Leaving Skye

Thursday Sept 22

Our second morning on Skye was similar to the first with Kirstie making the same breakfast except this time we had to be fully packed and ready to leave directly after we ate. Another trio of women joined us today, three women from North Carolina.

The day was primarily a travel day as we were heading back to Edinburg with a few stops along the way, the first being Eilean Donan Castle. Eilean Donan is recognized as one of the most iconic images of Scotland all over the world. Situated on an island at the point where three great sea lochs meet, and surrounded by majestic scenery, the castle is now one of the most visited and important attractions in the Scottish Highlands. It was first inhabited around the 6th century. The castle has had at least four different versions as the feudal history of Scotland unfolded through the centuries. This castle had a bit more of an original look than the last one we visited with narrow corridors and staircases and unfurnished rooms which gave it the feel and excitement of playing in a childhood fort.

We were driving along at a good pace at one point when the driver made an abrupt stop. He wheeled off the main road and proudly announced Coo! We all jumped out of the vehicle and paraded up the hill. We were looking at our first Hielan Coos. The Highland Cow is a Scottish breed of rustic cattle. It originated in the Scottish Highlands and the Outer Hebrides islands of Scotland and has long horns and a long shaggy coat. It is a hardy breed, able to withstand the intemperate conditions in the region. The first herd-book dates from 1885; It is reared primarily for beef, and has been exported to several other countries. Paul had been looking for some the entire trip and so when we saw then he wasted no time pulling over. They are very sweet tame animals and walked right up to be photographed and petted.

Besides the excitement of the Coo, the most common animal we have seen is the sheep. Its one of those things in Scotland that the locals probably pay no attention to any more but to us Americans they are always attracting our attention. There are more sheep than people in Scotland, there are close to seven million of these cute little fluffy blankets walking all over the country. We saw them at every turn and I don't think it ever got old. We were able to get plenty of good pics as they seemed to enjoy the attention.

Our next stop was at the infamous Loch Ness. We pulled into a small town built alongside the Loch and had the signature lunch at “Monsters Fish & Chips”. We then boarded a boat for a short exploratory cruise on the Loch hoping to catch a glimpse of the elusive beast lurking in the waters below. Loch Ness is the second-largest Scottish loch by surface area after Loch Lomond at 22 sq miles, but due to its great depth it is the largest by volume in the British Isles. Its deepest point is 755 feet, making it the second deepest loch in Scotland after Loch Morar. It contains more water than all the lakes in England and Wales combined.

At the conclusion of the cruise we had failed to locate the sea creature. Fortunately though, thanks to small stickers carefully placed on a window we all got pictures to show our search had not been in vain.

Our return trip was along a different highway and the countryside was again breathtaking with a mix of mountains, forests, plains and rivers but the forests were particularly captivating. I never knew that Scotland had any forests much less ones with such a diversity of trees and variety of thick foliage.

We made one more stop at the town of Athol and visited the Blair Athol Distillery for a brief whisky tasting. Not being much of a drinker I took a tip from my dear old dad who used to buy rounds of drinks for his fellow servicemen during poker games on payday. Once everyone else was sufficiently drunk he would then miraculously start winning every game until he ended up with everyone’s money. While no money was involved during the whisky tasting, once the others got to the bottom of their glasses I was able, without any objection, to finish off all the cake.

The tour was finally completed as we came to a stop in downtown Edinburgh. Our final night in the city was at the Waldorf Astoria Caledonian, perhaps the most expensive hotels in the city. I was given two free nights at the prestigious hotel as a reward through one of my travel credit cards. The rooms were on an upper floor with excellent views of Edinburg Castle and included a complimentary deluxe breakfast.

For the night we were back to the necessity of trying to locate our own dinner and it was already past time for most restaurants to change to bars. This time we were prepared. The evening on the Isle of Skye while we were waiting outside for dinner chatting with the two ladies from Scotland, they gave us the dinner scoop. Don’t ever eat on the Royal Mile, they said, there are two pedestrian streets full of restaurants where the locals eat. We headed directly to Rose Street and found it exactly as she described. We found a Mediterranean place with an excellent menu that made an excellent last meal in this excellent city. It was quite a nice end to an excellent experience.

Long live the King!