Scotland: Isle Of Skye

On Day 2 of our stay in the magnificent house, we decided to take a road trip to the Isle of Skye, the second largest island in Scotland.

It would have taken us three hours to reach Portree, the main city of Skye, so we decided that for the kids’ sake, we should drive inland to Elgol area, on the south side of the island, just to get a taste of what it’s like there.

The route from Drumnadrochit (our house) to the island took us first along the Loch Ness and then through the beautiful valleys west of Ft. Augustus.

I am used now to the fact that pictures do not express fully beauty of the scenery…

A stop at Eilean Donan was a must! 

A few kilometers before you cross the bridge to the Isle of Skye, you can stop at this beautiful place. It is considered to be the most photographed castle in Scotland. It was here that a few movies you might remember were filmed—“Highlander”, “Entrapment” with Sean Connery, James Bond’s “The World Is Not Enough” and “Elizabeth: The Golden Age”.

We did not go inside the castle, but let the kids play for almost an hour on the shores of the lake surrounding this place.

Just trying to squeeze in a few more pictures of the castle (I think this was the most photographed castle by the Watsons as well).

Ha! Look whom I found--Robert and Merrill, our photographers!

Yeah…this is what most of our family pictures look like. At least one of the kids decides to act funny (or look down). Oh well, it was still a cool place and we needed to capture that.

And here comes the second part of our journey.

After crossing the Big Big Bridge, we arrived at the Isle of Skye.

For some reason, the signs had to remind us about driving on the left side of the road. We are not sure why, but maybe some ferries come from further north in Europe, don’t know. Here is a sample of Gaelic for you though.

As we turned off the main road that dissects the island, we headed for Elgol, a tiny village in the middle of nothing. The cows and sheep were everywhere. And this particular cow was just fond of the “Passing Place” sign.

The road we were on, became a one and a half lane road….and then a one lane road. It was quite brave of us to be driving our big American minivans there.

After about 30 minutes of SLOW driving and looping around the lake in search of a picnic spot, we finally found a great place.

Somehow, simultaneously, 70% of our group decided that they need to use the restroom. Yeah, seriously. What restroom in the middle of the Isle of Skye wilderness? It had become almost comical when Robert had to go over to the grove of trees a little further from where we based our picnic and establish a fresh air bathroom—with toilet paper holder and even a log to give you a bit more comfort.  Yes, that experience was unforgettable.

We set out on a short hike, just to let the kids run around a bit.

Beauty was all around us.

And it was incredible how quickly the weather was changing—it was sunny one moment and five minutes later gray clouds were showing their face behind the mountain, then sunny again, and a drizzle moments later. 

After a quick hike, we headed towards the tiny village of Elgol. I am not sure how people living here survive driving such narrow, twisty and mountainous roads. All I do know that they have a beautiful scenery to enjoy every season of the year.

On the way back to the main road, we stopped by one of the lakes, just so that Alex could get his fix of “exploring” wearing his wellies.

We braved the wind as well.

 

Our kids could have stayed there for hours, actually. They love all this yucky gross spongy stuff.

This stuff was just weird:).

Here are our lonely minivans, very comfortable, but a bit too big for driving on Scottish rural roads.

Driving back did not take very long—maybe because I was driving. Everyone had a great time, and we were sad this was our last day in the area. That’s the end of Day 5 in Scotland.

Feumaidh mi ruith (“I must run” in Gaelic).

Lyana.