On our first day of exploration of Isle of Skye we travel towards little known and hard to get to Elgol beach.The weather so far is what we would expect – drizzle turning to rain and back again. Before we get to the small village we stop at Cill Chrisod  (Kilchrist) – a ruined, former parish church of Strath, built around the 16th century, replacing an earlier medieval church on the same location, which is believed to have a heritage of Christian worship dating back to the 7th century, when St Mael Ruba preached from nearby Cnoc na-Aifhreann.

Further along along winding narrow Elgol road climbs over ridges to finally descend to a lonely village of Elgol in heartland of the Mackinnons clan. In 1746, the Young Pretender found sanctuary at Elgol in the course of his wanderings under the protection of Captain John Mackinnon of Elgol who was a Jacobite. A tiny school overlooks stony bay with strangely sculpted cliffs.

Next up on the itinerary are waterfalls at Fairy Pools Glen. But before getting there we stop again (we did it in the morning, but it was just raining, so now the weather permits better photography) at Blackhill Waterfall near the main road.

We stop at Sligachan Hotel for some images of stone Cill Chrisod which was built between 1810 and 1818 by engineer Thomas Telford. The bridge was listed as a Category B and scheduled in 1971 and 1974, and while it has been de-scheduled the bridge in 2016 it is still listed as protected. Japanese couple wedding pictures add some quirky atmosphere…

Finally with the afternoon the rain stops and the weather becomes more bearable we reach Fairy Pools Glen – the streams and waterfalls seem to be everywhere (as is the mud) and while most hikers go down into the valley we veer off to some less visited spots for  an amazing seesion with water.

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