Skye

Friday

Up at 4 am, to be picked up at 5 and driven to Luton for a 7 AM flight to Glascow Paisley Airport. Then 9 AM at Europcar, pickup a Kia Cee'd (??) and a long drive towards Skye. The Kia was a  diesel, zippy 6-speed manual, similar in size to a Holden Astra, and ran very well, though not handling quite like Bev's BMW. It made the Fiat 500L (our last hire) feel like a dog.

Running north beside Loch Lomond, we stopped for MT at Luss, a recently (1992) restored village of 19th C worker's cottages on the edge of the lake.

On the pier at Luss

View North from Luss

Bluebells above Luss

Then further north,

Bluebells beside the road

  lunch at Fort William, 

A rare photo

Bev walks past an Edinburgh Woollen Mill shop

followed by a short drive east into Ben Nevis National Park, where we drove for several miles along a single-lane of bitumen winding through the woods to start a walk to Glen Nevis. Another successful result of Liz's research.

Ben Nevis in the distance

Note climber in middle distance

On the way to Glen Nevis

Glen Nevis

Liz at base of waterfall

Then many miles further, past Loch Linnhe and Loch Lochie and Lock Garry . . .

Mountains on the way

 . . . . and Loch Cluanie and Loch Duig and Loch Alsh, to the Kyle of Lochalsh, and across the Skye Bridge, 


followed by a desperate search in Kyleakin for some tucker at 7.55 on Friday night. Only one shop open, closing at 8. Packaged sandwiches went down rapidly.

So now we're on Skye, and first up is some fine mountain country

and another hour and a half  gets us to the village of Edinbane and our B&B, Shorefield House.

Our level of tiredness this evening set the tone for the rest of the weekend. We fell into bed each night and slept like fossils. The fine surroundings, inside and outside, also helped.

 Linda: We later learnt from the map at Dunvegan Castle that this village was the very centre of McLure family lands. 
Others: The McLures were a sept of the McLeods, who ruled/owned much of the Isles.

Saturday

Liz had booked tickets for the ferry over to the Isle of Harris, so an early breakfast sped us off to Uig (30 mins) to line up with 160 other vehicles for the 1.5 hour trip. On the way to Uig we had our first taste of single-lane Scottish roads, with frequent Passing Places, small bitumen bulges big enough to hold 2 cars while another passes. 

When the traffic involves 3 cars going each way, interesting dances occur, especially when they meet at speed near blind corners!!! On Sunday morning, on the high plain above Staffin, we participated in a 10-minute shuffle as about 20 campervans and cars jostled for passing room on muddy edges with metre-high drops on both sides.

Anyway, the ferry was quite interesting, huge, very well organised, with 3 decks of cars/lorries/vans/ etc.

Naturally, the immediate aim on reaching Harris is the harvesting of Harris Tweed - and a fine bunch we collected.

Then a loop of South Harris, to experience the differing topology and ecology of the west and east coasts. The west was depopulated in the 1800s on the orders of the reigning laird, so the crofters moved to the east coast and lived in a very hostile rocky enviroment. Looks beautiful, but I wouldn't want to try to run a farm there.

The drive north along the east coast was quite scary. Named the Golden Road by the locals because of its cost, it's a narrow single lane roller coaster, built in places from rock to rock, going up, down and sideways with little spare width and two metre drops on either side.

And here's evidence that people did farm here.

The ridged green area to the right of the house is a "lazy bed". Crofters dug down below the surface of the moss/vegetation to drain the area and heaped the "soil" onto the remaining areas to create beds so that they could grow potatoes and other vegetables.

Before joining the ferry park, a quick 20 km of North Harris to see if it differed from South, and what a change!

The return trip on the ferry showed us a great sunset, 

and that the lights on the Kia are inadequate for country driving. 

There was still light in the sky at 11 as we drove back to fall into bed.

Sunday

First towards Uig again, but turning east to find a region of strange topography, fairy houses perhaps?

Then, in search of dinosaur footprints, we headed west from Uig, over the high plain between the coasts, and found some fine cliffs on the way - and some traffic issues as mentioned above - there's an immensely popular walk which starts at the top of the climb, and parking is provided for 5 or 6 cars, instead of 50.

On with the search. We'd had breakfast at our B&B with a couple who'd been here yesterday, and they had found the treasure after being advised by a local. With my Google Maps and the photos they showed us, we had a pretty good idea of where to look, and quickly found one footprint at Staffin Beach. Another local told us that the others are normally hidden by seaweed.

In the evening, to Corbost and dinner at the Three Chimneys Restaurant.

A relaxing environment for a great meal

The Three Chimneys

Monday
Edinbane Pottery
Dunvegan Castle
Visit cut short by need for driving hours
Lunch at Kyle of Lochalsh
Afternoon coffee at Fort William while Russ slept
Missed the turn south beside Loch Lomond and went 25 km west before realising.
Now under time pressure - plane flies at 7.50
Retrace, then wait for 15 mins at roadwork
Drop car at 7.00. Rush across to terminal, Liz checks bag, all staying together as Liz has the boarding passes on her iPhone.
Rush to the gate, sit for 5 minutes then see the aircrew walking swiftly down the concourse - they're all late too, coming from a plane at a distant gate.
Car picks us up at Stansted and gets us home at 10.30 for 65 pounds.
Showers and bed - Liz back to work early tomorrow.

Tuesday
Spent the day washing and packing
Finished off Russell's second spag bol of the stay.