We decided to be a little different today and get away from touristy spots on the island. Since it was supposed to be the hottest day in the history of the UK, it made sense to seek a little elevation.

We headed down yet another one lane rural track to get to our trailhead. This one was filled with massive potholes in the asphalt (which I successfully avoided until the trip home – sorry Hertz!) but had more “Passing Spots” to make it possible to duck out of the lane if someone was coming.

The plan was to hike Eas Mor to the waterfall and then loop back down. Then on our way out, stop at the famous Fairy Pools which are supposed to be a beautiful spot after a mile or so hike.

Getting down to the trailhead was easy and we parked right outside a campground on a beach. The campground was full of people, the beach not so much. It was warm, but only low 70s, so the North Atlantic likely wasn’t super appealing.

We knew the hike was going to be an aggressive climb, but we didn’t know exactly what to expect or when as we weren’t able to get GPS tracks for this one and I was working off an older Scottish topo map. It looked like it would gradual for the 2.5 miles in and then more gradual for the 2.5 out. Nope.

Apparently working in topo lines in 20m increments there is a lot of liberty in averaging slopes. What we got was 2.5 miles of steady gain, with periodic steep sections. Not much of a break. We kept saying, as we were looking up, it must level out “right up there.” Hence the title for today.

We made it up and scrambled up a scree slope to a large rounded rock at the waterfall where we had a snack, goofed around taking pictures, and laid down to enjoy the sun. The alpine air coming down out of the Cuillins – the highest mountains in Scotland – was refreshing and kept the bugs at bay.

The trip down was good, and circled a small loch which unfortunately put us in an area of no wind and a massive cloud of biting flies. Needless to say we sped up and finally outran them, but it was a little iffy for a minute.

We ran into another waterfall on the way down which actually carried the public drinking water for the small community along the coast. After a short walk back along the roadway to the car, we were headed back.

It’s worth mentioning that as we were leaving the top of the hike, we got hit with a couple rain drops. They were huge. Felt like golf balls. There were a few more as we went, and on the downhill we noticed that the trail we were walking likely doubled as one of the major runoff routes for the mountain. So we didn’t delay. Within minutes of getting in the car, the rain really started.

Coming to the Fairy Pools we saw hundreds of people, fighting for parking and trudging out to the viewpoints. We kept going. Didn’t seem worth it.

After dinner, sitting at the house, we looked out the window and saw a rainbow with both sides. It felt really special and was the right way to cap the end of a great day.