Chapter 12 - Isle of Skye and our last days with Andy

Chapter 12 – Isle of Skye and our last days with Andy

Friday, September 30, 2022

In contrast to the beautiful weather we had yesterday, Friday started out pretty wild. Here’s a screenshot of the weather from The Weather Channel (Photo 12 - 1). Our first stop was the Fairy Bridge. According to legend, an unnamed Chief of Clan Macleod of Dunvegan fell in love with a Faerie princess. Her father, Oberon who was King of the Faeries, wouldn’t agree to a marriage but he finally agreed to a handfasting. A handfast was essentially a trial marriage that would last a year and a day. They agreed, married, and had a baby. But the baby was only a few months old when the couple had to say goodbye and she had to return to the Faerie world. They parted company on the Fairy Bridge. She left behind a silk shawl to wrap the baby in. This shawl is said to have magic properties and can be used three times to summon help if the clan was in danger. The shawl became known as the Fairy Flag and is now preserved at Dunvegan Castle.

More on the Fairy Bridge and flag to come – it was so windy and rainy this morning we could barely stand up much less get any pictures! We decided to head to an indoor activity, Dunvegan Castle (Photo 12 - 2). Before we go any farther, here’s a map of the Isle of Skye which will give you an idea of how we will continue to crisscross the island (Photo 12 – 2A).

Dunvegan Castle is the seat of the chief of Clan Macleod. This castle was high on our list to see since Bruce’s ancestors on his paternal grandmother’s side include the surname McCloud (different spelling, same clan?). The castle was first built in the 13th century probably on a previously fortified site. In the 19th century the castle was remodeled. It is built on an elevated rock overlooking the eastern shore of Loch Dunvegan. The castle and grounds were beautiful. We saw the preserved Fairy Flag in the castle. Despite the rain, we

walked to the round garden and the walled garden. The gardens and the waterfall were beautiful (Photos 12 – 3 and 12 - 4).

The theme today was clearly waterfalls. The rain and wind continued, and we saw dozens of both large and small waterfalls coming down from the mountains. From Dunvegan we drove up the Trotternish Peninsula on Skye to a tiny town of Uig (three letters but two syllables). We first visited the Falls of Rha which were spectacular due to the heavy rain (Photo 12 - 5). We then stopped in at the Uig Hotel for lunch where we learned there had been a mud/land slide on one of the main roads into Skye. Nobody was coming in or leaving via the bridge that morning as they worked to clear the area. Lunch was delicious – mussels for Sarah and Andy and a Greek salad for Bruce.

Back on the road, we drove up winding roads above Uig to the Fairy Glen. From a distance it looks like the ruins of a castle (Photo 12 - 6). Andy and Sarah made the climb although Sarah didn’t quite make it to the top (Photo 12 - 7). We gingerly made our way out of the glen through slippery rocks and mud. Andy was holding on to Sarah and Bruce was behind us. Just as Bruce said “be careful, it’s slippery” he slipped and fell in the mud. Fortunately, no injuries!

We then drove by the distinctive and rugged landscape of the Quiraing, a landslip on the northernmost summit of the Trotternish Peninsula to the Skye Museum of Highland Life. This is a series of thatched roof buildings typical of crofters or

land tenants (Photo 12 - 8). Just past the museum is the cemetery with Flora MacDonald’s grave. She is best known for helping Prince Charles Edward Stuart (Bonny Prince Charlie) evade the British after the Battle of Culloden.

Two more waterfalls and a sighting of the Old Man of Storr rounded out day two. The first waterfall was Mealt Falls at Kilt Rock. Kilt Rock is named so because the colors of the rock formation can almost appear tartan. The nearby Mealt Falls is fed from Mealt Loch and plummets from the top of the cliffs to the rock-laden coast (Photo 12 - 9). Lealt Falls a

little farther down the coast lies in a gorge (Photo 12 – 10). The Old Man of Storr is an iconic standing stone on the Trotternish Ridge (Photo 12 - 11). It is named the Old Man of Storr as the rock is said to resemble the face of an old man. This is a very popular walk but very steep and we did not attempt it on such a rainy, windy day.

Andy dropped us off at our hotel in Portree for showers, dinner in the Chargrill restaurant, and bed. Sarah had a Scottish filet with creamed potatoes, aubergine (eggplant), and heritage carrots. Bruce had bavette steak (flank steak), creamed potatoes, sauteed mushrooms, and flatbread.

Saturday, October 1, 2022

We had breakfast in the hotel. Sarah had Eggs Benedictine Florentine. Bruce had bagel with salmon. We packed everything up and were ready when Andy picked us up at 9:00 am. We headed out past the Fairy Bridge to visit Skyeskyins, a local tannery, for a tour. Skyeskyns was established in 1983 and is the only remaining commercial woolskin tannery in Scotland. It is one of only two tanneries in the UK. We learned about the process and about the things they are doing to make their work sustainable. For example, they do not use chemicals in the tanning process. Instead, they grow and use tree bark from mimosa trees. The

setting was beautiful – Photo 12 – 12 is out the windows of their second-floor showroom (Photo 12 – 12). They also told us their yurt coffee-house had been destroyed by the strong winds the previous day!

Bruce asked that we stop again at the Fairy Bridge (I told you we’d come back to the Bridge). You are supposed to carry something blue when you cross the Bridge for good luck. Bruce loaned Andy his blue windbreaker just in case. We got some great pictures there and clearly had some good luck as the day progressed (Photo 12 – 13). As we left, we saw this little bus station that had been decorated with a beautiful vase of flowers. We couldn’t resist a stop and a photo (Photo 12 – 14).

Since the weather had cleared, we decided to try to take the ferry crossing from Armadale to Mallaig rather than return across the bridge from Skye to the mainland. Rebecca at the Ferry Company kept telling Andy that they had availability. But he couldn’t get through to the Armadale Ferry to book a ticket for the 12:30 pm crossing. So, we showed up and we got a spot. The crossing was about 30 minutes and was relatively smooth although the wind was quite cold (Photo 12 - 15).

There’s another line in the Skye Boat Song from Outlander, “billows and breeze, islands and seas, mountains of rain and sun”. Only with seeing the beauty that is the Isle of Skye in the various types of weather do you understand that phrase “mountains of rain and sun”.

Once across, we stopped at a little bakery in Mallaig and got some take-away sandwiches and coffee for lunch. We headed down the coast from Mallaig to Fort William on basically a parallel route to the one we had taken on the steam train. We got a good glimpse of the Silver Sands of Morar. We stopped off at the Glenfinnan Visitors Center and

got some great views of the Glenfinnan Viaduct (Photo 12 - 16). We walked down to the Bonny Prince Charlie Monument marking the site where he finally left Scotland by boat to go back to France after Culloden (Photo 12 - 17). As we were walking down to the water’s edge, we heard the faint tunes of a bagpipe coming from the old kirk – nothing like setting the mood.

We made a quick stop at the Glencoe Massacre Monument in Glencoe Village. It honors the loss of many of the Glencoe MacDonalds in 1692 at the hands of the Campbells and government forces supporting King William III. King William demanded that all the clans sign an oath of allegiance to him, initially with the promise of money and land. Any clan signing the oath before January 1692 would be pardoned, while those who did not sign would be punished as traitors.

We then drove back to Glasgow via Glencoe and Loch Lomond. Glencoe is one of the most beautiful areas in the Highlands and is well known for its mountains and valleys. It’s a very popular area for hikers and climbers. We stopped for some pictures at the Three Sisters which are three prominent peaks that together are known as Bidean Nam Bian (Photo 12 - 18). Andy filmed a birthday video for our youngest grandson, Baker Noble, who turned seven today!

If yesterday was about wind, rain, and waterfalls today was about rainbows. We saw several throughout the day (Photo 12 - 19).

We arrived back in Glasgow at our hotel at around 6:00 pm saying goodbye to Andy. Our nine days with Andy have really been the highlight of our trip!

We quickly settled in and then ate dinner at a little taco place near the hotel that we had frequented when we were in Glasgow before. It was fun because two of the staff recognized us!

Sunday, October 2, 2022

We had breakfast at Gandolfi’s. Bruce had a pastrami sandwich and Sarah had avocado toast with poached eggs. We had a leisurely morning and then took a taxi to Queen Street Station to catch our 12:00 pm train. We arrived at the station at 11:20 am and was able to get on the 11:30 train to Waverly Station in Edinburgh. It’s about a 45-minute train ride.

We got a taxi to our Airbnb in the Brunstfield area, unpacked, rested a bit, walked a bit, and rested some more. Sarah worked on the blog. We had dinner at Montpeliers. Bruce had French onion soup. Sarah had sea bass.

After dinner, we stopped into Tescos to get a few items and headed home for an early night. We are starting our three weeks in Edinburgh (our last three weeks in Scotland).