The next morning, we woke up and had the most therapeutic showers and delicious breakfast. Our hosts were friendly and told us some good stories about the area, and the eternal war with the midges.
After a while, we left for the Old Man of Storr (who I affectionately called "the old man of the star" for most of the trip) it was a massive hike but the view was unbeatable. We climbed beyond the normal route, and hiked up part used by thru-hikers and ogled at the steep drop off that defined the cliff we were sitting on. Never, not with a million hours of planning, could we have intended to see so many beautiful things and have such a perfect trip. After some time, we traipsed down to see if we could squeeze one more sight in before we caught the ferry and headed home.
Our hosts had told us about the drive through Killraing, a tiny little path barely marked by a road sign. It turned out to be a single lane dirt road swallowed by massive mountains on either side. The road was peppered with small shoulders, little areas to let oncoming traffic pass. Never on that trip was I so nervous than when we had to give way to a tour bus. š³ I still don't understand how it fit on the road in the first place. Eventually we got to an open spot and pulled out our picnic bag to make sandwiches before our ferry. It was hard to watch the trip wind down, and yet, it still wasn't over. We just barely made it onto the ferry and started waving goodbye to the island that had easily become in our memory, a collection of infinite moments. The ferry back was beautiful too, and a nice soundtrack of rolling waves taking us to shore.
We made our way from Mallaig towards Ft. William, which includes the train used for the Hogwart Express in the Harry Potter movies. We jumped out again and waded through the river, same semi-reckless style that we'd used the whole weekend. We walked out to the Jacobite monument and couldn't stop looking at the view. At some point, veronica and matthieu walked up to me with a bargain and before they said it out loud, i agreed. We should ABSOLUTELY make camp out here & finish the drive in the morning. Our flight wasn't until the early evening, and we were less than 3 hours away. We asked chloƩ what she thought, happy to yield our excitement to her needs since none of us had been bitten as badly by the midges. We agreed that if it got bad, we'd head home. We went to the next town to find midge-nets and a grill to enjoy a sunset meal. (The sun doesn't set till like 1030, so there was playing of light left) 
Matthieu adventurously went swimming while we set up the NOT broken tent, and started a fire. We didn't even use the charcoal and instead cooked our burgers on the open flame, which was pretty damn cool. We also learned that wind and smoke keep the midges away, for which we gave MASSIVE thanks. At some point, a man on a bike stopped by the little beach, so we invited him over for some food and drink. He was from France (i think?) and he was touring around as part of his job for the train company. Teach me how to do that! The sky eventually settled into its own darkness & we decided it was time for bed. Matthieu braved the elements next to the fire while the 3 slept soundly in our tiny tent. We could not have planned how perfect it was❤️
The next morning we cooked breakfast and packed up our stuff about 15 minutes before 3 massive buses showed up with tourists. Perfect timing. We started towards Glasgow, warmly celebrating a perfect weekend with just the right mix of people.
We pulled over at a gas station for coffee and sandwiches to fuel up a little before departure. Matthieu said he would take us to the airport, which saved us the bus fare. Before we left officially, we stopped in chloƩs to regroup, shower, and slow down for a moment. The whole trip was beautiful, unexpected, and unfathomable. After Matthieu dropped us off, veronica and I both cried, skeptical of how on earth Ireland could care with the weekend we'd just had in Skye.
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