CIV 2018: Saturday to Tuesday (Patreon)

I'm quite proud how this trip to the Isle of Skye is turning out. I did a LOT of planning. It's paid off. All of the locations I planned have been solid. The timing has been awesome. I don't think I have a single complaint.

Here's the story so far.

SATURDAY

Saturday we drove to Skye. There was a great gift shop before Urquhart I remember seeing from 2010 along the banks of Loch Ness. It was just as awesome as I remembered. I bought a bunch of gifts. 

We drove to catch the Skye Ferry in Glenelg and stopped at Eilean Donan Castle. It started raining right as we left. It was also around 3 PM. We were all ready to get back to the cottage. So we skipped the ferry and took the nearby bridge heading straight to Staffin. We stopped at the Staffin Co-op for groceries. It was smaller than I hoped. But we got enough to last us. Then on to the cottage.

The cottage location was better than anticipated. It's very close to the ocean. It's a half mile away from the beach. 

I made my "world famous" pasta dinner. Then I sang a few songs. One of our invaders, Pace, brought his penny whistle. So it turned into a wee Celtic session with songs and tunes.

The location of our cottage so beautiful I went closer to the ocean and captured a lot of video and some photos of the glorious sunset. 

I also recorded myself singing "Raise a Glass in Parting". I wish I had brought out my autoharp. I would've done more. Alas...

Then the midges arrived. They're the U.K. equivalent to mosquitoes. They're small and nasty buggers.

SUNDAY

Sunday was our day to explore Quiraing (still haven't asked how to pronounce that one yet). I woke up early and made custom breakfasts for our group. We left at 10 am for the Quiraing following the GPS on my iPhone. Big mistake.

We got some nice landscape shots nonetheless. Then we skipped the GPS and drove north looking for places to get out. We found a nice one up by Flodigarry. I dropped off Invaders and drove back to the cottage to get my actual map. 

I studied it a bit after I had my own little run around of Flodigarry. Then we headed to a location deeper in the Quiraing. It was a gorgeous view. I got out my autoharp and shot a couple videos of me singing. Then I ate my sandwich lunch under the inspiring mountains.

We drove back and took a short break before driving at 2 PM to Edinbane Inn. There was "Celtic session" listed. It was two musicians, a fiddler and a guitarist/mandolinist who also sang. They sounded fantastic! Two hours of great music and conversation. 

Afterward, we ate dinner there. The lamb was AMAZING!. The mussels were really good.

We drove back to the cottage. I took a short walk in the rain. When I got back, Pace was already playing music. So I joined in. We played a good hour before bed.

MONDAY

Monday was the "tour" day with Skye Travel Heritage Tours. Mairi Ann drove us to the Fairy Pools. 

When I get tour guides, I usually ask for history and legends of the area. I did not with this one. I regret that. While our driver was a delight, there wasn't much in the way of stories... at least that I could hear in the back of the van.

She pointed out some spots on Trotternish and said, "you should see..." 

Mairi Ann was  from the Trotternish area (the peninsula where we are staying). So I assume she probably has more to say about this area. But I really wanted someone to take us to the Fairy Pools and Talisker Distillery.

The Fairy Pools were rough start. The ground heading into it was marshy and wet. There's a stream you have to cross to go see the Pools. A couple of our group had trouble getting down there and didn't go further. 

I almost didn't either. Finally, I crossed the stream and had a great time. It's an easy hike for most of it. I got a lot of great video and pictures again. I even made a fun video for my girls back home.

Afterward, we drove to Talisker Distillery. It was very close. 

I'll be honest. Distilleries are not my favorite. It turned out it would take 2 hours to get a tour. None of use were interested in more than buying whisky. So we did and then headed to Portree for some shopping. 

When we got back to the cottage, many of us hiked down to the Staffin Beach Slipway to look for dinosaur tracks. There are several on the island. We thought we found them. But there's a museum we planned to check out to find out for sure.

Back at the cottage, I sang a brand new song. And then we finished up with another session of tunes and songs.

TUESDAY

Pace rented a bike. So after breakfast, he hit the road. The rest of us visited the Dinosaur Museum to confirm our suspicions about the tracks we found. I think the consensus is that we found the tracks. They were just very eroded. 

We drove next to Kilt Rock. Then we drove to Old Man of Storr and joined the "broken down cars". 

That's the joke we made because every time we drove by this incredible peak there were dozens of cars parked on the side of the street.

The hike was pretty steep. But I climbed up through the third gate. I'll be honest. I just didn't want to do the whole thing. So I got some more video on the way up and then headed back down to join the others who could not make it far. I ate my sandwich and vegged. I was feeling pretty tired.

We drove back to the house for a restroom break. Then we headed north to some single lane roads. At one spot, we turned down a tiny lane and ended up in Kilmaluag Bay. It was beautiful.

Then back to our other one lane road until we came to the remains of Duntulm Castle overlooking the ocean. We hiked around before climbing in the car and heading back to the cottage.

I was wiped. I lay down for a good 40 minute nap. I wasn't alone. When I got up, I walked down the hall and saw more than one person napping. I broke the lot of us. hehe

We headed down to Portree for dinner at The Isles Inn Pub. It was nice pub fair. The haggis starter looked nice and tasted good. The fish and chips were okay.

When we finished, we got groceries and headed back to the cottage. Unsurprisingly, bed time was a bit earlier than usual for everyone