There Can Only Be One
This morning started off early. Carrie was so impressed with the view from our room (we actually slept with the shade up, because of the impressiveness of the view), that she gasped at the view and woke me up to take a picture…at 12:30 am, 2 am, 4:45 am, and she did the honors at 6 am. It was a bit odd to sleep in front of a full-length window, but It sure was impressive. The house was so private, our only peeping toms were otters and seabirds. We had an amazing breakfast, and a wonderful chat with our hosts. This was only their second year doing this, as they had retired to Skye and had the home built. It was even designed by an architect that was featured on a BBC home-building show. It really was an amazing experience. Our only regret was that we didn’t stay here longer. Carrie is already planning a return trip to the islands of Scotland, and this will be our base of operations for Skye. After packing up, we stopped off at the nearby castle and gardens Armadale Castle - the home of the MacDonalds (No, we didn’t see Ronald). It was more of a ruin, and due to the stability problems, visitors are no longer allowed in the castle. We did have a nice walk through the gardens, and Carrie found some interesting gifts, though.Shortly, we were back on the road headed to one of my few requests for the trip - Eilean Donan castle. You may know it as the Highlander castle (there can only be one!). If you don’t know the film, its the one where a Scotsman plays a Frenchman, and a Frenchman plays a Scot. It is also known as Scotland’s most beautiful castle. We got some great shots, including the one at the top of this page, and visited the gift shop, along with the entire population of Munich. I did avoid reenacting any of the scenes from the movie, as I am quite sure that would have gotten me booted out.We continued on, driving through an entirely new class of scenery. We saw a lake that reminded me of Shasta at it’s drought-induced lowest. I guess that was an indication of the dryness that Scotland has been experiencing. Our weather today was great - less wind, and only a few sprinkles. It has been cloudy enough that it hasn’t gotten too hot.We stopped at Castle Stalker. There was a cafe/gift shop that had a great view of the castle, as there is only one tour daily. You have to take a boat to reach it. If you view the pictures below, you might recognize a certain “Castle of Aaaaarrrrrrggghhh”(Perhaps he was dictating it!) from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.Next was a stop we had taken 12 years ago when Emma and Cody were much smaller - the Scottish Sea Life Sanctuary. Carrie was so enamored of the seals and otters, that she figured we’d be sure to get good pictures if they were in enclosed spaces. We got there right at Otter feeding time, and we got some good pictures of him eating roach. No, not insect or drug paraphernalia, roach is a species of fish, and it was his favorite. We went from there to the seal-feeding. We then took a walk through the aquarium, and it was time to head on to our B&B.It wasn’t that far, and I encountered my first one-track road since we’ve been on the main Scottish Island. This time, it happened to be a large bridge. We successfully navigated it, and, Bob’s your uncle, we were at our B&B. There happened to be a good restaurant a scant 400 feet away, according to Google, so we just unloaded and went for a walk. There was a cool waterfall under the one-track bridge, so we walked down to it. We still had some time before dinner, so we are back at the B&B processing pics and words, and then we will have a nice short walk to dinner. Time is winding down, but it is nice the weather has returned. It is supposed to be nice the rest of our trip. Tomorrow, we take another ferry ride to the island of Mull, where we are going to stay in a castle for a few nights. We’re excited.
