Beinn Eighe (pronoonced Ben Ay)

So, we're at day 3 now. This was after our night in Sheildaig and our discovery of a great pub with a fantastic live band, and our introduction to our new Scots friends who thought we should know more about single malt whisky. We had a bit of a tasting, with the cumulative effect being that we had a great time that night and were feeling a wee bit rocky the next morning. Not rocky enough, though, to skip our breakfast...a "full scottish" minus the black sausage...which revilatized us. We headed off to do our first real hike of the trip....Beinn Eighe Reserve. I don't know the name of the mountain we climbed, but here it is...the proverbial misty mount!

After about 10 minutes walking up, this was the view behind us. Please note the copse of trees on the left and you may be able to see our car, a speck in the bottom middle. It'll give you perspective on how far up we eventually get!This was the view to the west as we climbed:

Pam & Lauren are both in much better shape than I, so most of my hikes took on this perspective...scenery and backsides! Pam's just checking on me, but Lauren's heading for the hills!! :)

There was water everywhere! It was our only rainy day of the whole trip, and while it never rained very hard, it was steady at times and the higher we got the windier and wetter it got. And lots colder. But we had heeded the advice to wear lots of layers and have good waterproofs so it wasn't at all bad. In fact, it was pretty great...I loved the wind and rain, it was wild and beautiful. The rain would come hard for a bit, then the clouds would open up for a short time, then rain again. I loved it.

Up a bit higher and looking backwards...see that copse of trees? That's how far up we've come so far. And another view, off to the east this time.

Almost at the end of our walk...after this point, the slopes turned quite shaley and slippery and with the wind and rain we didn't think it was wise to continue upwards too much farther.

We saw 2 red deer grazing nearby! It was quite a treat!

This is the view from the highest point I got to. Gorgeous!

And back at the car, looking up at where we'd been. It was a fabulous first hike...an almost perfect day.