And what a day – even though we only rode 120 miles! We left our ‘fixer’ Alasdair’s house on the shores of Loch Alsh after a great night socialising with him and Kate over a few beers and a superb chilli.
After a quick stop at Eilean Donan castle for the obligatory tourist photo, we headed straight to Kintail MRT’s base at Morvich where Alasdair showed us round. After saying our farewells, we headed up and over to Glenelg on the most stunning mountain pass to meet three Glenelg MRT members at the fire station they share as a base.
We honestly couldn’t have had a warmer welcome from TL Jake and his team mates Alan and Billy. The members of their team are multi skilled and most have more than one job! Jake very kindly gave us both portions of his locally grown blueberries which we were very grateful for at the campsite that evening.
Alan’s a keen biker and guided us to our next MRT base at Sligachan on Skye, where we met up with Skye MRT’s TL Neil. To get from the mainland to Skye, we were privileged to be offered free passage on the most unique ferry I’ve ever been on! The Glenelg ferry is the oldest crossing onto Skye and the MV Glenachulish is the last manually operated turntable ferry in the world.
The single track road from Kylerhea is stunning and looking back gives the most spectacular views. But once we hit the main road from Kyleakin to Portree, we joined the mayhem that Skye’s popularity brings. This road just feels plain dangerous and the standard of a lot of the driving we witnessed was very poor. It was a stark contrast to the hundreds of miles we’d ridden previously fairly traffic free.
Neil kindly walked us around his team’s base at Sligachan and offered refreshments. The team were just recovering from a long and technical casualty retrieval from up on the Cuillins. It was also likely they would be called out again shortly, so after comparing notes on equipment and vehicles we left Neil working and headed on to Portree.
We treated ourselves to a chippy on the picture postcard harbour front before fuelling up and then enduring the madness of the Trotternish coast road which was thick with camper vans and hired cars. Passing the tourist honey traps of the Old Man of Storr and Kilt Rock, we turned left at the Quiraing and up the mountain pass leading to the port of Uig on the West coast of the peninsula.
Here, we met the delightful Lisa at her pretty Uig Bay campsite which was perfectly situated for the next morning’s crossing to the Isle of Harris. We were blown away by her kindness when after asking what our trip was about, she presented us with a home baked lemon drizzle cake!
Just managed to get our tents pitched before the inevitable wind and rain hit and then passed a very decent night after a fantastic day…
Kintail MRT
The team cover a huge area stretching from Kyle of Lochalsh in the west to Loch Ness in the east and from Achnasheen in the north to Upper Quoich in the south. Local to their base near Shiel Bridge are the well known and technically challenging Forcan Ridge and Five Sisters of Kintail ridge routes where rescues are often complex and extractions long and difficult.
Glenelg MRT
The team was established in 1973 by the local GP, Catherine McInnes, who was once married to Glencoe MRT’s founder Hamish McInnes.
The team’s area of operations include the Glenelg peninsula on the West Coast opposite the Isle of Skye. It juts into Loch Duich, then heads East as far as the South side of the Saddle, taking in Arnisdale and stretching up to Kinlochourn and across to Barrisdale and Knoydart, an area of approximately 550 square kilometres.
Give the parish of Glenelg numbers less than three hundred people, it’s significant that 20 to 30 of them are active and skilled volunteer team members!
Glenelg MRT liaise and work with their neighbouring teams of Kintail, Skye and Torridon and share coverage of Knoydart with Lochaber MRT due to its vast size.
Close to the team’s base at Glenelg village is the unique and probably original ferry boat crossing onto Skye.
Skye MRT
The Isle of Skye is home to the rugged and spectacular Cuillin mountains with its renown and technically difficult ridge. In response to an increasing number of accidents, the first volunteer team was founded in the 1950’s.
In recent years the volume of visitors to the island has dramatically increased and sadly, so has the number of mountain incidents.
Today, there are around forty active volunteer members from many walks of life – common amongst them is their mountaineering expertise and the desire to assist walkers and climbers.
Skye MRT’s main area of operation has traditionally been in the Cuillin mountains of Skye. But there are also incidents in the Trotternish Ridge region and they also assist the police and coastguard in searches and rescues in other parts of the island. They also cooperate with other mountain rescue teams on the Scottish mainland when required.