Today we embarked on a 3-day tour of the Scottish Highlands and the Isle of Skye. Normally we don't take "tours" as such, but this was a small group (about 10 people) in a van, not one of those massive bus tours. We left Edinburgh on Saturday morning, and headed to Glasgow to pick up one of the tour passengers, so we got our second view of Glasgow, which was not any more impressive than the first.
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| Glasgow--George Square |
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| Glasgow--Another view of George Square |
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After picking up our passenger, we headed towards Loch Lomond, the southern part of which is fairly close to Glasgow. As best I can tell, we took the low road. We stopped at a small village (Arden?) on the shore to get a look at the lake.
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| The village of Arden (I think) |
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| More of the village |
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| Still more of the village |
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| The bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond |
We continued north from there and encountered some classic Scottish scenery, as pictured below.
Eventually we passed through Fort William, and stopped at the
Old Inverlochy Castle. The castle dates from the 13th century, and is a ruin, but a very nice one.
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| Old Inverlochy Castle |
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| Old Inverlochy Castle |
From Fort William, we headed west, towards Skye. Just before Skye, we got a view of
Eilean Donan Castle, which is described as "the most romantic castle in Scotland". We were scheduled to visit the castle on the way back to Edinburgh, so I settled for a couple of long-distance shots.
Eventually, we crossed the bridge to Skye, and arrived in our home for the next two days, the town of Portree. In Portree, we stayed at the Pink Guest House, which was right on the harbor in Skye. As it turns out, one directly enters our room from the street, but fortunately there isn't a lot of street traffic at night.
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| Bridge to Skye |
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| The harbor at Portree. Our B&B is the pink building. |
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| At the Pink House. That door is the entrance to our room. |
Up early Sunday morning for a tour of Skye. Here are a few shots from the tour:
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| Somewhere near the town of Uig |
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| Duntulm Castle, home of the MacDonald clan. |
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| 18th century houses at the Skye Museum of Island Life |
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| "The Kilts" along the northeast coast |
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| Kilt Rock Falls |
We returned to Portree for lunch, where we dined at an authentic Scottish pizzeria.
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| Portree Harbor |
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| Portree Harbor |
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| Cappucino's in Portree--home of authentic Scottish pizza |
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| More of central Portree |
After lunch, we headed to the west side of Skye. The first stop was at Dunvegan Castle, where we encountered our first rain in Scotland. (4 dry days must be some sort of record).
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| Gardens at Dunvegan Castle |
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| Obligatory flower closeup |
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| Dunvegan Castle |
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| Rain in the gardens at Dunvegan Castle |
After the castle, we went to visit the Talisker Distillery, the only one on Skye. By "visit", I mean that we sat in the van and took a picture of it, because it was Sunday and the distillery was closed. Bummer.
In the town where the distillery is, there is a custom of putting out stuffed dummies (kind of like scarecrows). Below is one of the better ones.
We drove back to Portree in the rain, which meant nothing of interest from a photography standpoint. That night, we ate in central Portree, and I ordered roast lamb. I believe they began roasting that piece of lamb in 1958. Haggis is still the best stuff I have had in Scotland, followed by piece of toast I had that morning.
The next morning, we checked out of the Pink House and headed back to Edinburgh. The weather was only slightly better than the previous afternoon, but still appropriately Scottish.
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| A very old bridge on Skye |
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| Another view of the bridge. Those are the other people on the tour. |
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| The town of Dornie, near Eilean Donan Castle |
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| Eilean Donan Castle |
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| Eilean Donan Castle |
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| Eilean Donan Castle |
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| Good advice in English and Scottish Gaelic |
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| Scottish Highland Cattle |
Eventually we arrived at Fort Augustus, which is at the south end of Loch Ness. Apparently Nessie was vacationing at the north end, because we didn't see her. However, Fort Augustus was a very nice town, and the beginning contains part of the Caledonian Canal, which connects Inverness with the west coast. There are several canal locks in the middle of the town.
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| Looking (in the wrong direction) for Nessie |
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| Fort Augustus and the Caledonian Canal |
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| Another view of the canal locks. |
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| Lunch time in Fort Augustus and another hockey puck of a hamburger. I am not 10 feet tall--the building is short (and partially below ground) |
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| MacDonald's restaurant in the town of Pitlochry. I did not have one of their hamburgers. | | |
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Eventually, we made our way back to Edinburgh in time for dinner. This time, we did what we should have done from the beginning--we went to an Indian restaurant.
Next: St. Andrews
