Scotland Honeymoon: May 13, 2011

It's official - it's going to be pretty hard for any B&B in Scotland, or anywhere else we visit in the future, to rival Treetops. The room is glorious, the breakfasts are divine and the bed? Almost better than what I sleep on at home. We slept like the dead all three nights we spent at Treetops and were sad to have to depart save for the adventures that were surely on the horizon for us. 

We were on the road by 9am again, this time bound and determined to see the INSIDE of Eilean Donan Castle, despite it being an hour and a half out of our way. I was so upset not to see it the night before. We, Team Schmaltz, that is, decided that from here on out we'd scrap the color-coded itinerary I'd put so many hours into before the trip, thus leaving ourselves free to do whatever we wanted to do. And Mama wanted to see Eilean Donan. It was SO worth it! It's called Scotland's most romantic castle and boy is it ever! How we were talked into Dunvegan Castle over this one, I'll never know, though I suppose its better to see more, than less, since who knows when we'll ever get back there.

The original Eilean Donan had been blown to bits during the time of Robert the Bruce (early 1300's I'm pretty sure, though there are a lot of details about a lot of castles swimming around in my brain right now) but was rebuilt in 1913 by Clan Chief MacRae and it's stunning. We were able to take pictures in the inner courtyard and it was so awesome. What do you think?

The castle sits on a small island accessible only by a bridge or water. Given the terrain it was more often than not accessed (and attacked) from the water-side.

The front door from the bridge-side.

 What you see when you look through the front door! It's magical... 

View of the Loch from the main courtyard of the castle... pity it's not a nice view... *wink*

This outcropping is in the middle of the castle - the largest rock to the left of the picture was put there on purpose!

Yes, I wore that bright green jacket every day... it rained. A lot.

Looking up towards the main living quarters from the central courtyard.

Looking down towards the front door from the top of the outcropping of rocks.

A little hidey hole - excellent for a romantic tryst if the fancy strikes you!

 Top of the wall that leads to the castles water source - it was so pretty!

One last look before we departed.

It was just after 12:30 when we were back on the road after touring Eilean Donan. But this time, rather than returning to Fort William, we were headed to our next leg of the journey: Inverness. On the way, we stopped at Glenshiel, a valley where a brief battle during the war of Independence (1715) took place. The Jacobites took on the English and were quickly snuffed out. The next big battle wouldn't be for 31 years and we're going to see that field on Sunday. Know what it is?

I'm not one for battles, but I think I'd rather have the high ground on this one... a bit dicey from the bottom, no?

So freakin' green!

As we got closer to Inverness we found ourselves driving north along Loch Ness. We decided to take a boat tour of Loch Ness and Urquhart Castle at 3pm so stopped at Clansman Harbor at 2pm for a bite of lunch before getting on the boat. I had a delicious cream of broccoli soup to warm the body and a melty brie and cranberry sandwich. OMG! My life is forever changed. I can't wait to try to remake this sandwich. I haven't yet because there's little in that's good for me but someday, when I'm ready to fully indugle... Hubband had a cheesy macaroni with chorizo crusts (basically small bits of mild chorizo sausage). Fortified by more starch we headed out into the hail for our boat ride. Yes, you read that right. Hail! But we mustered on and had a great time chatting about Nessie and becoming mesmerized by the waves.

When we reached Urquhart Castle we had a moment to look at the trebuchet before it started to absolutely pour!!! I took a brief moments refuge in the gate house though had no room for Hubband. Hee hee...

Most of us on the tour took shelter in the main gates of the Castle for about 5 minutes to wait out the rain but then the sun came out and the world felt new again. It made me think of a saying from my time in Kananaskis: Don't like the weather? Wait 5 minutes. But we'd have to amend it a bit here: Don't like the weather? Wait 5 minutes. Then another 5 and it'll rain again!

This was the Guard Room. I'd hazard a guess that it wasn't quite so comfortably furnished way back when...

This is where they put the bad guys.

 

The brand new stained boardwalk into the castle still cracks me up...

And no, I haven't altered the colors - the sky was THAT COLOR!

Rainbow #1!

Rainbow #2

I finally agreed to take a picture with Hubband. I felt a mess but this turned out ok in the end!

A huge watershed just outside the castle.

Back on the boat towards dry land. It was freezing. But we were on Loch Ness so who cares!

The water-side of Urquhart Castle.

I'm pretty sure they put bad people in this hole... but it might have been for something else. I don't remember!

Rainbow #3 - a rainbow over Loch Ness. 

Back at the docks with NESSIE!

When were done with our soggy boat tour by 5:00pm, we drove the last 15 minutes in to Inverness to our next B&B: Bannerman. It's a tiny little place amongst a myriad of other B&B's along Glenurquhart Road just outside the heart of Inverness on the south side of town. We were in our room by 5:30 and crashed soon thereafter. We did find time for some hot chocolate and reading before bed that's about it. We. Were. Pooped.