helped warm the cockles. Just to rub some salt into the wound my phone kept beeping with alerts from my Aurora watch app, indicating that the Northern lights may be visible from a dark sky area, but with nothing but thick clouds covering all of Scotland there was no chance of any Northern lights on this trip.

Friday was an uneventful long 9 hour drive back home in the driving rain, only stopping briefly at Fort William to fill the car up, and getting stuck behind a slow moving wide load for about 60 miles. That my friends is about it.

So were a couple of blurred images of a Sea Otter, and 4 days of Dreich weather worth the 900 mile round trip?

The answer surprisingly is a resounding yes, not only did I confirm a quality location for some future wildlife photography trips, get permission for said location, obtained some prices for group accommodation for future trips, get a few decent images of some other wildlife, eat some stunning food, paint some below average pictures, but we also managed to spend some quality time away from normality which has certainly brought us closer together. Skye we’ll be back soon, as apparently you have some great views.