Thursday 15 July 2010
We woke to pouring rain & the bad news that we couldn't stay another night at the same b&b. However, the manager gave us a couple of places to try & we were able to get a room in Bernisdale, not very far from Portree. The weather hadn't improved by mid morning so we decided to drive slowly around the Trotternish penisula as that seemed to be the most scenic. The first main sight is the “Old man of Storr” - a large stone stack on top of a cliff visible from Portree in good conditions. Well, we didn't have a chance of seeing it as the cloud was down very low – we couldn't see the tops of hills yet alone taller mountains.
We stopped at a scenic look-out that looked over an old rock processing plant – very dramatic cliffs & great views out to sea, but the rain just got heavier & heaver. We stopped again at Kilt Falls – but the rain was so hard by this point that Bill didn't even take his camera out of the car & all the shots I took were ruined by big rain drops on my lens. We were wet & cold & demoralised. We drove to a hotel & ordered tea & coffee and then lunch as we read the newspaper and waited for the rain to ease up. We were there several hours, but our patience was rewarded & when we left the rain had virtually stopped, although it was still very grey.
We stopped at a few other places around the top & then at Uig to inquire about ferries to the Outer Hebrides. We found that all the ferries were booked for days as there was a big music festival going on! We decided that it wouldn't be a good time to visit anyway as accommodation would be tight as well. So we left the ferry office realising we had to change the plans we'd been making.
Our b&b was great & we decided to stay on an extra night & try to book a boat trip in the morning to see a white-tailed sea eagle. Then we'd decide about what we would do next.
Showing posts with label holiday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label holiday. Show all posts
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Glencoe to Skye
Wednesday 14 July 2010
We got a much earlier start to our travels the next morning & fortunately with a decent breakfast. Our plan was to drive up the “Great Glen”, check out Loch Ness & then see where we wanted to stay the night.
Our first stop was at Fort William where we did some picnic lunch shopping and where it started to pour with rain. We went to “Neptune's Stairway” - a series of seven locks in a canal linking all the lochs in the Great Glen to the sea. Despite the rain, we caught a group of six boats making their way through the locks. We watched them go through about four locks – each lock had barely enough room for the six to fit & the water level rose surprisingly fast.
We didn't make many other stops as the weather really was miserable – and we arrived at Loch Ness in time for our lunch break. We called into the carpark for the Castle Urquhart, but decided to have our picnic first to see if it would stop raining. No such luck! The continued downpour on top of a very expensive admission charge was enough to discourage us from going in. We decided that we would continue to Skye for the night & were able to book ourselves into a bed & breakfast relatively easily. We did however go into Drumnadrochit to check out any Nessie signs. (This is a long story – Bill used to play in a band & his nickname was Monster, so we wanted some corny monster photos). We found a couple which we braved in the rain & the laughing made the weather seem not so bad.
We back-tracked to Invermoriston where the rain let up so we were able to get out & take some photos of the lovely old stone bridge & river in the centre of town.
Although the sky remained grey, the rain mostly ceased for the rest of the trip. We stopped again at Eilean Donan – a very picturesque castle on a small peninsula in a loch. Unfortunately the tide was fully out, but it was still very photogenic. We went inside to have a quick look around and then back to the car for the last section of our drive across the bridge to Skye at Kyle of Lochash.
We had booked our accommodation at Portree, which was some distance from the bridge. So despite the lovely light and the stunning scenery, we drove straight to Portree.
We explored this tiny harbour town & found ourselves an Indian restaurant to eat. It had been a very long day and we'd covered a huge distance but we were very excited to be on Skye.
We got a much earlier start to our travels the next morning & fortunately with a decent breakfast. Our plan was to drive up the “Great Glen”, check out Loch Ness & then see where we wanted to stay the night.
Our first stop was at Fort William where we did some picnic lunch shopping and where it started to pour with rain. We went to “Neptune's Stairway” - a series of seven locks in a canal linking all the lochs in the Great Glen to the sea. Despite the rain, we caught a group of six boats making their way through the locks. We watched them go through about four locks – each lock had barely enough room for the six to fit & the water level rose surprisingly fast.
We didn't make many other stops as the weather really was miserable – and we arrived at Loch Ness in time for our lunch break. We called into the carpark for the Castle Urquhart, but decided to have our picnic first to see if it would stop raining. No such luck! The continued downpour on top of a very expensive admission charge was enough to discourage us from going in. We decided that we would continue to Skye for the night & were able to book ourselves into a bed & breakfast relatively easily. We did however go into Drumnadrochit to check out any Nessie signs. (This is a long story – Bill used to play in a band & his nickname was Monster, so we wanted some corny monster photos). We found a couple which we braved in the rain & the laughing made the weather seem not so bad.
We back-tracked to Invermoriston where the rain let up so we were able to get out & take some photos of the lovely old stone bridge & river in the centre of town.
Although the sky remained grey, the rain mostly ceased for the rest of the trip. We stopped again at Eilean Donan – a very picturesque castle on a small peninsula in a loch. Unfortunately the tide was fully out, but it was still very photogenic. We went inside to have a quick look around and then back to the car for the last section of our drive across the bridge to Skye at Kyle of Lochash.
We had booked our accommodation at Portree, which was some distance from the bridge. So despite the lovely light and the stunning scenery, we drove straight to Portree.
We explored this tiny harbour town & found ourselves an Indian restaurant to eat. It had been a very long day and we'd covered a huge distance but we were very excited to be on Skye.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Our Holiday Begins
Tuesday 13 July 2010
This year we found ourselves in the wonderful position of having an extra long summer break because we are changing schools. As always, the first 4 weeks or so are spent with Bill's boys in Manchester catching up with family. When they flew back to their mother, it left us with a full 5 weeks before we fly out to our new adventure in Dubai.
Knowing that we had so many options open to us only made it harder to make a decision. We flirted with going to India (getting visas seemed too hard & it's monsoon season as well), eastern Europe from Albania up to Croatia, Ireland and finally we thought about going to Scotland with the aim of visiting the highlands and islands. It was this that really got both of us excited – I wanted to see wildlife and Bill had always wanted to explore a part of Scotland he'd never been to before.
So, somewhat at the last minute, we hired a car for 2 weeks (the plan was to drop it in Glasgow & catch a train & ferry to Ireland for the rest of the holiday) and phoned Bill's relatives in East Kilbride to let them know we were coming for the night.
We started our adventure by picking up our hire car from Manchester airport on Monday and driving up to East Kilbride. Bill's aunt had not only found us a bed for the night, she had organised a party with lot's of Bill's relatives that he hadn't seen in years. It was a great night & we felt bad about leaving before lunch the next day but needed to get on the road.
Bill's uncle gave us directions to avoid Glasgow city itself & get onto the road to Loch Lomond – somewhat tricky as there was a “shoogle” to be negotiated along the way.
Our first stop was at Luss on the shores of Loch Lomond, & although quite pretty, felt very touristy with loads of day-trippers from Glasgow. We watched some pretty smart swans helping themselves to picnics while the picnic owners tried to both keep their distance & shoo them away. We didn't stay long & continued on our way, driving the length of the loch & up into the highlands. The scenery was stunning, although the weather started to close in. We saw lots of walkers as we went through the Glencoe gorge. We were looking out for accommodation, but we saw lots of “no vacancy” signs. We kept going through the most stunning of scenery & when we got into Glencoe village on the edge of Loch Leven, we found a place to stay at the Glencoe Hotel.
Our room had a view over the loch & as we'd been driving for hours, decided on a walk around the village to explore. We discovered there wasn't much choice for an evening meal, so later we tried our luck at the hotel. Not great – as we are both vegetarians, the varied seafood menu didn't do much for us & the only vegetarian main was macaroni cheese. That's what I ordered, Bill managed to get them to make a sandwich. His sandwich was stale but still better than the pathetic attempt at macaroni cheese I was served. The least said about it the better.
Despite the food, the weather continued to improve, & later that evening we saw the light on the loch & just had to go out again with our cameras. Although we didn't stay out late enough to catch the sunset (around 10pm) we did get some great evening shots of the boats on the water.
This year we found ourselves in the wonderful position of having an extra long summer break because we are changing schools. As always, the first 4 weeks or so are spent with Bill's boys in Manchester catching up with family. When they flew back to their mother, it left us with a full 5 weeks before we fly out to our new adventure in Dubai.
Knowing that we had so many options open to us only made it harder to make a decision. We flirted with going to India (getting visas seemed too hard & it's monsoon season as well), eastern Europe from Albania up to Croatia, Ireland and finally we thought about going to Scotland with the aim of visiting the highlands and islands. It was this that really got both of us excited – I wanted to see wildlife and Bill had always wanted to explore a part of Scotland he'd never been to before.
So, somewhat at the last minute, we hired a car for 2 weeks (the plan was to drop it in Glasgow & catch a train & ferry to Ireland for the rest of the holiday) and phoned Bill's relatives in East Kilbride to let them know we were coming for the night.
We started our adventure by picking up our hire car from Manchester airport on Monday and driving up to East Kilbride. Bill's aunt had not only found us a bed for the night, she had organised a party with lot's of Bill's relatives that he hadn't seen in years. It was a great night & we felt bad about leaving before lunch the next day but needed to get on the road.
Bill's uncle gave us directions to avoid Glasgow city itself & get onto the road to Loch Lomond – somewhat tricky as there was a “shoogle” to be negotiated along the way.
Our first stop was at Luss on the shores of Loch Lomond, & although quite pretty, felt very touristy with loads of day-trippers from Glasgow. We watched some pretty smart swans helping themselves to picnics while the picnic owners tried to both keep their distance & shoo them away. We didn't stay long & continued on our way, driving the length of the loch & up into the highlands. The scenery was stunning, although the weather started to close in. We saw lots of walkers as we went through the Glencoe gorge. We were looking out for accommodation, but we saw lots of “no vacancy” signs. We kept going through the most stunning of scenery & when we got into Glencoe village on the edge of Loch Leven, we found a place to stay at the Glencoe Hotel.
Our room had a view over the loch & as we'd been driving for hours, decided on a walk around the village to explore. We discovered there wasn't much choice for an evening meal, so later we tried our luck at the hotel. Not great – as we are both vegetarians, the varied seafood menu didn't do much for us & the only vegetarian main was macaroni cheese. That's what I ordered, Bill managed to get them to make a sandwich. His sandwich was stale but still better than the pathetic attempt at macaroni cheese I was served. The least said about it the better.
Despite the food, the weather continued to improve, & later that evening we saw the light on the loch & just had to go out again with our cameras. Although we didn't stay out late enough to catch the sunset (around 10pm) we did get some great evening shots of the boats on the water.
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