Isle of Skye – Scotland

Perhaps you would like to read part 1 first?

Part 2

Waking was peaceful and serene, like a desire to discover the world for the rest of my life. Like a revelation, my trip to Europe was going to create others. That was certain, but how? Aboard what craft? When would it happen?

I did not yet know at that moment.

After leaving the dark painting that Miss Moon Haze had given me the night before, I happened upon a very welcoming host late in the evening, who rented me his last room. By chance, I parked my metal monster not far from the door. Portree was very busy that evening.

The perfect opportunity to eat and take the last table in the village restaurant.

I did not know at that precise moment that the customers there that day would follow me all along my winding road, along the coasts of Skye.

An elderly man in a kilt would appear all along my route, as though I had to find Wally in this green and blue paradise. He would be there in the restaurant, at breakfast, then as if following me to tell me that travel is even more beautiful when it mingles with local folklore.

I imagined all sorts of stories about this gentleman and his travelling companion. The fact is that I did not speak to them, as though wanting to believe my own judgements and thoughts.

This journey inspired me in its smallest details.

I was not going to put on a kilt, though, and continued on my way, comfortably wrapped in my “best” tracksuit.

Dutch chocolate in hand, given to me by my friend Annet, I continued on my way in search of the beauty of this magnificent part of the world.

Magnificent? I had no idea yet. The little I had left in my rear-view mirror, already the most beautiful thing I had seen in my life, intensified at the rhythm of a shiver every 100 metres.

I must admit that the United States had given me some beautiful visual surprises, and Canada too. But until that day, I had imagined the United Kingdom as grey, sad and heavy.

Far be it from me to think that today.

The United Kingdom is filled with colours, joy, beauty and warmth.

I could not tell you more about the secret relationship I had with the elements that day. We were one being. It was powerful, more than love and passion.

From that relationship was born a child I am raising today: travel.

Seeing myself surrounded by beauty, I let myself be taken prisoner. I accepted that I would no longer leave this magical, unreal world. Discovering these landscapes made my heart beat to the rhythm of the shivers already stored up so heavily since the beginning of this journey.

The colours kept leaping into my face, eating my eyes and devouring my soul. This feast upon my person began slowly and spread through my whole body, until it disappeared into an invisible, bewitching pleasure.

I was Scotland’s puppet. I felt the fairies circling me, amusing themselves with my naivety. Believing that drugs had been thrown down my throat, though I had never taken any, I found myself believing in my fantasies. I believed them, but lived them too.

A curious mixture, this drug. I am still not weaned off it.

You too, admit it, you see the fairy in this photo? But what am I saying! The fairies! They will come out of this screen, begin by grabbing your eyes, tying them to the panorama. They will never leave you alone again. Do not click on this image if you do not like travel.

And what of my poor body, three-quarters devoured?

It sways, slips into the puppet’s clothes that this view offers me as an offering. She made me go right, then left, move forwards but never backwards.

I am the passive one in this relationship, the active one in my unconscious, the sadomasochist of travel. Scratching my soul with delicious mirages.

My shadow rose to the height of the mountains surrounding me. I watched the man of the earth, pacing inexplicably back and forth at the water’s edge, as if searching for an exit from this golden prison. He had no expression. His metal monster guided him. He was surely being drugged by the substance that had made me this blissful but, above all, credulous zombie. Perhaps he had lost that magic. Is that the side effect of too many invisible pills the fairies amuse themselves by slipping down my throat?

But I must be dreaming! I say hello, greet him several times… He does not answer. Does he see me? Do I still exist, or am I already in the beyond? This fervour, this Madame Beauty, has she already devoured me entirely?

Relief. When he drew level with me, he stopped and looked at me, at first speechless. He smiled, asking whether I had ever seen such beauty.

He smiled again, went on his way and did not listen to my answer. He already knew it.

I stepped back a little to admire more of this field of wonders the earth offered. That intense blue of a sea you would like to drink, that purity you could feel, could now be touched with the eyes. My levitating feet brushed that changing green, transforming at the slightest glance.

Not a single element was missing to paint paradise for me. Afraid of being there, my fingers surprised me with a painful pinch on my left arm. No, I was not there. Very much alive but euphoric, my path continued to draw itself through time that no longer passed, making you forget the hour, the day and the year.

In that beautiful black, grazing on salty grass, surely delicious, making milk to turn Breton farmers green with envy, the cow before me cared nothing for my hallucinated presence. Even a train would not have distracted her from her purpose.

She too must have succumbed to this gentle landscape. I had never seen cows by the sea, so I stood naively contemplating her. She blended into the landscape, wearing that black so wonderfully.

She knew she was beautiful. Still wondering whether she might be a bull, I tried to be discreet in the persistence of my gaze upon her genitals.

Finding androgyny to be perfect beauty, I could not let myself be fooled by a cow. I had to know for sure.

I saw neither an udder nor testicles from where I stood, so I would later decide that she was an angel. After all! I am in paradise, aren’t I?

We plunge towards the end of an enchanting loop. The coasts of that divine kingdom, the Isle of Skye, will now take me towards other landscapes.

I strongly recommend visiting this part of the world. Nothing can disappoint you or spoil this moment. I will return soon, I know it.

Next time, will I arrive by sea?

I met wonderful people, passed fabulous lakes, visited Loch Ness at night. You can see it all in the slideshow. Enjoy watching.

Leaving you to invent your own story, I will finish with a slideshow that I hope will charm you as much as looking at these snapshots again charms my memories.