It came time for LL to leave Orkney – we spent the last few days there exploring Stromness and Kirkwall and I now have at least three new ‘my locals’ to visit with Scout (they’re not all bars; one is a café, to be clear). Tomorrow afternoon I think I’m going to sit in front of the fire at The Storehouse and have the duck starter as a ‘wee treet’ – it was heavenly last week.
So off we headed to the highlands & west islands – areas I have either never been to, or at least not for a long time. Day One: Eilean Donan was beautiful – it’s one of the first images you see when you google ‘Scotland’ and it is in every Scottish calendar. Every year. You can see why.
Then Skye – my last visit here was a bit of a, well, disaster is too harsh a word. 20+ years ago sibling 1 and took the ferry to Skye. We didn’t know quite what to do once we got there, and there were cars behind us, so we just drove. We drove for about 20 minutes until we came to a fork in the road, then pulled over into a lay-by and ate a couple of apples. Then we kept driving, and next thing we knew, 15 minutes later, we’d reached the bridge at the Kyle of Lochalsh, and that was it – we’d done Skye. The 2nd largest island in the U.K. In about 45 minutes.
But this was different – what a beautiful island! Every corner you turn is a different landscape. This time around was still too short a visit, but at least we had fresh oysters and a langoustine dinner at the Oyster Shed, then hiked to the Fairy Pools near Glenbrittle, then drove through Sleat, the ‘Garden of Skye’. I would have like to make it as far north as Edinbane, but next trip, I guess. Finally we watched the sunset from a large glassed-in terrace in Mallaig. Just magical.
*Oh, between Skye and Westray I have learned at least one new lesson: I cannot hike with Scout. Either she’s lunging after birds, or pulling in the wrong direction on a rocky path. All I know is: walks? yes. Hikes? no.