UK & Ireland, Day 7: Scotland, You Magnificent Beast

Tuesday, 5/31/16

For breakfast at the Invergarry Hotel, I had the Homemade Belgian Waffle with Fresh Fruit Compote, Yoghurt, & Honey. Unfortunately, my waffle was cold under all of these toppings. Francisco went with the Cooked Vegetarian Breakfast, but they must have misheard him because they brought him the Cooked Scottish Breakfast instead [which included bacon, sausage, and black pudding]. They swapped it out without issue.

Today, we were travelling to the Isle of Skye, and I can't even begin to tell you how beautiful this part of Scotland was.  The day started out overcast, but we were overall so lucky with weather on this trip.

The day had already started to clear before we even reached Eileen Donan Castle, recognized as one of the most iconic images of Scotland as its situated on an island where three great sea lochs meet and its surrounded by some majestic scenery.

Eileen Donan Castle

There was a lot to see in the Isle of Skye, so we didn't stop in to visit this castle, just pulled over for some pics.  And took the opportunity for me to jump behind the wheel of the car while we were in the safety of the parking lot, so I could say I drove in the UK, too! ;)

Our first official stop was the Old Man of Storr, the most famous walk on the Island. The 'Old Man' is a large pinnacle of rock that stands high and can be seen for miles around. I was hoping there would be a bathroom, but no such luck, so I may or may not have had to sneak off to the side of the road to relieve myself before beginning our hike.

It was very windy and chilly as we began our long uphill climb.

The view was pretty spectacular, both of the ever closer 'Old Man' as well as the view behind us.  My footing was a little more unsure on the climb down as the gravel tended to shift under our feet, so I took a spill and landed hard on my butt. Good thing I've got ample padding back there. ;)

Our next stop was at Kilt Rock, a sea cliff in north east Trotternish.

We were starving, so we were so grateful to run into the Skye Pie Cafe, where we shared the super-tasty Grannies Cheese & Onion savoury pie as well as the Sticky toffee pudding with cream.

Our last stop on the Isle of Skye was Neist Point Lighthouse. This is one of the most famous lighthouses in Scotland, and it's on the most westerly tip of Skye. The lighthouse itself isn't really much to see, so this was really just a long walk out to the lighthouse to give you a good vantage point of the cliffs and sea.

I took my time on the walk back up since this was our last stop of the day.

On the way up, we started hearing a sheep bleating and realized that he had gotten himself stuck on the cliff wall. Luckily, there were some rock climbers there that set off on a mission to rescue him.

We headed off the Isle and on to the Ben Nevis Hotel & Leisure Club. It was about an hour and a half to the hotel, and of course there hadn't been any bathrooms at Neist Point, so I may have had to get creative on the side of the road again. I have a small bladder, what can I say?!

The hotel was older, but it was one of the more spacious rooms we had stayed in. Unfortunately, we did not have a good night's sleep. There was a squeaky hallway door outside our door, and we could hear a lot of hallway noise.

Our Fitbit's reported that we had walked the equivalent of over 100 flights of stairs today - there was a lot of uphill walking! At the restaurant downstairs, we had a simple but tasty dinner of ravioli with a side of vegetables.