Isle of Skye - One More Day

Monday July 8, 2019

What a day! Today was one delightful thing after another. First the weather. It was supposed to rain all day, but we had sun and it was the warmest day yet - about 68 degrees. The weather can make all the difference in your day.

After a lively breakfast with a women and her two kids from Germany, and the entertaining ways and stories of our host, Arlene, we headed out to Dunvegan Castle - just 10 minutes down the road. The first part of the castle was built in the mid 1300s by a MacLeod. It’s been added on to and renovated by a member of the Clan MacLeod ever since. Today, a family of the clan still lives there. Scottish castles are quite different from the ones we’ve seen in England. Due to the harsh weather, they’re built differently. We weren’t able to see much of the castle, but what we did see had plastered and painted/wallpapered walls. Not the rough stone you normally associate with castles. However, you could see the stone in spots - like the dungeon. The gardens were spectacular.

Seals hang out on the rock outcroppings in the lake so we jumped in a boat to check them out. We saw a few of them and would have seen more if the tide had of been all the way out. At a different time of year, we could have also seen killer whales, dolphins, porpoise, and masses of mackerel.

By 1 pm we were in the car and driving up and around the northern most coast of the Isle of Skye. I know I keep mentioning the great scenery. Today was another breath taking day of extreme beauty. Much of the road was single lane. This can prove challenging as they are lots of tourists going in both directions. Dave’s a pro at driving here. The first day is was a little hard, but now - piece of cake!

I got some great photos - which is tricky since there are so few places to stop the car. We dodged sheep on the road - one of which had a very itchy ear and wasn’t going to move until he was satisfied it had had a thorough scratching.

Interestingly, in the last several years many dinosaur footprints and bones have been found here. We stopped at a really old stone building that housed a dinosaur museum. There were pieces of rock with actually dinosaur footprints in them. So neat to be able to see those!

Next stop was Kilt Rock. There’s a great  geological  history there. Something about the area being sub tropical with volcanoes - way back when (when the dinosaurs were around). This wonderful formation, Kilt Rock, is the result of some pretty intense activity. Sheer cliffs dropping to the sea. Again, so beautiful!

If you see tourist flyers for the Isle of Skye, one photo you’ll always see is a row of colorful houses (all joined together) on the edge of a body of water. It’s so pretty. Well, that’s in Portree. We got there about 5 pm. This is the first “town” (except for Glasgow) that we’ve been in since we arrived. Old buildings. Lovely atmosphere. A wonderful setting. First order was to get a picture of those famous colored houses.

It started to rain a bit as we went for supper. I had the best salmon I’ve ever had - which is saying a lot as I usually order salmon when I go out. We were surrounded by three table of Dutch folks. Warms the heart to hear Dutch spoken!

We wandered around the town a bit and stopped in a couple of shops. Getting something for the kids and grandkids is an important tradition for us. So far I have 6 out of the 17 gifts needed. A stop at a grocery store to get some more things to eat for our travels over the next couple of days and then off to our B&B for the night.

We’ve stayed in a different place every night so far. It’s working out really well. We’ve become very comfortable staying in other people’s homes. It’s really like being in a hotel room. We spent a couple of hours trying to book places for the rest of our stay here. We ran into a couple of “issues” and thankfully Amanda was able to get things fixed for us. What a gift texting is!

This great day ended with both of us reading our books with stories that took place in Scotland. We’ll be visiting a castle that’s mentioned in my book. Exciting stuff!


One thing I learned today: A baby seal only stays with its mother for two months and then it’s completely on its own.
One new thing I experienced today: Being in a small grocery store that had so many people in it, you could hardly move.
Most powerful moment of the day: Listening to, and watching, a Scotsman dressed in full “costume” play the bagpipes while standing on a lush green hill overlooking the cliffs and the sea. Wow!
One pleasurable experience: Getting some outstanding pictures. I love taking good pictures!