We returned home from Scotland a week ago, and I still miss it. That was one amazing, fantastic trip we took and I wish we could go back. We did so much hiking, and that was definitely everyone's favorite part (well, I was also pretty excited about all the sheep. Sheep!!) Daniel and Anya surprised us with their stamina and enthusiasm for all the trail walking and mountain hiking we undertook.
The last batch of photos I uploaded from the good camera are from the Isle of Skye, and we had three days in Scotland after that, so I'll have at least one more picture heavy post. Bear with me. Tuesday Night Fun Cooking! shall return!! Maybe next week when I've got my ducks in a row.
This was our hotel in Dunvegan on the Isle of Skye. The hotel proprietor and his wife were so kind and generous and wonderfully helpful.
They lent us a map, falling to pieces and marked with all of their favorite hiking trails, like the Quiraing and the Old Man of Storr on the Trotternish peninsula, and a beach where the sand is black from ancient volcanic ash and you can see fossilized dinosaur footprints when the tide is out (we couldn't find them).
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Fog at Quiraing
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Black sand.
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| Squishy seaweed and a pink sea snail. |
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| Somewhere here there are dinosaur footprints. |
We visited Dunvegan castle, which is still the official residence of the Chief of the clan MacLeod. As castles go, it was less exciting than some, but it does house the
Fairy Flag, a 1600 year old scrap of silk rumored to have magical properties, and there was a really creepy, horrible dungeon you could peer down into. Fun fact: a small vent between the dungeon and the kitchens was built so forgotten prisoners starving to death could be further tortured by the smell of food being prepared for the castle's inhabitants.
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| This is perhaps the best picture we got of both kids, taken in the Dunvegan castle gardens. |
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Scenic green door in the Dunvegan castle gardens.
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Daniel swats at midges. They don't have mosquitoes in Scotland, but they have midges, which are almost as bad.
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Sheep were EVERYWHERE. I did not get tired of seeing sheep - dotting the hillsides, squeezing through fences, wandering into the road, grazing the field right next to our hotel...
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| Sheep!! |
When we had to leave Skye, we took our time. None of us really wanted to go, not yet. We eased our way off the island, and took a long stop in Sligachan for a final hike before heading to our next destination.
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| There was a brewery. |
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| I took this picture about a half hour before she fell in the mud. |
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| Bleak. Beautiful. |
I'm homesick for Skye already.
One more Scotland post and then this blog will be back to my normal life...for whatever that's worth!
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