What color is the Skye in your world?

Monday 30 June 2014

Today we went to visit the Isle of Skye.  As we left it was misting and foggy.  The fog and mist continued until we were close to the Isle of Skye (about 2 hours away).  Then the mist stopped and we stopped to photograph the Eilean Dolan Castle.  We voted, and the majority voted not to go into the castle, but to continue on to the island.  Here are some photos of the castle.  It looks rather complete and some photos at the visitor center looked like they had mannequins dressed up inside, and that really turned us off.

I had heard so many people say that the Isle of Skye was beautiful, magical, etc.  Well, maybe my expectations were too high.  The geography was interesting.  The outer areas by the ocean were dramatic, the inner areas low and rolling and, I thought, even more interesting in their own way.  I'm glad I saw it, but wouldn't encourage others to go.  By the time we were halfway around our "loop" of the island, the sun had come out!

Some mountains shrouded in mist

Just mist--not a volcano!

Mist rolling down the mountains

The flat areas seem to have such a story to tell--you can imagine
people long ago crossing this area, looking for a place to build
a home and begin a new life.

As in Ireland, the signs in Scotland are bilingual.  The white signs of small roads are the best with the English names in black and the Gaelic names in green.  One of my favorite signs today I was unable to get a photo of; it was a warning sign that said:  "Feral Goats 2 miles"!  :)  Here are a few bilingual signs:

Laid-back day

Sunday 29 June 2014

Today we slept in and did a few things, but not a lot.  We drove around one side of Loch Ness (it is the longest loch--according to Joshua) to a castle--Urquhart Castle.  You start out watching a short film about the history of the castle, then the screen rises up and curtains open to you looking out over the castle itself--very dramatic and kind of corny, but Joshua loved it! Then you go outside to see the castle.  Evidently when they first started unearthing the castle (you could only see the entrance building and the tower in a photo from the 1800s), they didn't take care and just dug out so that artifacts were most likely discarded and they had trouble figuring out clues from where things were.  The castle changed hands many times and was eventually blown up and set fire to by the owners right before they left when they were besieged by the Jacobites (I can't remember if it was before or after Culloden).   They wanted to make sure the enemies couldn't use anything in the castle.  There was a half-hour presentation by a man in chain mail--talking about the history, explaining his clothing, and showing weapons of the time and how they were used.   Very interesting!  Before the presentation, a woman was there with the weapons, she even arranged the four different types of arrows for me to get a better photo!  :)  Then I asked if I could hold the crossbow--just to feel how heavy it was; she said that she wasn't supposed to, but let me hold it anyway.  Wow--it is heavy!  

Joshua with a replica trebuchet

Four different types of arrows.  The top was to cause major damage,
especially to horses, the second would have a burning ember put
in it, then shot in to start fires in the castle before storming it,
the next was skinny to go through chain mail, and the bottom had
the little legs to catch and cause major damage when it is pulled out.

Loch Ness through a castle window

Loch Ness through an archway.

A dovecote with four nesting spaces remaining

Most likely part of the orginal Pict hill fort (~600 CE) this was built on

After the castle, we followed the rest of the Loch then on to Inverness.  We went to the Super Tesco there (similar to a Super Target).  We found a great selection of food at way better prices than our little village store.  Then we followed Loch Ness down the other side of the loch.  The small road was not much wider than a bicycle path, our car barely fit--and that doesn't take into account the cars coming from the other direction!  Luckily, it was a less traveled road so it didn't happen often.

After we returned, we had dinner then the children and I hit the pool.  The water was warm and we played Marco Polo.  We had fun and it was nice having Mommy-children time together, having fun.  I tried the steam room too before returning to our apartment.

Speaking of our apartment, we had a drippy pipe yesterday, enough that we couldn't use our en suite sink, then we got an error light on the washing machine.  We had also noticed that the washing machine wasn't drying, though it is supposed to.  We also had noticed a towel shelf above the tub had been pulled from the wall and was hanging by screws from the wall.  Well, Randy went to the office to let then know.  Not to long afterward, they sent a handyman who showed us how the door of the washing machine needed to be shoved and showed us how the heat and hot water works (we'd had trouble with those as well), checked out the drip and promised to return with a plumber, then said that he would get a joiner to fix the shelf.  I told him that we didn't need the shelf, they could fix it after we left at the end of the week.  They have fixed everything else.  Whew.  Hopefully everything will work for the rest of our time here!  We are thinking of going to the Isle of Skye tomorrow or the next day.

O ye'll tak' the high road, and Ah'll tak' the low road . . .

Saturday 28 June 2014

And Ah'll be in Scotlan' afore ye!  Those words are part of the chorus for "The Bonnie Banks o'Loch Lomond."  We sang these words today on the bank of Loch Lormond!  We began our day, however, by going to a street market in Keswick (pronounced Kezick) where we were staying after we checked out of our hostel.  Many of the small towns have markets on Saturday.  This one was nice in that it seemed to be primarily local people with local products.  The two most interesting were a honey stall selling absolutely every flavor of honey ever devised!  :)  Another must have been a sheep farmer:  he had wool products and a refrigerated display case of lamb meat!  From the sheep stall, I did find a pair of really nice, warm gloves filled with sheep wool to keep my hands warm! (I whine every day all winter long that my hands are cold and I can never find gloves to keep them warm!  I think these will do the trick!).  I almost got a sweater, but he only had the color I liked in a pull-over and I wanted a cardigan.   After that, we began the long drive to Scotland.  Which brings us to Loch Lomond.   We stopped here for a few photos and added an ice cream stop with a bathroom stop as well.  We sang the first verse and chorus to the song on the bank of the loch (hope the video works!).   Weird Americans!

It was drizzling when we were at Loch Lomond

Loch Lomond

Then to Loch Ness.  We stopped a few other times to take photos along the way.  For those who have read the Outlander series (by Diana Gabaldon)--yes, I could totally see Jamie and Claire walking around here toward Lallybroch!  

At Loch Ness, we are staying in a small town called Fort Augustus in an old abbey that has been remodeled as The Highland Club.  We have an apartment for the week.  It includes a club room with snooker table, foosball, and quiet areas; an outdoor large chess set; an indoor pool; outdoor soccer field, tennis court, and playground.  Our apartment has an ensuite master bedroom, a bedroom with two single beds, a dining table with a lofted living room, an eat-in kitchen, dishwasher and washer/dryer!  Photos below:

Common Room (dining below)

Living room above (two of the couches fold out--one of the
children will sleep here

room for two children

main bathroom (you can see the shower in the mirror)

Kitchen

master bedroom

en suite bathroom

Our wing--the old school the abbey started

games fields

Hallway of the cloister

courtyard of the cloister

"the moat house" aka reception

the drive coming in

the "club room"

giant chess board in the courtyard

We bought food at the tiny grocery store--very expensive, so tomorrow we'll be out part of the day (after sleeping in) and will try to find a larger grocery store with more selection and better prices!  Tomorrow is going to be low-key and we are all looking forward to that!