Isle of Skye

We set off this morning to see the southern part of The Isle of Skye. We are currently staying on a road that is one lane and basically "gives way" to the sheep of Skye so one has to make sure to leave with enough time to allow for that. On our way out this morning we encountered these fellows!

Maybe they were waiting for the local bus? 

We made it to the small fishing village of Elgol where we hopped aboard The Misty Isle for a trip out into the Loch to see the Cuillin "Hills." Let me first say that I will be the first to acknowledge that I am not a science person. Therefore, I don't know what makes something a hill vs a mountain. However, these "hills" sure looked like mountains to me!

In fact the one on the right actually looked like a volcano with the cloud billowing out of it and all!

You can't tell from the pictures as it was a bit misty and rainy as it is Scotland after all, but the water was crystal clear!

There are the "hills" again from the dock of the boat!

We had the option to get off the boat and "hike back" however, those of you who know me know that I am a bit accident prone. See those "hills" and how they are mostly big chunks of rock? Well, we decided that the chances were pretty good that there would have to be an evacuation after I fell on a rock, or fell into the water, or fell off a cliff. So, we road the boat back. 

On the way back the captain who was a local to the small fishing village told us to watch this following YouTube clip of a local Skye resident who does mountain biking stunts and did one that they did a short on. The entire stunt was based on "The Ridge" of these hills. Yeah, just watch. I wouldn't WALK that let along do any of that with or on a bike! 

Danny Macaskill "The Ridge" Video

On our car ride back through Skye I had my first encounter with the animal I have been on the hunt for and here he is!

Meet the Highland Cow or Bull as the case may be. They are known for their LONG horns and their double coat of curly thick hair!

This hair allows them to overwinter in the cold climates of the Highlands of Scotland. They can withstand temperatures almost to that of the caribou and reindeer. 

We then continued back toward our cottage on Skye stopping at a cute little shop right by our cottage called Skye Weavers. The nice young man who works there gave us a demonstration of how they "hand make" their tweed material. Actually they use a loom that is run by a bicycle like machine. 

Think of how many steps one would get in during the day! I actually bought a nice wool blanket that is being shipped home to the US so I don't have to count the weight in my luggage allowance!

We ended our day of adventure by traveling out to the end of the peninsula we are staying on. It is actually the Western most tip of Scotland. The sky cleared as we made our way out to the point.

It was an absolutely beautiful and peaceful sight.

The Neist Point Lighthouse is just over the cliff.

You can see the lighthouse way out in the distance. That is the farthest point west in Scotland.

Narrow Roads and Amazing Views

We set off today for the Isle of Skye, however, we decided to take the scenic route and have a little adventure along the way. Our adventure took us along Bealach na Ba (Pass of the Cattle).  This is a single lane (called track in Scotland) road that is similar to roads we have traveled in high mountainous areas before in that it consisted of several switchbacks. The main difference is that due to the narrowness of the road there are passing places where you or another car has to pull over to give way.

Here is a look up from midway toward the top. See the big truck making its way down!

This is looking down from about the same point. 

Once we got to the top  we could see the entire peninsula. However, we didn't hang around too long as it was really windy and really cold.

So, we made our way back down to the bottom. I will say that two things amazed me. First, the roads may have been narrow, but they were exceptionally well maintained. NO potholes. Second, there were people biking up this mountain. I would have died at the bottom even thinking about doing that.

After this adventure we set off for Eilean Donan Castle. 

Does this look familiar? 

It has been used in several films such as:

The World is Not Enough

Here is the World Is Not Enough Eilean Donan Castle Link

Made of Honor. Check Out the Link Below!

Here is the Made of Honor Eilean Donan Castle Link

Finally we made our way to the Isle of Skye where we wound our way around some sheep friends to make it to our little Croft Cottage. 

This is our view from the cottage's back yard. Simply breathtaking!

Distilleries and Dogs

Today's first stop was the home of the smallest distillery in Scotland. Edradour Distillery is the last HANDMADE single malt whisky from a farm left in the country. 

This is the original distilling building from 1824. Although it recently had some updates, the entire process is done by hand. The company only had approximately 30 employees, 12 of which are tour guides.

Once the "wort" a mix of the water and mash is mixed it is at 180 degrees and must be bought down to about 60 in order for the yeast to be added. This distillery still uses a non-electric mode of cooling. This refrigeration unit puts the "wort" through and cools it with use of only local stream water. 

Then it is left to ferment in these large barrels which are made from Oregon pine.

Finally it is distilled twice through these small stills. These are the only two stills used by the company.

They then put the product into barrels for at least 10 years. However, there is one barrel in the warehouse that dates back to 1969.

This is the cool, clean, and peaceful water used in their whisky. Our tour guide Ian was fantastic. He wanted me to be sure to understand that Scotch Whisky should NEVER have 3 things added to it: ice, water, or Coke!

Our other stop for the day took us into the Highlands of Scotland, which meant so many sheep on the distant hillsides as we traveled. Our destination was a sheepdog demonstration. It was absolutely amazing. Neal, the head shepherd told us that the farm has over 3,000 sheep on it.  

The sheep are sent out into the hills and can roam up to 12 miles away. They are brought in 4 times a year for some aspect be it sheering or bathing. They use 35 dogs and 12 men to bring the sheep in.  You can see some of the dogs above that were used in the demonstration. They are Scottish Sheepdogs. They all know their separate jobs and will respond to their own individual commands. There are different whistles used for each command. He said the biggest thing is to make sure your dogs will "come back" because if they don't then you have a real problem! We thought that was funny!

They would lay down and wait until their signal and job was needed. It was pretty amazing. 

Then this little guy came out of nowhere. It was his "first day" ever trying to herd sheep. It was pretty amazing that he knew WHAT he was supposed to do, he just didn't know HOW to go about it properly. Like Neil said he was erratic. The other dogs just lay down and waited until the situation was WAY out of control and then came in to help. This puppy spent 10 minutes really trying to herd those sheep. For his first time he did a good job. Neil said he is going to be good once he gets trained. 

Then we got to HOLD the puppy!!! I wanted to bring him home with me. Maybe he could be a hallway herder at school?!?!?!

Seriously, look at that face! Kids would WANT to get to class!

Then there were the month old puppies. Love, love, love.

It was quite a day of distilleries and dogs!

The Home of Golf

Every 5 years the British Open is played on a course that is considered to be "The Home of Golf." Today we were able to visit and tour this iconic golf course that dates back more than 600 years. 

Right behind the sign you will see the tee for the first hole.

One interesting and unusual characteristic of St. Andrew's Old Course is that many of the greens (or holes for those less golf savvy) are shared. This means that they are twice as big and two sets of golfers may be playing on the green at the same time. There are only 3 holes that have individual greens and those are the first, seventeenth, and eighteenth hole. 

 This is the fairway of the first and eighteenth hole. Although they do not share a green they do have side by side fairways!

These holes also do not have any bunkers, trees, or rough. However, there are buildings, roads, and the other fairway on the sides so there is plenty to avoid and overcome.

Like the road goes right through the middle of the fairways! 

Or the fact that there are some major "hills" right around the green.

We were able to get on the famous "Swilican Bridge" that goes to the 18th Green. 

This bridge is over 600 years old and spans the Swilican Burn.

We were not quite greeted by the crowds like Jack was on his final farewell, but we felt pretty special! You may notice that we are way more bundled up than he was and it was around the same time of year. It is not uncommon for it to be exceptionally windy and misty on the course. 

The Golf Course sits on the West Sands beach. We were amazed that in this weather there were actually some people wind surfing in the water. They definitely had the wind for it, but wow, the temps were cold.

If the beach looks familiar, it was the one that was used for the opening running scene in Chariots of Fire. Can you hear the music playing in your mind? I can't imagine running today either. The sand was blowing everywhere!

Here is a link to the scene in case you want to watch! It even shows them running across the St. Andrew's fairway.

Chariots of fire Opening Running Scene

We will be anxiously awaiting July 2021 when the British Open is next at St. Andrew's so we can watch and remember our day here.

The Firth of Forth and Inchcolm Abbey

This morning we said goodbye to our cute little apartment in Edinburgh, walked to the train station, and picked up our car. After several verbal and mental reminders to "stay on the left," we were off. We started off our morning with a boat tour on the Firth of Forth. This is the body of water just north of Edinburgh. We hopped on this little beauty of a boat and were off with about 50 5-8 year olds from the local primary school. They were the most well behaved, polite, kind, and over all nice children. 

We arrived at Inchcolm Island after about a 30 minute trip. On the island we spent time exploring the ruins of the Inchcolm Abbey which was built in phases but was absolutely beautiful and breathtaking.

  

We spent time looking through all the areas including the old and new sanctuary, bell tower, cloisters, and dorms.

The only major incident we had was when Stevie was trying to get this beautiful shot of the Abbey and didn't realize there was a nest of Seagulls nearby. Needless to say Mama Seagull was not thrilled with her trespassing and attacked. I am glad to report she is no worse for wear although she did have to use our water to clean off her jacket afterwards.

We then took the rest of the afternoon to leisurely drive up the coast to our next apartment near St. Andrews. We are so taken with the amazing view we have here!

The picture can't even begin to do it justice. I think I will just spend the rest of my evening looking at the beauty of God's scenery.

One Day In Edinburgh--So Let's See It All

We only had one day in Edinburgh, so in Stevie and Amy fashion we made sure we made the most of it and saw all that we could in as little time that we had. A miracle happened that helped us out immensely and today was a beautiful bright and sunny day here in Edinburgh. Not one drop of rain, and hardly a cloud in the sky. In fact our tour guides were all concerned about the possibility of getting a sunburn!

Edinburgh Old Town is built like a body. The main road, which we are staying on is the main spine. At the top, where your head would be, is the castle. It sits on a volcanic site, so it sits high up. Off of the spine, similar to the ribs is what the Scottish call "closes." These are small alleyways. They look similar to this.

Edinburgh castle is more like a major fortress that consists of several buildings. Inside the fortress we were able to see...

The Cathedral Which is the Oldest Building in Edinburgh!

For 20,000 You Can Get Married Here As Well! However, Your Guest List Will Need Cut To Only 8!

The Great Hall

Which Has A Ceiling That Is Put Together with Nothing But Wood Pegs!

And The Royal Apartments! However, We Couldn't Take Pictures There So, Here Is That Blue Sky !

We then took an afternoon walking tour of the rest of the town. We walked all over with our tour guide David and heard many stories about Edinburgh while we saw the beauty of this city. 

We were able to get another breathtaking view of the New Town from Above. 

This courtyard in The University of Edinburgh was breathtaking.

David took us down this street that is filled with local shops. J.K. Rowling was inspired by many of these shops when she created her stores in Hogsmeade in Harry Potter.  

We saw many more "closes" or streets. Some of these were beautiful like this one. However, during the middle ages Edinburgh was not a very pleasant place to live and tenement buildings along these closes were 5-8 stories high. People were packed in tightly. As there was obviously no running water at the time. People would just dump their chamber pots/buckets out the windows into the closes below. 

Edinburgh was good to us! It gave us beautiful weather, kind and friendly people, and a fascinating and magical town.