skye part one- Viewfield, Portree, Piping competition

We set out Friday evening fueled by carrot and coriander soup in a giant seafoam green Stanley thermos. A long drive is a good way to become friends with people quickly. So we bonded when all three of us were unable to put air in the tires properly and had to ask for help and over our obvious love of Downton Abbey. I learned that Zaza makes a wicked sandwich. And that pretty much everything Iona says is bitingly funny. The drive from Edinburgh is supposed to take about 5 and a half hours, but we came into a big stretch of deer country and had to slow down for stags and clusters of baby deer for quite some time, so we pulled up to Viewfield at almost 1AM.  We were greeted by Iona's dad, Hugh, and sweet doggie, Harry. 

After a quick night cap, we crashed in our lovely rooms in what was once the old nursery and slept like logs until early the next morning when we woke up to help with and watch the Colonel Jock MacDonald Memorial competition. But before the competition, we woke up to a brisk (maybe more cold than brisk) morning and this view:

Chilly mornings make me move a little slow, but we didn't have time for relaxing. Before we knew it, a swarm of rambunctious bi-lingual kids and their parents flooded Viewfield in kilts and school uniforms. There were harps and pipes (and by the end of the day, crisps and crisp wrappers everywhere.) I genuinely think it's amazing that a festival of this variety exists to foster and encourage children to learn their cultural traditions. Some of them were only 7 or 8 years old. But it was heartwarming to see an adorable nymphy 8 year old with flowing golden locks playing a traditional clarsach (sounds like Classic, which caused me to misspell it about 8 times, and finally, I just kept labeling my recordings as "harp" which Iona mildly corrected me in:) 


There was also Gaelic singing and of course, pipes. Man, you forget how mostly, you're used to hearing pipes from a distance. Up close, those things will blow your ears out. It's amazing. At one point, it was one of my life goals to learn to play the pipes. Sadly, I think  the coordination level required is vastly out of reach for a klutz like me. But I'm pretty much always going to love the sound. The only sound to rival it for personal symbolism is the steel guitar, thanks to my dad. 


I really want to post the recordings I made, but they're being pretty obnoxious. Not only will they not sync from my phone to the computer, but I've still never figured out how to embed an MP3 on blogspot without a lot of headache. Anyone help me out?

Zaza and I took a break from the competition for  bit to take a walk in Portree. I tried to do some shopping at a Saturday market only to realize that I had left my wallet at Viewfield (I so wish I had been able to get the 1930's teacup made in honor of some Dunvegan anniversary-- you'll see why later.) But we also saw a seal, who flirted with us, and of course the beautiful fall views of Portree. This was just the first of many of our walks. Tomorrow, I'll post our Sunset walk in the mountains! 

More photos after the jump...