Traveling

    On Monday, we drove the 150 miles from Ullapool to Bettyhill, a little village way up north.  Way, way up north.

    Our first stop was at Ardvreck Castle, situated on Loch Assynt.  There's not much left of it.

                                     We did not encounter any of Ardvreck's ghosts.

    It was a bit rainy, and quite windy, so our visit was short.  Our next stop was in the town of Lochinver, to get lunch, from a little restaurant that is somewhat famous for it's pies.  Then we stopped at Farr Beach, whose uniquely colored waters and white sands made a popular vacation site.  Not today, though, since we were trying not to get blown away.

We did get to go into an old fisherman's bothy, or hut, and learn about salmon fishing here.

    Then we attempted to take a small road out to a lighthouse.  The three best words to describe it- windy, wet, winding.  It was closed, after all that effort.

    The drive up to Durness took us through some remarkable landscapes.  Unfortunately, it was rainy and cloudy, so we couldn't see much of it.  

                                        That's pretty much what we saw.

    When we finally made it to Durness, we were rejuvenated by a chocolate shop recommended to us by a shopkeeper in Ullapool.  We got some delicious hot chocolate and truffles.

                                    Alfred really doesn't need the extra calories.

    From there, it wasn't too far of a drive to our hotel in Bettyhill.  First, we had to cross the Kyle of Tongue.  A kyle is a body of water.

                                   This way we'll always remember the name.

    Then we had to go around another loch, and finally arrived in Bettyhill.  There was a great view of the beach from the front of the hotel, but, unfortunately, we were in the way back.  Oh well.

    The next morning, we had to get an early start to get to the airport.  From Wick-John O'Groats airport (way out there), we flew to Edinburgh, then to Belfast.  There we picked up another rental car (manual-scary!), and drove to Bushmills, where we spent the night.  Northern Ireland has a lot of history, but that's for next time.

Sheep, 5, Dogs,1

    On Saturday, we left Skye and drove to Ullapool, a popular vacation town for people from Great Britain.  On the coast, it provides the ferry to Isle of Lewis.  We found it to be quite touristy, but I'm not there yet.

    It was about three hours drive from Skye to Ullapool.  On the way, we saw a sign for sheepdog trials.  This was something my mom really wanted to see, so we turned around to take a look.  They were just getting started again after their lunch break.

The first ones who went, a younger boy with his dog, did very well.  The rest, not so much.

    We arrived at our B&B later, and by the time we got motivated enough to go find some dinner, it was at least 6:30, and dark and rainy.  The owner of the B&B though we were crazy, walking along the beach into town in that weather.  But we survived, and had an excellent dinner at the local pub.  I don't like seafood much, but even I enjoyed the fish and chips.

    The next morning, we headed back into town, this time by car.  It was a bit rainy, so we explored the shops.  I bought a pair of gloves, the weather being what it was.  There were a few shops, very touristy.  Want a kilt?  You can get it there.  Tartan hair clips, pencils, socks, plates, notebooks, salt and pepper shakers, boxers.  T-shirts patterned with sheep, and slippers that look like Highland cattle.  How about some Harris tweed gloves, made in China?

    But then the sun came out.  Hoping to make the most of it, we ran back to our car and drove out to Knockan Crag.  There you can see a geological mystery.  Well, actually, it's been solved, so it's not a mystery anymore.  A geological phenomenon.

Sure, it looks cool, but there's something even weirder.  The top layer is 500,000,000 years older than the one below it!

    How could this happen, you might wonder?  Well, I have an answer.  Remember how in Edinburgh we learned that Scotland was once connected to North America, then collided with England?  That was when this happened.  This area was compressed when the two landmasses crashed together.  The compression caused something called thrust, where deeper layers of rock are pushed up from below.  And that is how we are able to see rock that is 1,000,000,000 (one billion) years old.

    Conveniently, the coming thunderstorm held off until we finished our hike, had lunch, and went back to the B&B.  Then it unleashed it's full force on us, knocking out the wifi, and giving me an excuse not to blog.

Skye Walkers

               Highland cattle.  I don't know what it is about them.  They're just so amusing.

    Friday was a hiking day.  On Skye, we stayed on a working farm.  There were cows (not this one), sheep, and sheepdogs.  I had my own little loft at the B&B.

                                                    It was cheerier than it looks.

    Our first hike was very short.  It was out to Duntelm Castle, on the edge of a rocky bluff.  Unfortunately, there was no information on who had lived there, and when.  But even if there had been, I doubt we would have gotten to read much of it.  About ten minutes in to our visit (maybe less), the skies opened up, and we had to make a dash for the car.  We got soaked anyway.

    After waiting out the downpour, we proceeded to Rubha Hunish.  I think I spelled that right.  At least the last part.  The clouds held off while we took our hike, up to some nice overlooks.  That's where we saw that cow.

    After a quick snacky lunch in the boot of the car, we decided to take the inland road back to Uig (ooh-ig), a town not far from where we were staying.  Impulsively, we decided to take another hike, this one called Bioda Buibhe (you'll have to look up the pronunciation yourself).  It was pretty steep, and very boggy, but the view at the end was worth it.

    That evening we dined in Uig, on the ferry pier.  The rest of the day was uneventful.

Feral Goats, 2 Miles

I love the sign posts here.  They seem so unaware of their phrasing.  " Hidden dip" is another of my favorites.  And there's one that looks kind of like a mustache with the ends chopped off.  Or like an upside down bra, if you have that kind of brain.  Either way, it means "bumpy road ahead".

    At 7:33 yesterday (Thursday) morning, we took the train from Waverly Station in Edinburgh up to Perth.  There we picked up our rental car and headed to Isle of Skye.  Dad was driving.  He got the hang of driving on the left side of the road pretty quickly.  Still, roads being what they are, I (the responsible one here) made a rule that the navigator may not criticize the driver, and the driver may not criticize the navigator.  The same goes for telling each other how to do their job.

    The drive was beautiful.  Who knew there were mountains in Scotland?  We did raise the question as to whether these were big hills or small mountains.  And then we rounded a bend and saw Ben Mor.  Definitely small mountains.

   

                                      There is so much a camera can't capture.

    Our day wasn't super eventful.  We drove the 200 miles through the Highlands to Isle of Skye.  The scenery was beautiful.  The mountains were majestic.  The bus loads of tourists were amusing.  There were sheep.

                                            The creatively named Loch Lochy

   If I showed this to someone and told them it was Loch Ness, they'd probably believe me.  Most people don't know their Scottish lochs.  This, however, was a particularly nice loch.  There were raspberries.  And fewer tourists.