Step back, Breathe, and Take it all in...

We got an early start this morning. We had planned to be at breakfast when they opened at 8:00 only to find out they actually opened at 8:30. Oops! We spent a few more minutes in our rooms before heading down and enjoying a full Scottish breakfast. Well, I ate the bacon (ham) and egg... part of the sausage, and took a bite of the black pudding so I could say I tried it. 

After breakfast, we looked at the map and planned our route to travel the Trotternish Peninsula. We were following Rick Steves’ guidance (if you don’t know about his books, check them out!), and we were glad we did. Definitely hit some highlights that we may have missed otherwise. 

Right off the bat, we saw some Heilan coos right next to the road. The day was off to a good start!

The road was single lane most of the way, but had “passing places” fairly often. Ken continued to be a rockstar driver and took it all in stride. 

One of the first things we came to was “Old Man of Storr.” 

Soon after that we came to Kilt Rock, a sea cliff with a waterfall nearby. We hit it at the right time of day with the sun behind us. It was a mesmerizing view!

Another beautiful angle at that same stop...



We kept driving... beautiful views everywhere as usual... and came to the Skye Museum of Island Life. The museum was closed which was okay with us because we wanted to keep a good pace today. We did walk behind the museum to the Kilmuir Cemetery. There we saw the monument (with a huge Celtic cross) to Flora MacDonald, a local heroine who rescued the Jacobite hero Bonnie Prince Charlie.

We continued on and ended up in a town called Uig (OO-eeg). There we found a public toilet, a cute pottery shop, and scones!

Rick Steves then sent us to The Fairy Glen. This was one of those that we never would have found on our own. We got to climbing and headed to the top, Ken on one side and Pauline and I on the other. 

Here’s Ken at the top of the other side!





Next we set “Maggie,” our navigation system, to direct us to the Eilean Donan Castle. Some have said it’s the most photographed castle in Scotland, and my church history professor gave it a high recommendation. We were so glad we put it on the itinerary!

I loved seeing these rock towers and thinking of the Biblical image of an Ebenezer...

When we were leaving that castle, a man overheard our conversation about distilleries and offered advice. He told us there wasn’t much between there and Inverness, where we were headed for the night, but gave us two recommendations for tomorrow. We got out the map again and planned our route to Inverness, going by Loch Ness and Urquhart Castle. 

Loch Ness is huge. We didn’t feel any need to tour it at all, but we were glad to see it. We did see lots of the tourist shops... people say it’s more of a tourist trap than anything else. 

We watched a brief video before walking around what’s left of the castle. That video reminded me of the many things I learned in Church History! Here’s the castle...

This was likely where the chapel once stood.



View from above



First view of Loch Ness when approaching the castle



I walked down to dip my fingers in the water!



Beautiful!



Once we left the castle, we were driving along when Ken said, “Bagpiper on the left!” Not something you hear everyday...

We arrived in Inverness to our B&B, Castle View Guest House, and met our hostess, Eleanor. She gave us the tour and showed us to our rooms, then sent us on our way because she had just called to make us dinner reservations, and they could get us in in ten minutes!

We ate an amazing dinner at Fig & Thistle Bistro. Highly recommend it if you’re ever in Inverness. 

Strawberry cider for me - made in Scotland! Wonder if I can get this in the States...



Butternut squash risotto... mmmmmmmmmm.



Iced Cranachan Parfait... also delicious!



After dinner we walked the streets of Inverness and enjoyed the sights. This is a beautiful city!

The Inverness Town House & Chamber of Commerce... or Cinderella’s Castle? We were waiting for Tinkerbell to make her appearance...



This is the Free North Church. It has the highest spire in Inverness at 170 feet!  This Presbyterian spending time in a Scotland is soaking up all the facts I can find. :)



Bridge over the River Ness. 





Today I kept reminding myself to take it all in. Yes, I’ve been doing that the whole trip, but I think I was more intentional today. I found myself snapping a picture or two and then just spending time enjoying the scenery. Take time to stop and smell the roses...

All in all, another banner day! Tomorrow we head back to Edinburgh with a couple of distillery stops along the way. Can’t wait to get back to the Lovell family and tell them all about our adventures!