Ladies and gentlemen, what lengths would you go to avoid teaching year nine mathematics? Is Southampton to the Isle of Skye somewhat extreme? Well that's what Greg did, and he and Sue now run a Bed and Breakfast establishment in Staffin on the Isle of Skye.
It's been five years since Greg decided that mathematics wasn't for him, and so it was high time we paid him a visit. Skye and Southampton don't have a great deal in common, apart from they both begin with S - for example Southampton has an area of 52 square kilometres and 242,000 people live there; Skye has an area of 1,656 square kilometres and just over 10,000 people live there. That's about a third of St.Mary's stadium.
Greg warned us that the traffic got 'bonkers' on a Sunday - well here it is.
Greg warned us that the traffic got 'bonkers' on a Sunday - well here it is.
Skye is brilliant for walkers and climbers, but not so great for shopping. However, there is a town on Skye - called Portree (pop. 2500) - that has an excellent shop called the Skye Batik shop, and here I managed to buy a lovely hat.
Because people do so much walking and climbing they tend to get very hungry and so people eat in the early evening. This restaurant opened at six o clock and was full by five past
Skye has two pubs, and of course we went in both - venison burgers in one, fish and chips in the other.
You may be wondering if Skye was quite the right place for me if all I wanted to do was go shopping and eat in restaurants; but of course that wasn't all I wanted to do. Each morning Greg gave us an itinerary of places to visit, and if we were feeling very energetic we managed to get to about half of them. There are so many beautiful views on Skye and here are a few of them
The weather played an integral role in our whole Skye experience. Bearing in mind that we went in June, I never once felt the desire to take my coat off. There was plenty of sun, but also loads and loads of wind - enough to nearly knock me off my feet. There was also a little bit of torrential rain.
I loved the dinosaur footprint on Staffin beach
However, the absolute and total highlight of the visit was a boat trip from Dunvegan castle to look at seals. In my opinion you cannot have too many pictures of seals - they are completely and utterly cute and adorable. Here are a few from my collection; we were assured that the first one has most unusual markings.
So, that's the story of my hatful of Skye. If you know Greg, or even if you don't, and if you like beautiful scenery, walking and especially seals, then pay him a visit!