The last couple of days have been more relaxed, in that we haven't had extensive photo must-lists, but our days have been very full and busy nevertheless. Our eyes are simply worn out from all the gorgeousness of the landscapes.
Not much time tonight either, so just a quick summary and some photo highlights. Sunday we took the ferry back to the mainland from Orkney, which was another remarkably smooth crossing, then drove a meandering scenic route through the NW Highlands to the Isle of Skye. That took pretty much all day; we arrived in Skye around sunset.
Near the beginning of our journey in the Highlands we had an excellent Sunday lunch at a country hotel near the village of Tongue (really!). It was a very cozy-looking hotel with wood fires and tartan rugs - I'd happily stay there sometime. Bonus: free wi-fi available in the restaurant so we could do some travel planning with Google Maps.
About an hour from our evening destination on Skye, we stopped at Eilean Donan castle, one of the most photogenic and famous in Scotland. We walked out on a natural jetty near the Royal Air Force Mountain Rescue headquarters, which had a bunch of friendly-looking fit guys walking around (and throwing a buddy in the water at one point) and clean, heated public bathrooms. We also met a friendly German couple who had gotten married on September 18 (sounds familiar!), took their honeymoon to Scotland, and were taking their own wedding photos (dress, tux and everything) themselves using a tripod and timer. Good times. The only downside was that the evening sun never really broke through the clouds to shine on the castle, despite waiting around for quite a long time. Oh well, can't win 'em all. It was gorgeous regardless.
Our B&B in Skye was excellent - we had a huge, bright room with an awesome view in a big house with gardens. We were surprised to find the owners were English - their accents sounded so friendly and familiar.
We braved the sideways rain and darkness to drive into town for dinner at a small restaurant right next to the harbor called The Lower Deck. We had fish and chips and they were excellent. Didn't bring the camera because it was raining so hard.
The first half of Monday was spent on a brief driving tour of northern Skye, during which we saw more lovely natural beauty and bothered a few more Highland cows.
The afternoon turned stormy again, so I finally got a chance to catch up on a bunch of work. I spent several hours at my computer in the breakfast room, which wasn't much fun, but I felt a lot less stressed once it was done. David kept me company for most of the time, getting some bills paid and other chores done on his laptop.
At dinnertime we headed into town again, this time to a different place on the harbor front called Sea Breezes, recommended by our B&B. It was even better, and it had such a fun, cozy atmosphere. Everyone seemed so happy to be there, and we sat across from a 20-something German girl with long dreadlocks who spoke perfect English (naturally) and her quiet parents. The girl took photos of her meal (awesome!), then asked me to take photos of all of them. It was great fun.
Sadly, we hadn't brought cameras ourselves because it was raining again, but we're really regretting that. David had a plateful of local langoustines, which are like small lobsters. They arrived whole and were very cute - and quite tasty too. I had a fantastic salmon fillet over mushroom risotto. For dessert, David decided to get a sticky toffee pudding, which he hadn't had in a long time and I had never tried (because I don't really like toffee and figured I wouldn't like it). I'm very sorry to report that it was incredibly delicious and I now have another extremely high-calorie dessert to try to resist! It was seriously incredible. And the vanilla ice cream they topped it with tasted homemade. Whoa.
This morning we left our country oasis on Skye and took a detour before leaving the island across the Skye Bridge, the same way we came. We went about 20 miles further south to visit the Clan Donald castle and visitor centre on behalf of one of David's friends, whose ancestors belonged to this clan. It turned out to be a seriously cool and beautiful place, worth visiting even without a personal connection. The weather started out quite iffy, but became obligingly beautiful for our photos of the clan castle.
Back on the mainland, we visited Eilean Donan castle again to take some photos from the other side and see the interior. Unfortunately it was pretty much entirely rebuilt in the early 20th century so isn't totally authentic, but it has medieval foundations and was very well done.
Photos weren't allowed inside, but the rooms had stone walls, low stone vaults, warm tartan carpets, a reconstructed kitchen complete with plastic food that actually looked quite tasty, and fun family photos of the MacRae clan that has owned the castle for centuries.
Then we basically just drove for a few hours, mostly on small roads through yet more beautiful scenery (such as above), to tonight's overnight destination of Oban, a harbor town on the west coast of the mainland. I visited Oban back in 1997 on a college trip and really thought it was pretty then - fortunately, it still is!
We won't have much time to enjoy Oban, unfortunately, as we're leaving more or less first thing in the morning, but we did walk into town for another great seafood dinner tonight. This time, we did bring our cameras, but then forgot to take pictures after the starter. (Amateurs!)
I had tomato and bean soup, which was fantastic but not a very exciting photo, and we both had local haddock fish and chips, which I forgot to photograph but they just looked like fish and chips anyway. Then we may have split another sticky toffee pudding.
We have another great B&B here in Oban, with a very friendly host and a spacious, comfy room. The wood paneling is original to the building's construction in 1895! And hidden behind part of the wood paneling is an ultra-modern, fancy-schmancy bathroom. They also have very nice grounds and great views of the city. Would like to stay longer.
We've spent the short remainder of the night making our next travel plans, which we've decided should involve getting the nasty drive south to England over with as efficiently as possible. Tomorrow morning we'll visit a couple local sights, then drive about four hours south to the Lake District in England. We'll stay overnight there, then drive another three or so hours to somewhere in Herefordshire, where we've got some church-photographin' to do. We've had a wonderful time in Scotland and are a bit sorry to leave, but also excited to get back to England.