Post 19: Isle of Skye and "Coolin" Mountains

We left Thursday and headed toward Inverness to "renew" our rental car contract. Thankfully, Hertz let us keep the same car for the lower price, and we saved them the hassle of having to clean and ready the car for someone else. We had another nice drive past Loch Ness on our way to the Isle of Skye. We stopped in at Urquhart Castle to see the ruins and walk through the Visitors Center. By now, we're getting tired of touring castles, so we soon hopped back in the car for the drive to Skye. The mountains on the way were worth the long drive with the many streams and waterfalls flowing down the mountains at every bend in the road. And speaking of bends in the road--there were plenty of those to make a person carsick!

The Isle of Skye is by far the most beautiful part of Scotland we've seen. With dramatic landscapes ranging from rugged mountain peaks to rushing waterfalls, vast moors, and rocky beaches, we spent two days in complete awe. Skye is located off the west coast of the mainland of Scotland, and it is the largest of what is known as the Inner Hebrides. The island is famous in history, for it is here that Flora Macdonald harbored Bonnie Prince Charlie, disguising him as a maid, and helped him escape to France after the famous Jacobite battle in Culloden.

We had a "lovely" stay on the island for 2 nights. Upon arrival, we drove around the Cuillen (pronounced Coolin) Mountains in southern Skye to hike to the Fairy Pools. We had read that these were beautiful waterfalls that cascaded into turqoise-colored pools. I'm not quite sure what fairies have to do with the pools, but they were spectacular. And the mountains peaks in the background were amazing! The trail wove its way through a meadow, and of course we were surrounded by sheep! Abby took Heather, her violet fairy, to dip her toes in one of the shallow pools formed on the rocks. Abby also found a fairy egg (a large smooth stone sort of shaped like an egg) and a nest of fairy eggs (more stones). Adventures with a 4-yr-old imagination are so much more interesting than what we could imagine ourselves.

We ate dinner at an Indian restaurant, where the owners took advantage of us ignorant traveling Americans. The food was good, though very expensive. Our Bed and Breakfast had a beautiful view of the ocean and Cuillen Mountains, complete with sheep in the garden. We rested well after the long drive and hike.