As is tradition (get it, Sean?) at B&B's, we had breakfast at Treetops again though thankfully a smaller portion than the day before. I declined the sausage and ate only half a piece of toast. At this point, Hubband and I had decided that Treetops had likely spoiled us for B&B's for the remainder of the trip. It really was the best place we stayed. Well, except maybe Sunday night's lodging but you have to wait to find out what that is...
Because Team Schmaltz is nothing if not determined to succeed, we went back to the Ben Nevis Distillery after being turned away the afternoon before due to previously scheduled bus tours (which we're told always get priority) only to find that there was a full day of buses ahead of us. We surmised we were lied to by the gal manning the distillery the night before as we were told that the next day was "wide open". When we inquired whether there might be space the next day, we were told again that we could come back at 10am the next morning again for a tour. As you might guess, we were somewhat skeptical so we stayed briefly in the lobby to read various description boards about the distillation process and overheard that, in fact, the whole NEXT day was also full of bus tours that the gentleman didn't think to tell us when we were told to come back the next morning! I'm starting to think that he just didn't like giving tours and so lied about bus tours coming all the time.
In the long run, though, we won. Why, you ask? Because we got these hilarious photos, and because I ended up buying a beautiful, 25 year old whisky from a shop that was from the Ben Nevis Distillery. Oh... wait... is that another win for the distillery? They didn't have to give me a tour or a free sample and I still bought their product? Dang...
Heilan' Coo's (Highland Cows!)
This one actually scared me a bit when he moo'd.
Almost as big as a Highlander, I am. But, I ask you, is he a "true" highlander? *wink*
So, rather than visiting the distillery we decided to drive to Mallaig and take the ferry over to the Isle of Skye. BUT! On the way up we found this beautiful old church in the middle of nowhere. I screamed "STOP" and Hubband, after almost having a heart attack, pulled over so we could take a look. It was open to the public so we enjoyed a tour around the outside and inside. We found some gems, to be sure!
Where's Meaghan and Hubband?
Shout out to all my Canadian peeps, yo!
I did a total double-take. I'm somewhat obsessed with BPC and the whole Culloden battle.
After this unexpected stop, and once Hubband's heart rate returned to normal, we arrived just in time to be ushered to the front of the ferry line in Mallaig. We had about 45 minutes to wait for the ferry so decided to hit up the local Mallaig coffee shop for... you guessed it... coffee. Mallaig is freakin' cold!
Hubband had a coffee, and a strawberry tart ('cuz he can't say no to sweeties). After he ordered this, a patron (or potentially the owner of the coffee shop) took all of the rest of the strawberry tarts and hid them. He looked pretty mischievous and very pleased with himself.
By the time we landed on Skye it was about 12:45 so we drove briefly up the coast and found a town called Broadford and had a bite of lunch at a pub/restaurant called The Claymore. It did, in fact, have a large Claymore on the wall above the bar (which if you look closely you can see below but I was "creative" and cut most of the sword out of the picture - well done me!). I had haddock and chips (again) and a glass of ginger beer. Hubband had squat lobster swimming in butter (no exaggeration) and a side of veggies which seem fairly hard to come by in Scotland. Plenty of meats and starches to be had. And two new food categories: beer and whisky. Both excellent but hard on the waistline.
This is Banoffee Pie - banana's and toffee with whipped cream and chocolate drizzle. Hubband was in Heaven!
Post-lunch (and another belt-notch looser) we planned to drive from Broadford to Ardelve/Kyle to visit Eilean Donan castle. Fortunately, or unfortunately, the jury is still out, we met with a couple from Nova Scotia at the Claymore restaurant who talked up Dunvegan Castle so much that we decided to head there before back down the road to Eilean Donan. Turns out, "down the road" was an hour and a half in each direction.
Just as we were leaving The Claymore, however, I noticed that our back tire was a bit low. We found a gas station just down the road and filled the tire (or "tyre" as the sign would say). We also filled with petrol (unleaded gas to us 'Mericans) and found that the gas price was about £5.60 per gallon - at the current exchange rate, that's $9.62 cents per gallon. Talk about highway robbery! The only saving grace is that the car gets about 50 miles to the gallon and the country isn't all that big!
We made it to Dunvegan Castle (home of the MacLeod clan) by 4:15pm and had a great time wandering through the castle. While I was, by no means, "castle-d" out by this point, Dunvegan Castle didn't strike me as anything all that extraordinary. Alas, as with most castles, we weren't allowed to take pictures inside so you'll just have to look it up if you want to see what it was like inside.
Outside, however, I've got you covered:
One of four major gardens...
Duh duh da duh! Dunvegan Castle!
Overlooking the Loch
Front door - this is as far as they'd let me go with the camera
Front gates... from the inside...
At this point you've likely noticed that we're on the road a lot. Which means we have to stop to use the restrooms in some random places. We managed to take in a wide array of different types of restrooms but this one, in particular, at Dunvegan Castle, was picture-worthy. I don't think we had a bathroom this fancy anywhere else on the trip. Random.
It was just after 6pm by the time we worked our way down to Eilean Donan Castle only to find out that it had closed moments before. We were able to walk around the castle on the outside but weren't able to get inside, which is where the real magic is. We were told to come back the next day and thought we wouldn't be able to. So we drove our sorry selves back to the Treetops B&B and were back in our room by 9ish. We decided to just grab snacks at the local grocery store and have a cuddly night on our room.
A few of the sad photos from Eilean Donan Castle - the most romantic castle in Scotland:
Looking back across the bridge from the base of the castle
Looking at the castle from the parking lot
The Clan MacRae roll - World War 1
All said and done, the schedule I set up before going here has gone completely to pot and we're just winging each day depending on the weather - which is mostly rain!
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