As promised, I am picking up the trip through Scotland from Glasgow. Leaving Glasgow and Edinburgh behind us, we loaded up the car and headed north...way north. Our destination: Isle of Skye. Our friend drove..and drove...and drove some more. It took us over 5 hours from Glasgow to arrive to Isle of Skye. Very quickly upon leaving Glasgow the highway gave way to winding roads.
Along the way, the scenery was breathtaking. We passed fields with barren granite mountains in the background. There were countless lakes (lochs) that were so vast they seemed to go on forever. We drove for long stretches and never saw a house...but when we did come upon a village or town it was charming, welcoming and busy with the daily activities of its residents and guests like us. A stop for lunch, or break to stretch our legs or just a great photo op - the long day's drive was filled with diversions.
When we finally arrived to Isle of Skye, our friend told us that when he was a child there was no bridge and the cars were ferried over to the island. Thanks to the bridge (and much improved roads) the transit was a bit easier these days. We arrived to Kinloch Lodge (http://www.kinloch-lodge.co.uk/Default.aspx) the highland country home of the Macdonald family. Michelin starred restaurant was an added bonus to our stay - breakfast and dinner were included in our room rate. We had a corner room with sweeping views. Everything about our stay was perfect. One afternoon we visited the village of Portree and had lunch at Habour View Seafood. After lunch a short stroll and we came upon a trio of bagpipers.
After Skye we started our trek back down towards England. We spent two nights in Crieff and had the best time dining there as well. Seemed there was always a great meal no matter where we went! (See "Where We Ate" and "Where We Stayed" for more links.) Before leaving Crieff, we made the stop at a Scotch Distillery (there are so many to choose from!) and it was a really great informative tour - and we even got to taste several different scotches - and single malt is the only way to go!
From Crieff, we made our way to Invergarry and had ourselves another wonderful stay.
After a morning sun shower, we decided to take a walk through the wooded area along the creek. It was such a nice walk and wondered if we should try to cross the water...there was an old bridge ahead. We crossed over but it appeared the bridge had not been used in a while. Not giving it much thought, the four us continued our walk back on this rather 'rough' side of the water and figured there would be another cross over....wrong. Good heavens, we had to hop over a smaller creek, keep a steady footing as we walked under the roadway above us and hiked our way through weeds and thick brush to climb up to the road. We must have looked a sight: 4 "mature" people climbing their way out of the side of the road with leaves in hair, twigs about the hems of our pants and breathing a sigh of relief!
After Invergarry, we travelled to Moffat. What a delightful town! We had lunch and then shopped for scarves and woolen goods. All around the town scored high on all points! Charm, food and shopping!
And like all good things, this road trip with very good friends came to an end. It was a trip filled with fond memories and tons of laughter!
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