The torch be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die...

Isle of Skye

We awoke this morning at a wonderful B&B in Kyle on the Isle of Skye in Scotland.  Skye is renowned for its beauty and world class hiking opportunities--alas, we didn't have enough time to partake (or the inclination to spend more time walking...thanks very much, William Wallace). In fact, we were so tired from getting in at midnight that we were late for Breakfast--a travesty at a B&B, since some lovely houseowner is working to make your toast.  We decided we would just go downstairs in pajamas and to hell with anyone who judged us.

Eilean Donan Castle

I fear we sent many to hell that morning.  Everyone else in the rooms was appropriately attired--I was wearing a t-shirt with the neck cutout and Kathleen was wearing vintage Cows from PEI.  We are classy broads.  

The real reason we came to Skye was to see Eilean Donan Castle, near Kyle of Lochalsh.  When we finally hauled ourselves from the B&B, we were late for the castle and had to be in Inverness at a certain time for a Loch Ness tour.  We decided to power through the castle, since we had come so far to see it.  By power, I mean run in, see all we could in 40 mins, and run out.  Can't miss Nessie.

Eilean Donan is beautiful, and is the ancestral home of Clan MacCrae.  Being Canadian, we instantly thought of John MacCrae and his poem In Flanders Fields -- we were very excited to see a memorial cairn quoting this text!

The original castle was built in 1230 as a fortification against the Vikings and switched hands many times after this.  It was also basically destroyed in 1719 during the Jacobite uprising.  The castle was restored between 1919 and 1932 by Lt. Col. John MacRae-Gilstrap.  It is one of the most photographed castles in Scotland and is frequently seen in films (Highlander with Sean Connery!) (tl;dr).


After this, we trekked through the Highland hills to Inverness, ancestral home of my family, the MacKintosh's.  We had a tour to catch, so I showed off my parking-vulture skills and stalked an SUV to swoop into a perfect parking location.  We had a bit of a hunt to find the bus stop for our tour, but after some help from Mary at the Salvation Army, we were successful.  We boarded the bus, and headed for the boat.

I love boats.  So much.  It was freezing and damp, but that didn't get me down in the least.  We boarded the boat and got our first round of drinks for the ride. Whisky/Hot Chocolates are wonderful.  The highlight was when Kathleen was ondeck getting a photo and the waves splashed up and hit her in the face.  At least, that was the highlight for me (the highlight for me was when I daydreamed for about 10 minutes about kicking C in the face and then punching her in the scrawk.  That, and the scenery and junk).

The boat went down Loch Ness to Urquhart Castle, a beautiful area of ruins in the Loch.  Though extensively ruined, in its day it was one of the largest strongholds of medieval Scotland.  It is also near this castle that the majority of Nessie sightings occur-alas, we were not so lucky.  We basically ran around taking photos and looking like idiots--but it was a wonderful day and an incredible site.


When we got back to Inverness, we hit the high street for some shopping.  Alas, everything closes between 5-530.  We finally got a phone card though!  Weeee!  O2 sim card is in and we can call home now.  That's all we got.

Urquhart Castle and Loch Ness

We checked into a hostel tonight--the first of this trip--and hauled our stuff down a set of spiral stairs (my nemesis) to our room.  If you've ever hostelled, you know that many hostels, particularly those billed as "Student" hostels, have an age cap for those who wish to stay.  This hostel was not such a place.  Our room mates were older than the hills and very strange, but we didn't much care as we were just there to sleep (I should mention that, while C is able to sleep through a literal apocalypse [TOPICAL!], I was awakened at 2:30am by a total brofest.  Some German guy was expressing his deep man-love [possibly Ol' Gregg style] for some other guy, who may or may not have been a fellow hostel guest.  They hugged it out, each exclaiming that they "must" see the other the following day and retired to their rooms [or wherever].  It was so friggen heartwarming that I think it even warmed the subcockles of my heart.).


We sat and wrote blogs instead of going out tonight--a sad truth.  We have been slow in our blogging and are definitely too tired to go out, drink, and make the trip of tomorrow.


Tomorrow--a trip to the Glenfiddich distillery and heading through the Cairngorm National Park to Perth, Scotland.  Cannot wait.


              xoxo
              Cane