Isle of Skye

While driving from Ullapool to the Isle of Skye we stopped at the Black Water Falls and Silver Bridge. Very pretty. We met a mother & daughter from Oklahoma (mom) and Dallas (daughter) and had a pleasant conversation with them. The mom told me that she wanted to travel and her husband didn't so she called all her children to see if one of them would go with her. The fly back home on the 8th after spending 2 weeks in Scotland. The falls, though not as high as falls we've previously seen are nevertheless very nice.

Our next stop was to see Eileen Donan Castle. This Castle has been around since the 13th century; however, in 1719 there were Spaniards occupying the Castle who supported the Jacobites, so the Castle was bombarded out of existence. One of the ships the King sent to bomb the Castle was named Enterprise and after the shelling its Captain (sadly not named James T Kirk or Jean-Luc Picard, but rather Captain Herdman), came ashore for the surrender of those remaining. In the early 20th century (around the time of WWI) the island was bought by a man whose goal it was to rebuild the castle. It was completed in 1932.

Eileen Dolan Castle was restored by the MacRae clan.

A good view of the castle from the bridge.

A view from the back of the castle overlooking the Loch.

Our next stop was to hike to the Old Man of Storr. We got to the top of the lookout and decided to not do the entire loop, so we went back down the way we came up. Still, it was a pretty good hike with about 12,000 steps.

It was quite windy and cool on the way to the Old Man of Storr Viewpoint.

Lots of stone steps up to the viewpoint. Just when we thought we were done, we turned a corner and more steps appeared. 

We made it to the viewpoint! All those cardio workouts payed off

A view of the Old Man of Storr from the viewpoint.

We were unable to see Kilt Rock and Mealt Falls. The car park is closed and they are using it for construction equipment. We went to a nearby dinosaur museum instead. It was very small and consisted mostly of a few dinosaur tracks and a few fossils that have been found on the Isle of Skye. The woman running the museum said that Mealt Falls was only a drip instead of an actual waterfall this time of year and said that we weren't missing anything. She said if we really wanted to see the falls then we needed to return in the winter. Well, THAT won't be happening!

Then we decided to drive to Rha Waterfall. That was an adventure down a very badly maintained single track road. When we arrived we found that there was no parking so we couldn't stop (it would block the only lane of traffic). Oh, well, on to the next stop, Uig Pottery, in the town of Uig. I bought a cute garlic pot that has a puffin on it. We also at lunch in Uig. Then it was on to our next stop, the Fairy Pools.

We hiked to the Fairy Pools...in the middle of nowhere on this island. Since it hasn't rained in 3 weeks I'm sure the pools were nowhere as cool as they normally are; however, they were still fantastic to see. Jeff climbed out onto some of the rocks to get some shots with our good camera and I warned him to not drop the camera. There were some humans in the pools, but mostly it was dogs and the family of ducks braving that cold water...and I'm not sure the ducklings cared for it much.

On the path to the Pools. This was near the beginning of the path with the Pools being WAY in the distance.

Jeff risking his life and the safety of the camera to get some shots of a lower Fairy Pool. The Pool behind him reflected the sunny skies above and look very much like a fairy might use it to cool off.

One of the upper pools with the duck family (with the ducklings on mom's back) huddling in a corner.

The ducklings would take turns getting off mom's back to swim for a bit before climbing back up. They were entertaining to watch.

On this fabulous day on the Isle of Skye we went to the Neist Point Lighthouse. It was quiet the trek from the car park but well worth it for the views.

Our next stop was to Dunvegan Castle. Portions of this Castle date back to the 12th century and some portions were added or renovated in the 1800s. It is still owned by the Clan MacLeod and, though the clan Chief no longer resides in the castle it is still used for official clan gatherings. They even have sign up if you can trace your lineage back to the clan. Unfortunately, inside photography was prohibited.

Our next stop was to see the Rha Waterfall that we couldn't atop at yesterday. Turns out there was a car park near the Uig police station and a path near the station. This is a lovely, quiet place to commune with nature.

A calm, peaceful place to listen to nature.

And at the end of the day at our hotel we were being serenaded by a young man with bagpipes. Standing across the street from our hotel room. Bagpipes