The second day of the tour was by far the best. I was hoping it would be as I was really looking forward to visiting the Isle of Skye, which was the day's destination. The Isle of Skye is located on the west coast of Scotland. As we made our way westward from Fort Augustus, we first planned to stop at Eilean Donan Castle. The below picture was taken from the bus of the typical landscape in this area on our way to the castle.
Eilean Donan is actually a small island in Loch Duich. Apparently it was originally the site of an iron age fort but was occupied by missionaries when the fort was in ruins. Due to it's strategic location, a castle was built in 1220 to prevent Viking raiders from attacking inland by sailing up the loch. The castle was the stronghold of the MacKenzies but was given to the Macraes who still live in a private wing of the castle. The Spanish, attempting to provoke another Jacobite rebellion against the English in 1719, landed at the castle before moving inland to fight the battle of Glen Shiel. The small force they left at the castle was attacked by three British frigates which bombarded the castle for three days. The 14" thick walls held out but the Spanish eventually surrendered. The British used the gunpowder they were guarding to blow up the castle. The castle sat in ruins until 1919 when the family began to rebuild it. It was rebuilt according to the original records and looks amazing now. You may recognize it from the film "Highlander", or the James Bond movie "The World Is Not Enough".
The below picture is the view from the ramparts of Eilean Donan Castle.
After visiting the castle we finally made our way over the bridge to the Isle of Skye. I should point out that the entire time we were driving, the guide was filling us in on Scottish history and folklore. He was very energetic and interesting.
A little bit of background on the Isle of Skye; the island is very mountainous and beautiful. It has two major mountain chains. One chain is much older, with rounded tops, while the other is younger and much more craggy. I was really excited to see the island because I'd heard it was amazing. It has less than 10,000 inhabitants, most of whom live in the major town of Portree, and mile after mile of coastline. About a third of the population speak Gallic. The history of the island is dominated by two feuding clans. The MacLeods, who claim to be descended from the Vikings that ruled the island early in it's history, and the MacDonalds. The guide kept us interested by relating all the histories and myths about these two families.
We made an impromptu stop as there were some highland cattle on the side of the road. We saw quite a few over the three days, but there were a lot of little ones here so we pulled over. The Isle of Skye was covered with sheep, which roamed all over the place. The below pictures are of the highland cattle, or hairy coo's, as our guide called them. They are hairy to keep them warm in the cold highland weather.
We stopped in Portree to grab lunch and wander around the town. There were a few small shops which were interesting, but the town was pretty small. I got lunch with a couple other people in a bakery. I just got a sausage roll, a couple bridies (a Scottish flaky pastry filled with meat and onions) and a brownie. It was a nice little town, dominated by the fishing industry, but we didn't linger long. We drove a little out of the town, stopping at the top of a hill to take in the view. It was absolutely amazing. The below pictures definitely don't do it justice. A couple people had a tent set up on top of the hill. It definitely would be a perfect place to camp. You had a beautiful view of the coastline of the Isle of Skye, and across the water you could see the mountains of the mainland. In the first picture below you may be able to see a little white dot towards the bottom left hand side. It's actually a sheep that was standing on this little outcropping. Like I said, sheep were everywhere but I'm not sure how they manage to get to some places. The second picture below had a closer shot (with the sheep in the foreground).
After hanging out there a little while we made our way to the top of a mountain chain. The view was probably my favorite of the trip, and quite possibly the most amazing I have ever seen. It kind of looked like what I would expect to see in South Africa, except everything was covered in grass. A couple of the South Africans later told me that they had said the exact same thing to each other.
I really could have stood there for hours. It was just the most amazing view. There were almost no trees (really weren't many on the entire island). I have never seen any landscape like that before. The guide had said that at some point you may be hit with an "emotional feeling" from the Highlands. I assumed he was joking or just building up the experience. But, without sounding overly sentimental, I have to admit that standing on that mountain really was a wonderful feeling. Sort of a combination of amazement and a sense of timelessness from the landscape. It had the overall effect of making you very aware of your smallness and insignificance in the world. Pretty heavy stuff but, in a way, kind of exhilarating.
After that we continued our loop around the island. Below is a photo of the coastline.
After awhile we stopped at a stream which, supposedly, if you put your face in the water for exactly three seconds will make you beautiful. There was a whole folktale behind this story, which I won't relate here as it was rather long. I didn't bother to stick my face in though, I figure I'm beyond help (and I also saw someones dog peeing upstream, he's to the left of the bridge in the picture).
After that we made our way back to the hostel at Fort Augustus. A few of us had dinner. I finally tried the haggis, which is sheep's heart, lungs, liver and (sometimes) intestines minced with onions, oatmeal and different spices. It's suppose to be cooked in the sheep's stomach for a couple hours, but I think they use alternative means of cooking it now. I thought it tasted great. It's too bad you can't find it in the States.
After dinner we went on a evening boat cruise on Loch Ness, ostensibly to look for Nessie. It was starting to cool off (after a pretty warm day, for Scotland anyways) so most of us just enjoyed the views (below) with a Scottish whiskey. Needless to say, we didn't see the monster but it was fun nonetheless.
Afterwards we went to one of the pubs in Fort Augustus. We sat outside along the canal (below). After awhile we got a real treat as an otter climbed out of a hole in the wall of the canal and ran under our table. I think we scared him because he ran over my feet, right back into the hole. We saw him climb out and run back in again later. He was a cute little thing but a little too fast for me to get a picture. It ended up being a late night, but that was alright. It's always fun to talk to the people from different countries and cultures.
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