The Isle of Skye- Day 1

The night before we left for Skye, our flat lost hot water. Really needing showers, my flatmates and I walked in our towels down to Mel’s flat and used up all the water there before returning to ours at 11pm to start packing. We were up bright and early to meet the tour group at the main gates at 8am. After a a sleepy hour or two, we made it to Luss, a small village that sits at the south side of Loch Lomond. Here we stopped into a nice shop selling local tweed and plaid, then walked down to the Loch. It was still early, and we saw the sun rising over the hills.

Loch Lomond

Beautiful houses lining the street down the the Loch

In the town of Luss

We stopped again as we were winding up into the highlands for some photos, the views here were so moody and silently beautiful.

Highland views

Cheese! (feeling real Scottish with my plaid)

Our next stop was in Glencoe at the 3 Sisters. The 3 Sisters are 3 rolling hills (I mean, they are technically mountains but its hard to see them as mountains when I’m picturing the Rockies) that have been featured in movies like The Prisoner of Azkaban and Skyfall. The landscape is so beautiful I could have stayed there for a few hours exploring the trails at the base at the mountain.

3 Sisters in Glencoe

Heather at the foot of the 3 sisters

I spy Mel!!!

Hikers look like ants on a hill

Loch Garry is a Loch in the shape of Scotland and so we climbed a little hill to get a good view.

Loch Garry

Loch Garry

Loving the Loch and being embarrassing for my friends

After this, we stopped at Eilean Donan castle, one of Scotland’s most photographed castles, and used in movies like Made of Honour (which I made everyone watch when we got home). It is amazing to think that a family still owns this, and I find it so cool because in England, this would be property of the royal family, and touring it would be so busy and expensive. In Scotland, they are passed down to family through the clan system and is in the middle of the highlands. Although it is owned by the Conchra Trust (to take take of the restorations), there is still a family who lives there for part of the year when it isn’t open to the public. You can see that these types of castles were made primarily for defence; in the main keep the walls are 14 feet thick! We met this nice man who worked there and was telling us all about that the room would be used for (dining room for the soldiers, he told us it was for “chilling out” while using air quotes haha). We couldn’t take pictures inside the rooms but the main keep was dark and cozy, with low wooden ceilings, stone walls and a fireplace at one end for cooking. A set of stairs led to the main dining room, a very red, grand room, with soaring ceilings and huge portraits. We found a very narrow staircase to the upper apartments where the bedrooms were- and hanging on the walls and on nightstands were pictures of the family that stay there. The rooms were quite simple and so pretty. I opened one little door and there was a hanging skeleton and I jumped so badly then had the giggles for the rest of the time in there. On our way down, we went into the kitchen- set up with fake people and food and sounds to appear as it would have been when this was a working castle.

Eilean Donan Castle

Eilean Donan Castle

The walk up to Eilean Donan Castle

On the bridge leading to Eilean Donan Castle

Walls of the original castle

Eilean Donan Castle

Fort William was our last stop before Skye and we had lunch in a cafe and then got back on the bus very excited to get into Skye. In total, it took us 9 hours to get to the Isle, which is considered ridiculously long in European standards but quite okay for all the North Americas. People are always amazed to hear that I go to school 3 and a half hours from home, because in their world those 3 hours would see them passing through 3 countries. We arrived just before sunset, passing over the Skye bridge onto the Isle and drove to the hostel where we were staying the night. After dropping our stuff on the bunks, we walked through the town to the old bay with a path leading up to the ruins of Caisteal Moil. My phone and camera had died at this point, I only have mental pictures of being at the top. Those, and ones that I stole from my friends. After this, we walked up to the top of the Skye bridge just as it was getting dark. We then went back down and had an amazing dinner at the pub by our hostel, Saucy Mary’s and then some drinks before heading back to rooms and chatting before setting our alarms for way too early the next morning.

Arriving in Skye

On the Skye bridge

Our hostel and Saucy Mary’s

Hiking to Caisteal Moil castle

On our way

Caisteal Moil castle ruins

Day 2 post will come tomorrow!