The plan for today was to drive to Dunvegan, Portree and up to Duntulum Castle. We left Plockton around 9am and headed to Skye. I had to photograph Duirinish – it’s such a cute little town:
Just on the edge of town, we encountered some Highland Cattle, which Daniel loves, so I took lots of photos. I tried to touch one (and managed) but it kicked at me so I didn’t try that again. I was wide awake after that, anyway :-) :
Then there was lots of photo-stops on Skye:
There was a nice bridge and stream near Sligachan. Daniel tried to take the short-cut over the river to get back to the car. Unfortunately, he slipped and got wet! Oops:
Next, we stopped at the Talisker Distillery. We were going to go on the guided tour, but there was a 50 minute wait. We decided not to bother waiting, but went to the shop and bought ourselves some little bottles of 2 sorts of whiskey to have of a night after I’ve done my ‘homework’:
More beautiful scenery:
Next stop was the somewhat disappointing Dunvegan Castle, with its 8 GBP admission. It’s being worked on and is half covered in scaffolding, which isn’t mentioned anywhere. If you’re a MacLeod, it’ll be of interest, if not, it might be one to skip. The monkey puzzle tree and some of the other plants in the garden were interesting though:
We headed now, towards Portree:
Portree itself was quite pretty, but not rave-worthy as it’s been described in the books etc:
We had a coffee and some soup in a cute little cafe (Cafe Arriba) before heading back to Kyle of Lochalsh to look for accommodation, which we found just past there at Balmacara Square in a sweet B&B called Ashgrove. The lady was very nice and we got the twin room for 51 GBP. It’s probably the best room we’ve had since the first night, and though the bathroom was not en-suite, we don’t have to share it with anyone else:
We went to the nearest pub (about 20 minutes walk) and had a beer before returning for some conversation in the guest lounge. The lady we met lives near Balmoral, where the Queen spends her summers, and has spoken to her a few times. I chatted with someone who has chatted with the Queen! And Charles! I’ve come up in the world, obviously!
Time for a whiskey and bed, before it goes to my head.
