Monday, September 12 we had hoped to take a walking tour. We were told at the tourist information office that it meets outside of their place at 11:30 so we walked around the area until then. At that time we discovered that people usually book the tour online and it was sold out. I wish we would have known that instead of wasting our time. I have a guidebook so we did our own abbreviated walking tour.

We drove to Clava Cairns, a prehistoric site near Inverness and Culloden. The site contains 4 Bronze Age ring cairns and 3 stone circles that are accessible to the public. The site is about 4,000 years old and was built to house the dead.

We then drove to Fort George, a star shaped fort that’s still in use. The Dunn’s decided they weren’t interested in going there or to Culloden, so we went a place the owner of the B&B told us about, Chanonry Point. There is a lighthouse and this is supposed to be one of the best places in the world to see bottlenose dolphins. It was cold and windy, and no bottlenose dolphins were to be seen. Still, it’s a beautiful area and we enjoyed spending some time there.

Sunday, September 11 we left Portree and began our drive to Inverness. Our parting gift from the Isle of Skye was a gorgeous sunrise.

We stopped at Eilean Donan Castle, one of the most photographed in Scotland. The original castle was built in the 13th century but it has been destroyed and rebuilt several times. No photography was allowed inside.

We continued to make our way to Inverness, driving along the western side of Loch Ness. We saw the Loch Ness Centre & Exhibition and wondered if it was worth checking out. We went in, saw the admission charge and decided the answer was no, it wasn’t worth it.

We arrived in Inverness and immediately went to the train station to attempt to resolve our train issues for our trip from Edinburgh to Liverpool. There is a potential solution, but we aren’t sure yet. Our train to Edinburgh doesn’t seem to be in jeopardy so we will try to find a final answer when we arrive there on Wednesday. We checked in to our B&B, which is nice but we have a very small room. So small the bathroom has a pocket door. We settled in and set out to check out the area and find a place for dinner.

We will be dealing with a lot of stairs here. Our room is on the 2nd floor (3rd floor in the U.S.) and there are many stairs from the location of our B&B to the main part of town.

Saturday, September 10 is our last day on the Isle of Skye and we decided to go to the Fairy Pools. Fairies are big here. It was another drive involving a very long single track road that was much busier than what we encountered yesterday. The Fairy Pools are pretty popular it seems. We got to the parking lot and discovered it was a bigger hike than I anticipated. Off we went. Eventually, after tweaking my bum ankle a few times on the rocks, I decided to turn around before I really hurt myself. Jim, Marie & JD went further, but apparently I almost made it. Oh well. It was beautiful, as is this island. We took it easy the rest of the day, since we have been pretty busy for three weeks. We had a nice dinner and tomorrow we will move on to Inverness, our last stop in the Highlands.

Friday, September 9 we drove counterclockwise around the Trotternish Peninsula. The Old Man of Storr was behind a cloud and we decided we didn’t want to do the one hour hike each way to get there.

Our first stop was at Lealt Gorge and Waterfall. We got out of the car and just about got blown away by the cold and the fierce winds. We were happy we decided to throw our puffy jackets in the car.

Our next stop was Kilt Rock. It’s called that because the vertical ripples look like the pleats in a kilt.

Next up was Duntulm Castle, a ruin.

Our last stop was at the Skye Museum of Island Life. It was my favorite stop because I finally got to see some Hairy Coo that were in the field by the museum. They are a breed of cattle native to the Highlands.

After I got my Coo fix Jim and I went into the museum. I like to see how people lived historically.

I was nervous about this drive knowing that I would have to navigate some single track roads. They are roads that are wide enough for one car but traffic goes in both directions. There are intermittent turn outs and there are rules for how to navigate the road. We started with a couple of mile long stretches, but by the time we got to the top of the island the single track road stretched for many miles. It turned out I was worried for nothing because it wasn’t that bad.

After the drive we returned to Portree where we walked around to see what the town had to offer. I have to say there isn’t much to it. We had a late lunch/early dinner and returned to our house to enjoy the beautiful weather and views we have from here.

Thursday, September 8 we left Oban after breakfast to make our way to our next home away from home, Portree on the Isle of Skye. We stopped on the way to see Fort William and a nearby shipwreck, called Old Boat of Caol. It is on a loch (lake) on the Caledonian Canal that intersects Scotland. In this section of canal there a 5 locks, but we didn’t see them in action.

We arrived in Portree and after we got to our Airbnb and settling in we walked into town for dinner. Not an easy task because at most places you need a reservation. This is a town of 2,500 people and they have the same staffing issues here that we do at home. It’s also the largest town on the Isle of Skye. We lucked out by finding a place that doesn’t take reservations, but we were first in line when they opened for dinner. By that time the line was down the block. While we were waiting I went across the street to another place and made a reservation for Saturday night.

After we walked back from dinner we learned that Queen Elizabeth had just passed away at Balmoral Castle, which is also in the Highlands and about 200 miles from here. This was the sunset we saw shortly afterwards. I like to think it was the Highlands way to send her off.

Wednesday, September 7 we had just one day to see Oban and nearby sites. I started my day with a pre-breakfast walk with Marie. I have taken so many pictures here because this place is so picturesque. We spotted a tower up on a hill but had no idea what it was. We ended up going there later in the day.

After breakfast we went to McCaig’s Tower. It’s up on a hill and is visible from town. It was built in 1897 by a banker who wanted to provide work for local stonemasons and to provide a lasting monument to his family.

Next we drove to Dunstaffnage Castle. It’s a partially ruined castle sitting on a platform of conglomerate rocks. It dates back to the 13th century, making it one of Scotland’s oldest stone castles. It was built by McDougall lords of Lorn, and since the 15th century it has been held by the Campbell Clan.

Our final stop was at Dunollie Castle, the one Marie and I saw up on the hill during our morning walk. It’s a small ruined castle and museum. It was the most important fortress of the Chiefs of Clan McDougall because of its strategic location.

We later walked around Oban and had a delicious dinner on the waterfront. It is a delightful town and I regret we didn’t have more time.

Tuesday, September 6 we were picked up at our hotel by the agency I used to rent a car for the week. It was very convenient for us to be driven there. The entire process took longer than I expected though and we got off to a later start. As we drove from Glasgow to Oban we made a few stops. First we went to the Falkirk Wheel, which replaced locks that were in disrepair. It moves boats mechanically from one canal to another. I wish we had time to hang out long enough to see it in action, but alas we did not.

We then went to the national Wallace Monument that honors William Wallace. Think Mel Gibson in Braveheart. After we arrived and started walking we looked at the monument at the top of the hill and decided it was too far to go and we were already running behind for our timed entry to the next stop. I’ve been told the statue looks like Mel Gibson.

Our last stop was Stirling Castle. It’s not as visually impressive as some other castles because it’s more of a sprawling complex of buildings, but it has a really interesting history.

The rain held out until our drive from Stirling to Oban and we got soaked walking to dinner. This is a really nice town and I wish we were staying longer than two nights. After a good dinner we were ready to settle in for the night.

Glasgow has many murals around town. I didn’t see them all, but here are some I did see. Some pictures aren’t so great because they were taken from a moving bus.

Monday, September 5 we decided to maximize what we could see on our one full day is Glasgow. It’s the largest city in Scotland and there’s only so much you can see on foot so we decided that the HoHo bus would allow us to see as much as possible. We took the 1hr 25 min loop and then decided where we would return to.

We went to the Riverside Museum, where we also saw the Tall Ship. The ship was closed because of a private function, which was unfortunate. The museum is all about every mode of transportation.

Next we went to the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, which is a combination of art museum and natural history museum.

There is so much to see in Glasgow, but we don’t have enough time for more. Tomorrow we move on to Oban, which I’m really looking forward to.

Sunday, September 4 we flew on Ryanair from Dublin to Glasgow. I had heard a lot of negative things about Ryanair, but it wasn’t a terrible experience. We were off to a good start. We arrived in Glasgow and took a taxi to our hotel. We dropped off our luggage and walked to the Central Station to buy our rail cards for a bit later in the trip. We then walked around the area until it was time to find a place for dinner. We decided on an Italian place and we’re pleasantly surprised to find they have a specially priced Sunday menu. We ended up later at the hotel bar for a nightcap.

Almost there