Saturday 11 May 2013

"Over the sea to Skye".

...So goes the lovely Skye Boat Song about the escape of Bonnie Prince Charlie. But before we get there we have a good drive down the west side of Loch Ness and across the magical Highlands. Then later in the afternoon we'll cross- not on a boat to ferry us across - but via the new bridge over to the famed Isle of Skye.

These are the Scottish Highlands, which explains why skiing is such an important part of tourism in this region. Who knew?
And these too are the Highlands, desert and barren.But always impressive.
Our first pit stop of the day is magical. This young couple is Duncan, the Highlander with Barb, one of our group. In his retirement, Duncan is the keeper of  "wee Heeland Coos".
And these are Pheona and Iona. Duncan explained that these were wild cattle that by law, if you catch them and bring them down from the mountains, they're yours. Duncan also told us that they, and the 2 larger dark "coos" from Orkney who graze in his field, are not actually "coos" at all but bulls. They are much more docile without the presence of females apparently. (By the way, the largest of the dark ones is called Guinness).


In the Highlands all of the roadsigns are in both Gaelic (pronounced like garlic without the R) and English. Although only about 2% of the Scottish population  speaks Gaelic there has been a great resurgence in interest. The education system here has followed our Canadian French Immersion model and is introducing Gaelic to children from the earliest grades in their Gaelic Medium Education system.


You may recognize the castle at Eilean Donan, set of many Scottish themed movies, most notably Highlander from the '80's. It is still owned by members of the Clan McRae and the areas of the castle that tourists are allowed to visit are dotted with pictures of the family and their children. They use the castle to celebrate special occasions and allow others to use it for weddings and the like.
The kitchen area was one of the most impressive displays I've seen with life size wax figures carrying out the duties of the day. I swear I could even smell butter scones baking in the oven.

This is Sue from Britain, who was not part of our group but who was sitting in the cafeteria at Eilean Donan. I asked her if she had knit her sweater and told her that I recognized the yarn that she had used: Riot DK. The poor woman must have wondered what kind of an obsessive freak I was to go around identifying the yarns that people use to knit their clothes until I explained about the Knitting Tour. She was thrilled for us, and more than happy to model her sweater.
Our driver, Ian, felt it his duty to find all the best places for us to get good shots. This was one of the first of the photo stops of the day. I know this because the sun was still shining (it got cloudy and wet later on) and we all got out to take pictures. By the end of our tour of the Highlands, only the most stalwart photographers got out to take advantage of the magnificent scenery.

For you fans of Hamish MacBeth of PBS Television fame, we spent an hour in Plockton, an absolutely delightful fishing village that the fictional and unorthodox Scottish constable calls home.


Another intriguing aspect of Plockton is the micro-climate that they enjoy producing this magnificent camelia bush and shoreline palm trees far north of Glasgow where the leaves were hardly beginning to sprout on the trees.
Our hotel was just over the bridge on the Isle of Skye. And 82m from its front door (he actually measured it out for us when I was concerned about how far we'd have to walk) is Teo and his delightful shop: The Handspinner Having Fun. Intriguing hand dyed, and spun yarns, buttons, garments etc in a shop from which you can throw a stone into the North Sea. What a welcome to Skye.
And to finish off a magical day was Alan, who performs at the hotel every Thursday and Sunday evenings. A classically trained accordionist with a glorious tenor voice and a sense of good fun to get the audience going. We were told that when the tourist season is really underway in a few weeks it will be standing room only for his performances. Off to our rooms for a good sleep, lulled by the winds and sounds of the sea, to restore our energies in order to take on the peculiarities of the plumbing system at the hotel.

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