More Kyles

Scenes from a soggy hike
[Kyle]It poured all night, topping us up with much needed water but also completely dampening our enthusiasm to go out. Footprint was pounding through 2 foot chop on her mooring and the wind was moaning through the rigging. Rain pelted the cabin top in waves. I got up and found little puddles all over the floor from condensation that ran down the walls at night. The windows were opaque with little droplets even though we had left the cockpit door wide open all night and slept under two blankets in order to encourage a little airflow. There was just nowhere in the air for the moisture to go as it was already saturated. Making coffee and firing up the Espar heater had it dry and comfortable in no time but anything outside had little appeal.

We made plans to just stay on the boat all day reading and doing little repairs. A couple of hours into that, however, the rain tapered off to a drizzle and then a light mist. The clouds lifted somewhat so that it was possible to see the tops of the hills. We decided to take advantage of the reprieve and row ashore for some groceries and a little walk. We also really needed a load of laundry done. The hotel had said the night before that they would do it for us for £5, so we took that, too.

We dropped of the laundry at the hotel and headed along the shore road towards Tignhabruiach {Maryanne - pronounced Tigh-na-bru-ach}. On the other side of the village, the main road split off and the shore road became a single lane dirt track. The dirt track eventually became little more than a footpath as we got further up the kyle, past the islands and into Lock Riddon. Every time we came around a bend in the path or a break in the trees, we had one breathtaking view after another. We held hands and talked about how neither of us can still believe that we get to do stuff like this all the time now. Everywhere we go seems even more painfully pretty than the last.

We walked for about three hours. Since we wanted to get back to the grocery before they closed, we decided to take a look around just one more bend and then head back. We decided to make a loop of it and use a different trail for the return. Our next trail took us steeply up into the forest through the moss and fern undergrowth along a brook babbling with peaty, tea colored water. We came to a junction and transitioned from a climb to a traverse of the slope about halfway up to the ridgeline. It started to rain lightly, which I think enhances a green place like this. The sounds of the droplets dripping from leaf to leaf and then running downhill in little streams makes the place sound as lush as it is. As we walked, the wet ground kissed the soles of our shoes with big, wet, smack, smack, smack noises. We came to another junction and resumed our steep uphill climb, this time along a fast moving river that was really just one torrent of a waterfall after another. Further up the trail, we ascended into the base of the cloud and everything became close and misty. We arrived at the top of the trail and joined the paved road that runs along the ridgeline for a while before descending back into Tignhabruaich. The rain increased from a tolerable dribble into a real rain with drops so big that when they hit the pavement, they splatter back up and add to the soaking from below. There were supposed to be good views of the kyles from up here, but with the rain and all, we couldn’t see anything. We found the next trailhead toward the shore and joined it. It only took us a few dozen steps to realize this trail was a bad idea. The rain had turned half the trail into a little river. The rest was all wet grass and mud and it was steep. I could picture one or both of us careening down the hill on our back like some kind of mad water park ride, unable to slow down or stop. We retreated back to the road. The walk back into town was really more of a march. We were both completely soaked through, our clothes sticking to as we squish, squish, squished our way back feeling cold and achy.

We got to the store just before they closed. By the time we were finished, we had each dripped a couple of gallons onto their floor. We stuffed the pack full (I carried it. I’m not a monster) and headed back to the pub for a hot appetizer and our nice warm laundry. Ooh, couldn’t wait to get into that warm laundry.

[Maryanne]We regularly discover new followers of our blog, often people we have no (or a very tenuous) connection with... For new followers, Russ and Joanie, welcome to the world of Footprint and we especially wish you a speedy recovery.