Skye

It was raining on the way from Inverness to Skye.

The ruins of Urquhart Castle, on Loch Ness.

This was is the cairn with the monument for Roderick McKenzie, the officer that looked like Prince Charlie that the British killed chasing Charlie to Skye.

Eilean Donin Castle in the rain, just before crossing over to the Isle of Skye. We got some great pictures of this on the way out.

July 7. On the 6th we drove to Skye, but got in late. Almost midnight, it was still not totally dark. Good thing, sheep were wandering onto the road. The Uig hotel appeared barren, but when we pushed the door it opened and Bill the owner left our key and a note. The next morning, this is the picture I took from our bedroom window.

After breakfast we set off to explore Skye on single track roads. There was more sheep traffic than cars. Here is a standing stone on the side of the road.

The waterfront in Portree, the largest town on Skye. After leaving Portree, we looped around to the northern tip of the island and back down to Uig. What follows are some of the pics we took along the way.

I found a great traditional music store in Portree, spent way to much on Scottish tune books-but hey, thats why I'm here. Some of this stuff is hard to find in the states.

The first time I've seen a public sign with a dog standing over a steaming pile of feces. Most of the signs here are in English and Gaelic.

Jo was took this picture, right as I'm screaming at a car that just whizzed by and was about to biff a sheep that was in the road. Fortunately he missed.

In front of the Old Man of Storr. Yes that is real.  We had to pull over and get out the tripod and use the camera timer, couldn't miss a picture of this!. We took the coast road to the tip of Skye and back down to Uig. There was terrain like this the whole way.

What a magical place.

If this is a dream, please don't wake us.

As you can tell, I just love the signs here!

We got stuck in a sheep traffic jam (rush hour in the highlands). A shepherd didn't see us coming and unleashed his herd on the road. We didn't have the camera out, but it is quite a sight to see 50 sheep come charging at you. Joey saw this baby out the window and took this.

Mama immediately popped her head up right up to the window, and they had a little discussion.

Flora MacDonald monument.

Flora MacDonald

Bill and Wendy, the proprietors of the Uig Hotel B&B. We stayed here two nights. Uig is a ferry port. Everyone here loved hearing harp music. I'll be coming back thru here 10 days from now after my trip to the Outer Hebrides. They offered me a room and meal next time for some harp tunes, they are spreading the word on the island, so we should have a nice little crowd. They told me that there are not many harpers in these parts any more, most of them move away when they grow up. I took the harp out and played in Portree for a little while, the tourists seemed to dig it. After 15 minutes it started to rain. (No I did not let the harp get wet). I took my 10 pounds in tips  to a cafe and enjoyed some fish and chips. There is a nice square right where the buses come in-if I can do 10 pounds in 15 minutes, I'll go play for a couple of hours on the way back thru. Gas is expensive here. (1 pound 40 per liter).

You used to have to take a ferry to Skye. Now there is a bridge. The next few pictures are from the bridge connecting Skye with Kyle of Lochalsh.

It was raining when we took pictures of this place on the way in-it was perfect on the way out. Here are several pictures from Eilean Donan Castle just off Skye.

Every picture of this castle is a postcard for sure.

I would look at it for a couple of minutes and it continued to change, depending on the combination of sun and clouds.