We began the day with breakfast at Redwood House. ALL that salmon they put on the plate is rather amazing. But that’s Scotland for you.
Then we readied ourselves to drive the north part of Skye, and off we went. I had set up a map and then we connected that to CarPlay. Quite handy!
I took a quick video as we headed out.
We drove first to Portree to get a few snacks since we weren’t sure what we’d find in the way of food on our drive. I’d read about the drive, about having to pay for parking at each of the places we’d visit, about the small number of bathrooms (or should I write “toilets” since that’s what they are called here for the most part), and few or no restaurants. Being as it was Sunday, I wondered if even more might be closed.
After the grocery store we started on our route. I’m getting more comfortable being on the “wrong” side of the car, and Dan is getting better at driving.
Until that huge pothole.
That really scared me! He had pulled over in the passing spot (they have these frequently on the roads here, since the roads are narrow), and at the start of that passing spot there was a hole he didn’t see and I didn’t have time to point out. (I do try to point things out sometimes, since I have his encouragement to do so.) I was just sure there would be damage, but all was well. (We did get out to check on the car.) Whew! But these potholes are one of several reasons we are encouraged to purchase insurance in Scotland!
And then … wonder of wonders! We spotted the “hairy coos”. I hadn’t expected that, since while I’d read they might be on the island I’d also seen a video of some women searching for the cows and they found it difficult to find them. Not so for us!
Next up was this little waterfall. Sweet, but when you’ve seen falls in Yosemite … well ….
One destination we knew we had to get to was The Old Man of Storr. Not that we would do the entire hike, but one never knows. We arrived, found parking (for £6 … parking isn’t exactly cheap here), and prior to starting out some sprinkling started up. We popped into the gift shop and spent a short time there, but decided, finally, to put on rain gear (including rain pants). I’m sure glad we did, although we probably would have been wiser to put everything on before the rain got harder! You can see the weather pretty clearly. Or maybe “rainily”.
Up the trail we went. It was a pretty good climb, and it really felt great to get a bit of a workout.
Photos along the way:
I wasn’t willing to do the final climb. It was just too wet, and I figured we’d done enough. I’m sure going up all the way would have been super, but I know my limits, and I also didn’t want to deal with slippery walks due to all the rain.
We then went back down a different route.
Next up was the spot below, near Lealt Falls. We saw a sign for coffee so figured we’d grab some. But first photos:
We got to the coffee/hot dog truck and they were out of hot dogs, and the coffee grinder had broken. So never mind. On to Kilt Rock.
After a short drive we found a coffee shop that actually had coffee.
Some of the houses have this great stone work:
Next we drove to Duntulm Castle.
It was tremendously windy. I couldn’t shoot flowers very well, so I thought I’d try a video. I have no clue how it will sound so perhaps turn down the volume!
Yes, I tend to like the sheep and sweet lambs.
We have to pull over at times. You can see that below if you can see the video. (Let me know if it works … I keep seeing a notice that it’s set to private but It most certainly is not!)
We drove back to Portree to see the rather well-known colorful buildings. I’m pretty sure the Redwood House (where we are staying) painted the buildings to mimic Portree. We saw some more coos there … well … stuffed ones, anyway.
As we drove for our evening meal it of course had to rain. And the sheep had to stand there looking as if they owned the road.
Our dinner … our very expensive Mother’s Day dinner … was at Monkstadt 1745 and it was delicious. I will share photos, but honestly they look rotten and it was such a fine meal!
So that’s the story of our day with photos and videos.
14,072 steps, 5.64 miles, 55 flights climbed (I’m skeptical of this last bit!)
