Kathleen
Isle of Skye, Scotland – July 6-8, 2013
On the drive to the Isle of Skye we went through a national park which was absolutely stunning before the weather made a turn for the worse and we basically arrived on the island in a storm, so we couldn’t see much of anything. It rained all evening and that, I believe, was the last drop we saw over our three days on the island, and what a BEAUTIFUL island it is! I picked Isle of Skye for a visit on recommendation of a coworker, who hadn’t actually been there but had been told many good things about it on a recent trip to Scotland and I have to say thanks to Dave, because this really is a special place which would have been a shame to have missed.
The towns are small and quaint and the scenery is breathtaking at every turn. One day we drove out to Dunvegan castle with beautiful grounds, where they took us on a small boat to see the seals who were in calving season so we got to see around 50 baby seals….one day we climbed up Meal Nan Suireamach in the Quirang (I have no idea what either of these things mean, but they certainly look impressive on the map) mountain for a stunning experience and views, and the third day we took a boat cruise from Elgol on the southern tip to see the island from the sea. We stayed outside the town of Portree, which is small but very quaint with at least several excellent restaurants, some pretty hiking paths, a hotel with a stunning view where you should have a beer on the front lawn at least once, and our B&B which was run by a marvelous Scottish family who made us feel right at home.
This was a very interesting B&B experience as the home only had two guest rooms and was inhabited by a lovely couple and their 3 (probably 9 to 14ish range) children. There was a whole room with a pool table and a sitting area for just the three of us, since we had rented both of the rooms, and breakfast was also served here. It was funny because Kate was the gregarious one who was the face of the place and very lovely, and concerned about making certain we had dinner reservations and our breakfast was served at the right time and etc., while her husband, Tom cooked the breakfast but stayed very much behind the scenes. Joan remarked that he was the mysterious hiding breakfast husband, which Kate thought was pretty funny. I actually did get the chance to meet Tom one evening while we were all relaxing before dinner because I went outside to do a little blog writing on the picnic table out back (it was a beautiful day)! Kate had just returned from her OTHER job at the Portree post office and they were sitting outside at the other picnic table having a beer. They were such interesting people….Tom is a jack of all trades and the family had been living in France where he was fixing up a property prior to moving back to Scotland and for the first time to Skye. You could tell they had adventurous spirits (which I, of course, can appreciate) and their children were so well-behaved, if you ran into them, you would always get a friendly, non-plussed “hello!” before they went about their business. Tom also showed me his old Jeep (circa 196?, I think) that he was lovingly restoring and would soon be “good as new”. I am looking forward to watching the adventures of this family (they said they would keep in touch) and would not be entirely surprised if we ended up renting a room from them in Australia or some other far-flung place in the future.
Mostly, what I have to say about the Isle of Skye though, is that it was just stunningly beautiful….if you have looked at the pictures, you have a small idea what the Isle of Skye is like !
Thanks again, Dave, for the recommendation!!