Skye: Duntulm Castle

This place was so cool! It's just a ruin, not really preserved in any way, and it sits right at the edge of a cliff. In this country, something like this would be cordoned off, with big fences and "no entry" signs so that no stupid person would hurt themselves, then sue the land owner for huge damages. Everywhere we went in Scotland, we were allowed to clamber around wherever we wished, and if we had been stupid enough to fall off a precipice, it was our own bad luck. Pam, Lauren and I, being intrepid and brave women of the world, thumbed our noses at danger! We scoffed at the warning sign and ventured forth! ...except that I wasn't allowed too close to the really dangerous bits, seeing as I have a tendency towards accident.....

So Duntulm Castle is really old...first built in the 14th century and added on to for years until it was finally abandoned in the 1730s. The story goes that in the 1730's the infant heir to the chieftain fell (or was tossed??) from the window of the tower and was killed on the rocks below. The nursemaid who had charge of him was then set adrift in a boat to die. Another person told us, though, that the nursemaid was actually tossed over the tower wall at high tide to be dashed to bits by the sea. Either way...pretty brutal! We decided that maybe this was the "Baby Drop" window. Or maybe this one??

Another, much earlier, story told that in the late 1400's the current chieftain was convinced that his son was trying to seize power from him, so he walled his son into a chamber in the dungeon, with only a barrel of salted beef to keep him going, until the son died of thirst and/or madness. Such a warm and nurturing period in history, no? This was a cellar...maybe the dude is stilled walled in here somewhere. Oooooooooooooooooooooo....spooky!!

This is a view of Tulm Island, I think...

And obligatory thistle picture. I have a large number of photos of rocks, thistles and feet...more about the feet later, though.

First Skye Adventure

After we left Torridon we headed on to the Isle of Skye. That night, we stayed in Portree and had what could quite possibly be the worst meal any of us had ever had. Just...ewwww! Portree is pretty, a harbor town with a nice dock area, but it didn't twang any heartstrings with any of us. And it was in Portree where we encountered the only unpleasant Scots we met over the whole trip. Granted, 3 drunk guys in the doorway of a pub shouldn't be the basis on which to judge a whole town, but these guys were exceedingly rude. After our long and gorgeous hike in Torridon, though, we were just as happy to hunker down and sleep, rather than explore the nightlife. All in all, if you go to Skye, I'd say skip Portree...but don't skip any of the rest of it. It's absolutely lovely!

So, we slept, ate another full Scottish breakfast...they were still a novelty at that point...and headed off to explore Skye.

Not too far out of Portree, we came across this nice lady selling hats by the side of the road. Between Lauren and myself, we pretty much cleaned out her stock! She was lovely, and the hats are great...made on the Isle of Raasay by Hat Lady's sister and mailed over to Skye to sell to the tourists. :) I bought several, but still haven't decided what to do with them. And, even with the exchange rate, the price was good.

A bit further down the road, we came across this man. He was just sitting there, at a pull-out, reading his paper on the edge of a cliff. He didn't acknowledge anybody, just kept reading his paper.

This was his view:

Further down the road, we came to this place. Having tried to learn a little Gaelic before we left--with limited success, but honest effort--I did actually know how to pronounce it! :)

I know I keep saying this, but it was just incredibly beautiful! We didn't specifically intend to hike this particular trail, but just came upon it and it looked interesting! It was more difficult than it looks, but the view from the top was worth it.

Doing this blog makes me miss Scotland terribly! I think I'm meant to live there one day. :)

Beinn Eighe (pronoonced Ben Ay)

So, we're at day 3 now. This was after our night in Sheildaig and our discovery of a great pub with a fantastic live band, and our introduction to our new Scots friends who thought we should know more about single malt whisky. We had a bit of a tasting, with the cumulative effect being that we had a great time that night and were feeling a wee bit rocky the next morning. Not rocky enough, though, to skip our breakfast...a "full scottish" minus the black sausage...which revilatized us. We headed off to do our first real hike of the trip....Beinn Eighe Reserve. I don't know the name of the mountain we climbed, but here it is...the proverbial misty mount!

After about 10 minutes walking up, this was the view behind us. Please note the copse of trees on the left and you may be able to see our car, a speck in the bottom middle. It'll give you perspective on how far up we eventually get!This was the view to the west as we climbed:

Pam & Lauren are both in much better shape than I, so most of my hikes took on this perspective...scenery and backsides! Pam's just checking on me, but Lauren's heading for the hills!! :)

There was water everywhere! It was our only rainy day of the whole trip, and while it never rained very hard, it was steady at times and the higher we got the windier and wetter it got. And lots colder. But we had heeded the advice to wear lots of layers and have good waterproofs so it wasn't at all bad. In fact, it was pretty great...I loved the wind and rain, it was wild and beautiful. The rain would come hard for a bit, then the clouds would open up for a short time, then rain again. I loved it.

Up a bit higher and looking backwards...see that copse of trees? That's how far up we've come so far. And another view, off to the east this time.

Almost at the end of our walk...after this point, the slopes turned quite shaley and slippery and with the wind and rain we didn't think it was wise to continue upwards too much farther.

We saw 2 red deer grazing nearby! It was quite a treat!

This is the view from the highest point I got to. Gorgeous!

And back at the car, looking up at where we'd been. It was a fabulous first hike...an almost perfect day.

Scotland: Torridon & Sheildaig

After seeing Culloden we set off for Torridon...the first step, really, into the Highlands. Wow. The woman at the visitor center at Culloden had warned us that driving to Torridon would be dangerous because we'd be whipping our heads around so much to see the scenery we might drive off the road. :) Boy, was she right!! I can't even begin to describe how beautiful and wild it was.

As we left Inverness, the road quickly became a small 2-lane road, then as we came into a the town of Kinlochewe the road became a single-track. And for the next 12 days we rarely set tires on anything else. Anyway...

This was my view from the back seat as we got closer to Torridon. I was always in the back since Pam did all the driving and Lauren was the navigator. I was in charge of snacks! :)

First views of the Wester Ross region

Loch Torridon

We couldn't find any lodging in Torridon so we continued on down the road

To a small village called Sheildaig. There we found a lovely B & B and a great pub.

This was the view from the pub as we ate dinner. It was 9:30 at night and only beginning to get dark.

At the pub we met up with a couple who, upon hearing of our proposed route, encouraged us to make changes. We changed our entire itinerary on the spot! We had planned to go to Torridon, on to Skye, over to Harris & Lewis, to Ullapool, up to Durness & Tongue and then head back to Inverness. But after our talk with our new friends, we changed it all up...and every single thing they told us to do turned out to be fantastic. So, instead of our original route, we went to Skye, then back to the mainland and headed up the west side of Loch Ness (no monster sighting) to Drumnadrochit, over to the east coast through Sutherland and Caithness to Thurso. From Thurso (Scrabster, really) we got a ferry to the Orkney Islands for a few days, then back to the mainland and on to Lochinver (through the Coigach/Assynt region--wild!!) and on to Ullapool.

We were busy! :)

Culloden Moor

After landing in Inverness and recovering from a truly horrendous journey....beer and food are marvelous pick-me-ups--our first stop was Culloden Moor. They have a really great new visitor center which gives the history of the battle with some very well-done and moving displays, but the real experience is walking out on the moor. Not to be all melodramatic, but it is haunting. And so beautiful. I won't bore everyone with the history of the battle, but it's heartbreaking. Obligatory thistles. I took a fair number of thistle shots...I won't share all of them, though! Never fear...
The moor, looking from where the Jacobites were standing towards where the english were.
Now, there's a fancy-pants (and very well done) visitor center, but before that happened, the landowner put up his own memorial and clan stones. I found those to be more touching that the new ones, really.
Since the English were killing every tartan-wearing Scot they could find, and since so very many Scots died, they were buried in mass graves. Many clans have their own stones, but not all.This placard shows the battle lines. Jacobites in blue, English in red.

And here we have a slug. The slugs were HUGE and everywhere. I put the phone next next to it to show the scale.

New Car?

I have a new car. A lovely wonderful new car. I loved my old car...a 2006 Subaru Outback wagon...it was the best car I ever had; but it was time to trade it in. I searched and researched, trying to find a car that would accommodate the dogs, get decent mileage and was very sure-footed in this rural area with steep twisty dirt roads and icy winters. I looked at Toyota Highlanders and Honda CRVs, Ford Edges and Dodge Journeys. I fell in love with the Saab SUV but the mileage sucked. I reaaaaallllly wanted a Toyota 4Runner, but couldn't justify the mileage on that either. So....here's what I did:

OLD CAR

NEW CAR

Does this make me very practical and loyal, or is it perhaps a little boring, unadventurous and pathetic? The jury's still out....

But I really love(d) my Subaru!!!