"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness… Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime" – Mark Twain
Day 6 was our only full day in Glencoe, unfortunately, and still more unfortunate, it was rainy.
Since we are being quite spoiled and staying at a classy little B&B now, we went downstairs for our breakfast. I had the vegetarian version of the “full Scottish breakfast” which was SO. MUCH. FOOD. But it was delish, so I ate it all. Anthony got the smoked salmon and eggs, which also looked wonderful. After that fuel, we decided to take advantage of the couple hours we would have without rain and started walking toward the Glencoe Lochan trail system.
This trail system was at the base of the mountains, a beautiful forested area with pretty lochs.
Everyone we passed had their dogs wandering around with them, and I just kept thinking that that is one thing I really, really love about the UK. They are so dog-friendly here. Everywhere we go, people have their dogs with them. Going on a walk? Nearly everyone you see will have their dog/s with them. Heading to the pub? Dogs are there. Driving through the countryside? You might think you see a stray dog, but no, their owner is just a few steps back. I love it.
And then we saw a mother duck and her spastic little baby duck, and I was in love.
Once we felt the drizzle starting, we decided to walk on back to our B&B via Glencoe village.
We grabbed our backpacks and headed out again, a short drive toward Castle Stalker on Loch Laich, originally built around 1320. Its more recent fame was an appearance at the end of Monty Python and the Holy Grail as “The Castle of Aaaaarrrrrrggghhh”.
Tis a very “wee” castle, but cute and in a rather picturesque setting (probably more so if it weren’t so freaking gray out).
Once we arrived back in Glencoe, we stopped in for some lunch. Menu options included “Really big haddock” as well as a “Tasty wee haddock”, and the server was just so very Scottish, I couldn’t help but laugh. She got confused a few times while we were there and just kept saying, “Just one o’ those days. I can feel it in me bones.”
We saw that the sun was trying to peak out, so we took that as our queue to continue on. That was a mistake. The sun was just being a ginormous tease, as about 5 minutes down the road, we were in the worst weather we’ve had so far this trip. Any time I tried to get out and take pictures, the wind would be blowing me backwards, the rain would be pelting my camera, and it was just so, so cold. So we drove on through Rannoch Moor, but I can’t say we saw much of it. Nonetheless, the area was shown in both Harry Potter and Outlander, so I suppose I will content myself with just checking off that box.
All that rain made us sleepy, so we came back to the B&B for a nap. The next time the sun started to come out, I jumped up, put my shoes on, and rushed Anthony out the door, so we could go walking some more. We went back to the trail system that we had gone to that morning, and took the mountain trail this time.
It would have been nice to do a bigger hike around the area today, but I really did enjoy the Glencoe Lochan walking area. It was very pretty and peaceful. Definitely better than being cooped up in our room all day. Oh, and on the way back to the B&B, I drove on the left side of the road for the first time! It was quite terrifying, but we survived.
This morning provided us with yet more rain on our drive down to the southern part of Skye where we were to catch our ferry.
This was my first ferry experience. I’ve decided I like ferries. I listened to the crewmen working and joking with each other, saw a dolphin, and snapped pictures of our oncoming port.
We were first in line to get off the ferry which for some reason made me giddy.
They let the ramp down, and off we went. We decided to drive along the coast to Arisaig and just happened upon some gorgeous beaches.
After Arisaig, we turned toward Glenfinnan, passing through various mountains and lochs. Anthony was in love with the area.
We then came around a curve, and BAM, a steam train was passing! I barely had time to get my camera out and snap a picture from the car.
We made it to Glenfinnan where I realized that I had planned out everything in order to see the steam train pass on the viaduct only to leave all of that planning elsewhere. I was a bit stressed as I was so determined to see the “Harry Potter train.” We found a little parking lot, and decided to try it out and hope for the best. We walked along a path, and apparently went too far along that path because I realized we really wanted to be up and back. We decided to just start marching up the hill without a path and ended up in the right place. We set up shop and waited for it to come across.
Of course, after I had my tripod set up and had been waiting for half an hour, an old English man decided to walk on down right in the middle of my view. Screw that. Anthony walked down to him and asked him if it would be ok if he moved just a bit to the right, and he seemed quite indignant at the idea. “No, no, I have to be away from the people. I was here just this morning, and I was up where you are, and some bloke’s phone went off, and it messed up my whole video, and I didn’t get the sound, and I really wanted to get the sound.” Anthony sympathized, but then pushed a bit more. “I understand, that sounds rough. But maybe you could move just a step or two this way? Would that ruin your shot?” And so the man reluctantly moved to the side, and Anthony was my hero.
At last, it came. I have now seen the Harry Potter train.
Right after, the sun decided to come out for the day and bless us on the rest of our stunning drive to Glencoe.
We made it to our B&B, walked past some chickens and a wee garden, were led up to our room, and took in our spectacular view.
We took advantage of our shower and laundry facilities, ate a picnic outside looking out over the loch, and walked around the beautiful town a bit.
Afterward, we made our way to the pub for a pint before tucking in for the night. The pub had stuffed animal heads (like, I do mean stuffed animals, not real, dead animals) hanging over the bar which I thought was hilarious. The TVs were on the sports station, discussing cricket and rugby and soccer. Anthony ordered a pint of Guinness, and I ordered a pint of “extra cold” Guinness (because apparently that’s a thing?). Overall, a very, very pleasant day.
On our third day, we hiked. A lot. I was super excited about it, and was over-eager about getting the day started.
Our bothy has a dozen windows, most without curtains, and at this time of year in the Scottish highlands, it stays light until after 10 pm, and then gets light again around 4:30 am. So I woke up with sun light streaming through the window, and I tapped Anthony on the shoulder.
Me: “Hey. What time is it?”
Anthony: *checking watch* “It’s 4:30.”
Me: “Oh. Ok.” *rolls over and goes back to sleep*
And then I woke up again with sunlight streaming through the window, and I tapped Anthony on the shoulder.
Me: “Hey. What time is it now?”
Anthony: *checking watch* “It’s 5:15.”
Me: “Oh. Ok.” *rolls over and goes back to sleep*
And then I woke up again with sunlight streaming through the window, and I tapped Anthony on the shoulder.
Me: “Hey. What time is it now?”
Anthony: *exasperated, checking his watch a third time* “It’s 6:30.”
Me: “Oh, good! You wanna get up?!”
So we got up. We started our fire that went out during the night, and ate some breakfast and got ready for the day. And onward we went, heading toward Portree, only to continue north to our first real stopping point: The Old Man of Storr.
The walk up to the Old Man of Storr is pretty steep, but we stopped to take pictures of the view at quite a few stopping points on the way. We were lucky with the weather. It was slightly overcast, but the sun was determined to peak through.
After making it up, we decided to go ahead and turn back down instead of continuing around the top since Anthony was still sick with a cold and was getting chilled. We took the longer route back to our car though, but then headed north on the loop again, stopping at various points to walk around and explore.
Our next big stopping point was the Quiraing, and my goodness, is it beautiful around there. We hiked around for quite a while along the narrow path at the top.
Anthony swears it was safe as can be, but we were awfully high up, and those paths were very narrow, and the drops seemed pretty damn steep if you ask me.
Either way, I loved it, and we had perfect timing, as the clouds rolled in right as we were heading back to the car. We were wet and frozen by the time we got there, but at least we had seen all those spectacular views before the clouds hid them.
By that point, we were starving so we made our way back to an art café for lunch which was pretty charming. I felt quite fancy, drinking my tea and eating my lunch surrounded by local art with all these English people around me speaking in their ever-so-polite-and-proper way. “Would you like any ice in that?” “Oh yes, just one, please; That would be lovely.”
The rest of the loop was much quicker as we just drove on to Uig and then back to Portree, where we spent a little bit of time. As it doesn’t get dark until late, we decided we’d go ahead and cross the island to Dunvegan and Neist Point Lighthouse.
The clouds were rolling in at this point, but it was still pleasant out, so we drove through fields and fields of sheep until we arrived at the parking lot for the hike down to the lighthouse. We decided to hike up first for the views of the area, and I am glad we did.
Neist Point lighthouse is the westernmost point on Skye, facing out to other isles, and it’s a very beautiful area. After that adventure, it was time to head on back to our bothy. We walked along our beach a bit and sat and listened to a choir of cuckoo birds, sheep, cows, and waves. Super peaceful. Once we got chilly, we came back in to sit by our fire and drink some wine.
Here’s the thing about the bothy. It was just about the most affordable place I could find on the Isle of Skye, is an incredibly charming, stone one-room cottage, and is right on a fairly picturesque bay. There is the opportunity to see seals bathing across the way, though I haven’t. The bed is super cosy, right next to the fireplace, with a big, thick winter duvet on it. However, if you’re looking for luxury and amenities, this is not the place. It’s down a steep dirt track; the “bathroom” is a combination of a composting toilet outside, and showering down the way at the hosts’ house; the kitchen is as basic as you can get (small stove, some cast iron cookware, and a mini-fridge, no garbage disposal, etc); and the furniture is very old and torn up. There is no key because it’s unnecessary. I love it. I would put some hot water in the bed warmer and put it in my bed about half an hour before hopping in, and then I’d fall asleep wrapped up in that big thick duvet with a fire roaring next to me, some dim light streaming in, and nothing but the sound of waves or rain, depending on the night.
On to day 4. On day 4, we were to drive down to the southern part of Skye, and take a boat trip from Elgol to see a seal colony and Loch Coruisk, surrounded by the Cuillin Mountains. But day 4 was rainy. And being on a boat on the ocean on a cold, rainy day sounded miserable. So what did we do instead? We headed to the beach! (We’re smart like that)
Down to Talisker Bay we went. We walked for over a mile in the drizzle to get there. Surprisingly, we weren’t the only ones. An older gentleman, a woman in a skirt and flats, and a younger girl in tights were slowly heading that way as well. I don’t know how they weren’t freezing to death. And then we saw a couple, the man in a kilt, heading to the beach too, setting up their shade tent for the day. I’ve never worn a kilt, but it just seems like his legs would have been awfully cold on that wet beach day, but hey, the Scottish people can probably handle this weather a lot better than I can.
Even with the nasty weather, it was a pleasant experience. The walk was nice, with lots of little lambs baa-ing at us, and the black beach was surrounded by green mountains.
We didn’t stick around long though, and after our walk back, we went on to Talisker Distillery for a tour. We had a very diverse little group of people for our tour. Anthony and I were the only Americans (that’s been the norm on this trip so far), and there were a couple Canadians, a few French people, three people from Taiwan, a couple girls from London, and some Germans. Our guide was knowledgeable and funny, and his thick Scottish accent made me smile.
The whisky was strong. Really strong. I’m not a whisky drinker, so I can’t give much of a review here other than that :).
That evening after the rain finally wore off, we walked down the beach to the pub at the Stein Inn (the oldest inn on Skye, fyi). The service was lacking that evening, but the food was good, and the old bartender’s bluntness is entertaining (the same one who told us we would just have to talk to each other since they had no wifi). Our server was very confused when Anthony asked for silverware. After some miming, she caught on that we needed “cutlery”. It’s always weird to me how we can share a language, but still not be able to have any idea what one is saying.
Back home we went to enjoy our final night at the bothy. I sure will miss that crazy little place.
