Fort William, Scotland, United Kingdom
As usual the bright sunlight woke us very early so we got up and showered, dressed, and headed down the hall to the breakfast room. Daniela had made fresh bread and croissants and there was fruit, cheese, and lunch meat--she would also cook a hot breakfast but we weren’t up to that today. Mike had coffee and I had tea.
We had discussed with Collin last night what would be a good tour, so we headed out to tour Eilean Donan Castle on the west coast of Scotland. This castle is perched on an island and overlooks a sea loch. It's considered to be a postcard worthy place--and are they ever right! Wow! It is so cool--it sits at the end of a causeway and is magnificent. This was the stronghold of the Mackenzie clan. Although the castle looks ancient, it was rebuilt in the 1930s by the Macrae family after it was destroyed, actually blown up, in the 1700s. The family still lives in part of it. When you visit the castle there are docents showing you how to hold a broadsword, use a sgean dugh (said as skeen due) which is a small knife that one wears in your sock, and wear a targe (a shield that is strapped on your left arm).
In addition, we had a lesson in how to put on a kilt--the older kind without the pleats stitched in place. We had a fun time touring this place.
Once we completed the tour, we decided to eat a picnic lunch here looking across the loch to the castle! Such a cool place! At the gift shop/snack bar we bought sandwiches, crisps, and Irn-Bru. As we sat there enjoying the view, the sunshine, and the company I read the ingredients on the Irn-Bru label. Oh no! It is made with quinine--that is the slightly bitter taste--and I am allergic to quinine! Yikes I must not drink any more of this.
Next we headed west to check out the Isle of Skye where Flora MacDonald hid Bonnie Prince Charlie before spiriting him away to France. The drive to the causeway was amazing--the lochs were like glass, the mountains which still have snow on them were reflected in the lochs as if they were mirrors, and the hillsides are covered with blooming gorse (a yellow flowering very thorny bush).
We crossed over the bridge at Kyleakin onto the Isle of Skye.
The island was known by the Norse as the Misty Island. It is the largest of the Inner Hebrides and Scotland's biggest island at over 600 square miles. Even then you are never more than 5 miles from the sea and the island only has 13,000 people living on it. The landscape was rather barren once we crossed into Skye. There are 2 sets of mountains on the island: the Red Cuillins and the Black Cuillins. We stopped briefly at the town of Portree which is considered to be the tourism hub for the island and has 1/4 of the island's inhabitants. There is way more to see on this island that we have time to do. Another place on our ever growing list of places to visit.
Next we headed across the island to tour Dunvegan Castle, the ancestral home of the MacLeod clan which has been continuously occupied since the Middle Ages. Dunvegan Castle is perched on a bluff overlooking a sea loch. It is the home of the MacLeods, one of Skye's preeminent clans. The other is the MacDonalds whose castle is at the southern tip of Skye. The MacLeods claim that this is the oldest continuously inhabited castle in all of Scotland, but who knows? It was more like a home than a castle as it was updated in the 1930s but still was a fascinating place.
One interesting tidbit--the latrine was in the wall near the kitchen and the urine and feces fell down past kitchen to the dungeon! Yuck! They had an artifact they called the Fairy Flag as supposedly it was given to them (according to one of the stories) by a fairy and when carried in battle they never lost. In reality the cloth has been tested and is from Rhodes about 4 A.D. So how did it get here?
Then we toured the castle's beautiful gardens (there are 5 acres but we didn't see them all). Once done we finishd our tour we headed back toward our guesthouse. On the way we stopped in a barren area of the Cuillins near Glen Moriston and the battlefield of Glen Shiel. The Battle of Glen Shiel which occurred in 1719 was between the British government troops and an alliance of Scottish Jacobites and Spaniards. The Jacobites lost resulting in the end of the 1719 Jacobite Rising. Although I would have liked to have visited this battlefield it is too late in the day and we are only here to have dinner at The Cluane Inn. This is a small family run hotel that is very isolated. This is where I tried vegetarian haggis. It was rather strange--sort of a spicy but tasteless, grey-like mass wedged between mashed potatoes (tatties) and mashed orange parsnips (neeps) all shaped like an upside down vegetable bowl along with a glass of wine. Don’t think I need to try that again!! Mike had lasagna and mineral water (he's driving you know). Dennis had lamb tagine and beer and Sandy had a salmon and caper salad and a beer. The food was good and it was fun sitting in this rather old time dining room somewhere in western Scotland.
We made it back to the guest house and our rooms about 9:30 p.m. Sandy came over to check her email and then I downloaded today's photos. The sun finally set about 10:30 so shortly after that we went to bed.
2025-05-23