Inverness

On our first weekend in Scotland, we drove to Inverness.  Instead of taking the ferry, we opted for the Skye Bridge which took us on a very scenic drive through some new territory.

Apparently, this bridge (opened in 1995) had once a very contentious toll which has since been abolished.  The toll was 11 pounds ($17)!  The bridge really isn't very long so it is ridiculous that they ever charged that much.

Eilean Donan Castle, viewed from the Skye Bridge

We stayed at Rockville B&B in Gorthleck, Stratherrick, about a 20 mile drive south of Inverness, between Loch Ness and Loch Mhor.  Our host, Caroline, only has two rooms and we took the family room.  The second floor dining area looks out over the wooded hills and Finn enjoyed the rocking horse.

My only complaint about this B&B is the distance we had to drive to get anywhere.  It took a good 40 minutes to drive here from Inverness and there isn't much in the way of local amenities.  That night, we ate at the Whitebridge Inn, about five miles down the road.  The food was kinda bland.

I was reminded how older British people eat pizza with a knife and fork.

Older British folk, eating their pizza with a knife and fork.  

Younger American kid, avoids using a knife and fork for anything.

Caroline made a mean cooked breakfast.

We were in the mood for something different, so we decided to head to Fort George.  

Fort George was built in response to the Jacobite rising (battles fought in attempts to return King James (House of Stuart) to the throne of England).  However, the rising was pretty much over and done by the time it was complete and the fort has never seen conflict.  It operates today as an army barracks and, on our visit, we saw soldiers getting ready for what looked like a significant and rainy hike.

Surprisingly, the fort was interesting and fun for all of us.  Even the pre-tweenager was entertained for a good while.  Oddly enough, Mary always wants the audio guide, and she actually listens to it.  It rained so we had to pay $10 each for souvenir ponchos.

The tea shop had yummy homemade soups and breads.

Finley, excited to sit in a highchair.

This sentence is my nails-on-a-chalk-board.

The views are impressive from every angle.

Mary, listening to her audio guide.

Finley, wondering what all those water droplets are.

Mary learns another meaning for the word magazine.  I took this photo because she said something really funny about it that made us laugh for a long time and I wanted to remember it.  

Now, I don't remember it.

We spent some time in Inverness, walking through the town and taking a longer walk by the river; a trail that goes on forever and takes you over bridges and into the woods.  We really liked Inverness; it is a much smaller city than I expected.  Inverness (meaning mouth of the river Ness in Gaelic) is the capital of the Scottish Highlands and a third of the Highlands population live here in the city.  MacBeth held a castle here in the 11th century and it is now a major college city.  The city is ranked fifth out of 189 British cities for quality of life and it was apparently ranked the happiest place in Scotland in some 2014 survey.  The population is only around 60,000, far fewer than I originally guessed. 

We ditched the "Fort George" ponchos and equipped ourselves with umbrellas from the pound store in town.  Only one of them fell to pieces within the first hour, so I think we got pretty good value for our money.  Andrew was quite impressed with the selection and quality of goods at PoundStretcher.

It was Father's Day, so we got a little fancy and ate at Dores Inn, the only pub and restaurant situated on the shores of Loch Ness.  The food was very good and so was the service.  

Loch Ness

Andrew had read about an interesting Titanic "museum" called Ship Space, so we headed there the next morning.  What is advertised as "An interactive and evolving maritime museum" on the Ship Space website, is also described as "a hobby gone mental...very dangerous for small children...a scrap yard" on one Trip Advisor review.

My impression was a little of both.  Around ten years ago, some guy bought a house for his growing family and began building an 88ft replica of the Titanic in his backyard.  In the years that followed, he has turned almost his entire house and the property grounds into a nautical themed museum, with a major emphasis on the Titanic.   He has obviously dedicated years of hard work, and all of his free time, to building this "museum".  I respect that.  However, the place was very rundown (maybe time to renovate the Titanic?) and the whole experience was just a little....odd.  

The "tea room" inside the Titanic.  Make yourself a free cuppa.  

Don't worry about the freaky mannequin and musty smell.

Be careful Mary!

Mary did enjoy some of the kids activities in the basement.

Lots and lots of information and newspaper cuttings.  And a lifeboat.

I urge you to visit the Ship Space website and check out his elaborate plans for the future (http://www.shipspace.co.uk/future-plans).  He is quite ambitious and I wish him good luck!  

We stopped to eat lunch at The Coffee Pot, then hit the Newsagent to stock up on Hula Hoops for our next drive. The cashier in the Newsagent was from Iowa, which was unexpected.

Finn really liked the British equivalent of Puffs.

Next up - Edinburgh!

Isle of Skye

After our stay in Glencoe, we headed north to catch a ferry to the Isle of Skye.  

Both Andrew and I agree that drivers in the UK are far more skilled than drivers in Texas (unless you are from Texas, in which case you are, of course, the exception).  They have to be.  Distances are not as great, but the roads are narrow, often wet, with twists and 90 degree turns every few yards.  Most people still drive a manual transmission, making it easier to maneuver and control the car in these conditions.  An automatic car wouldn't be as practical, or as much fun to drive, on these roads. There are no highways to take you through these parts; there is only a network of smaller "A" and "B", often single track, roads, with passing lay-bys.  For this reason, shorter distances can often take much longer to navigate and there are no convenient service/gas stations.  If you ever plan a trip to Scotland, keep this in mind and don't schedule too much driving for the time you have.

The ferry to Skye leaves from Mallaig, a small port village where school children still learn Gaelic.  The drive to Mallaig was very pretty.

(because the road is only 6 feet wide)

Once in Mallaig, we found a neat little pub for lunch.  I had the best Cullen Skink (topped with kippers!) I had ever tasted.

I haven't had kippers for breakfast in such a long time, that I had forgotten about them.

Chlachain Inn - highly recommend for their great food!

Despite the hourly ferries to Skye, this little port town did not seem overly touristy.

The ferry takes you from Mallaig to Armadale in just 30 minutes.  

Finley enjoyed the ferry!

What kind of parents take their baby to Scotland and forget to pack a woolly baby hat?

Isle of Skye

Once on the Isle of Skye, we had a pretty lengthy drive to our destination; Edinbane.  

Edinbane is a small village on the northern inlet. The drive was beautiful, although I only seem to have this photo of a sheep to remember it by.  I guess we were too busy admiring the scenery to take photos.  Our drive took us through the villages/towns of Isleornsay, Broadford, Portree and Skeabost.

Random photo of Mary listening to music on the drive

We stayed at Shorefield House; a friendly little B&B with a self catering apartment.  We took the apartment and it was nice to finally have a kitchen with a washer/dryer.  Although, this was an apartment sized machine, so we only managed to wash three items of clothing at a time, or four if they belonged to Finley.

Relaxing after our long drive

That night, we took a walk around Edinbane and ate at the Edinbane Inn.   Edinbane is a tiny village at the head of Loch Greshornish.  This loch is actually an inlet of the sea.

The menu at Edinbane Inn is wonderful with lots of traditional dishes made from local ingredients.  That night they hosted a live music event, but we were too tired to try it out.  Aging we are.

I ordered a yummy smoked cheese salad and Finn tried to munch on some French mustard.

Edinbane is a very quiet and pretty little village.  We felt like the only non-locals.  If you are a little more spendthrift, you can stay at the Lodge at Edinbane - a 16th century haunted hotel.  In addition to the Inn and the Hotel, Edinbane hosts a small pottery and a cute little textile shop.  We visited the pottery and bought a tea-bag coaster, which I'm pretty sure I left behind in our rental car.  I guess I will have to keep making that arduous trip to the trashcan every time I use a tea bag.

The "haunted" Lodge at Edinbane

Cute row cottages

Edinbane has a really neat, and slightly inaccessible, play area for kids.

The views from the play area are stunning.  

We laughed at Mary as she ran around yelling "I feel so alive!"

The next day, we took a scenic drive up the north east coast, through Achachork, Rigg, Cuncacnoc, Staffin, Digg, Duntulum, Kilmuir and Uig.   Once again, the scenery was spectacular.

Our first major stop was Old Man Storr.

Unfortunately, it was at this point that Andrew's "good" camera malfunctioned and did not record many of the photos we took. 

Taken from the Isle of Skye Guide.....

"This is properly the most famous walk on the island and definitely the busiest.  The 'Old Man' is a large pinnacle of rock that stands high and can be seen for miles around.  As part of the Trotternish ridge the Storr was created by a massive ancient landslide, leaving one of the most photographed landscapes in the world."

Mary is usually a reluctant hiker, but once she gets going there's no stopping her!  She was the reason we made it all the way to the top.  For the record, the top of the Old Man Storr trail is not a great location for breastfeeding an infant.  

We continued our drive on the Portree-Staffin road up to Lealt Waterfall after a short break to let everyone warm up.

The main viewing area is just a short walk from the car park, but if you continue down to the right of the information boards, you get an even better view of the falls and the beach below.  Someone has actually scratched this little hint onto the top of the information board but, lucky for us, the bus load of Chinese tourists who had arrived at the same time as us didn't read this.

Do you know who deserves respect?  Bus drivers who drive these roads.  In a bus.  And don't crash.

The secret trail.  Or not, now that someone has scratched directions into the informational sign.

 

 Ruins of an old home and/or kiln?

I should have read the actual information on the informational board, not just the graffiti.

Further along, we stopped at the Cliff Mealt waterfall which plummets off the Kilt Rock formation.  This waterfall is fed by the freshwater Lake Mealt.  

There aren't many places to stop and eat in these parts, so you have to plan your day to include a trip into town.  We didn't plan any such thing so we found ourselves hungry and in the middle of nowhere with a bag of crisps and some fruit pastilles to share.  Then, we happened upon a little old petrol "station" with one rickety old pump and a sign saying they served Indian food.  This was possibly the oddest little eatery I've ever visited, but the food was amazing and the views were better than any fine restaurant in Portree.  The place is called McKenzies and if you blink you will miss it.  

McKenzies

Our lunch view

  

We noticed that many buildings on the Isle of Skye have this dotted plaster effect.

Back in Edinbane

For our last day on Skye, daddy fixed my hair and made me all pretty.  Clever daddy.

Dunvegan Castle has been the seat of the McLeod clan for over 800 years and is the oldest continually inhabited castle on the isle.  Dunvegan Castle and Gardens is situated on the northwestern inlet on the isle and is worth a visit.  The castle was okay (we were a little castled-out at this point in the trip), but the gorgeous gardens definitely made the visit worthwhile!

Monkey Puzzle Tree

 

Mary looked super cute wearing the baby

We headed to Portree for some civilization, and lunch.  The main drag features your kilt and postcard shops, but if you head down to the waterfront it's relatively quiet and you can get good fish and chips.

Mary tries British scampi and heavily approves

Monkey puzzle trees (from Chile) apparently grow all over the Isle of Skye!

On this particular day, my job seemed to haunt me.

Portree was or last stop on the Isle of Skye.  We didn't see the Fairy Pools and many other sights during our stay here, but it was time to move on.  Next stop, Inverness!