Scotland: Friday 14th August

Today the weather was looking a bit iffy - rain was coming up from the South but it was looking like it may just miss Inverness! We took our chances and drove to an area called the Fall of Foyers, which is about a 35 min drive south from our cottage. The plan was to go and view the falls and then go for a walk close by. To get to the waterfall we had to go down many, many steps - it was worth it though to see the waterfall.

Down the many steps

Hooray finally at the falls!

We then walked up some steps to get to another path which took us around the edge of a gorge, and then through a wooded area which is known for having red squirrels but we never saw any!

The waterfall in the distance

It was a lovely walk but there was a lot of steps even in the forest so, about an hour in to the walk, we decided to turn back as we were thinking what goes down must go back up again - by the time we got back to car we were pretty knackered and had quite a work out!

We then drove along the shore of Loch Ness and the views were amazing - shame I was driving and having to keep my eye on the road! We stopped a couple of times to take in the views.

Stopping off to admire the view

Panoramic view of the loch

We stopped off for lunch at a local pub and then made our way back to the cottage for the rest of the afternoon.

 

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Scotland: Thursday 13th August

Today, after a lovely cooked breakfast cooked by Peter, we returned to Loch Ness to do the walk we had planned to do on Sunday before it started raining. It was a circular walk along the shore of Loch Ness and then back through a wooded area - it was lovely and we hardly saw anyone else on the way. The walk was about 5k and took us just over 1.5 hours.

The weather today was glorious - it was so warm that we had to take off our fleeces! It was blue skies nearly all day - very rare for Scotland! Everyone we spoke to was commenting about the weather!

After the walk we took a boat trip on Loch Ness, along with a stop at Urquhart Castle, which is a ruin dating from the 13th century.

Getting on the boat

Lovely view of Loch Ness from the boat

Urquhart Castle

We had planned to have dinner in Inverness but in the end we decided to get some food to cook at the cottage and we had a nice relaxing evening.

 

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Scotland: Wednesday 12th August

As the weather was due to be nice today (meaning no rain!) we were up bright and early so we could make most of the day. Our first stop of the day was Cawdor Castle - a medieval castle built in the 17th century and mentioned in Shakespeare's Macbeth.

The gardens at the castle were really lovely with lots of colourful flowers and we enjoyed looking round them.

Our next stop was the beach at Nairn - it wasn't warm enough for a dip in the sea but we walked along the promenade. It was even warm enough to eat outside for lunch at one of the seaside cafes.

At the seaside - no coat!

Our last stop of the day was the Culloden Battlefields which is where the battle of Culloden, the final confrontation of the Jacobite rising, took place in 1745. I didn't know much about it but the visitors centre was very well done - showing you a film of a reinactment of the battle and then you walked around the battlefield with an audio guide which gave you information.

One of the croft houses at the Culloden battlefield

In the evening we went in to Inverness for a meal.

 

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Scotland: Tuesday 11th August

Today we took a coach tour to the Isle of Skye - it was a long day, leaving the cottage at 7:30am for our pick up in Inverness. There was about 30 people on the coach altogether with a mix of nationalities including German, Czech, French and quite a few Americans (we were the only English!).

The first part of the journey was mainly driving to Skye which took about 3 hours with a toilet break but it wasn't boring as we had lovely views and an interesting commentary from our guide Gordon (or wee bonnie Gordon as I liked to call him out of earshot as he was very Scottish with his kilt and ginger hair) It was supposed to be a dry day but for the first 1.5 hours of the journey it rained heavily but the closer we got to Skye the brighter it became and wee bonnie Gordon kept saying that the weather was going to be good and thankfully he was right!

Our first stop was Sligachan to see the Black Cuillin Mountains - wee bonnie Gordon and our driver were quite excited as they said they had never seen them so clear as they usually have cloud cover!

The Black Cuillin Mountains

Our next stop was Portree, the largest town on Skye and well known for its colourful houses.

We then drove along the Trotternish Ridge Peninsula and stopped to admire the unique rock formations including the Old Man of Storr, a 50 metre high rock pinnacle which juts out from the Ridge.

We then drove on to Kilt Rock; an exposed sea cliff which resembles the traditional Highland kilt with a waterfall that falls 60 metres into the Sound of Raasay below. It was very windy there but the views were lovely.

Views from Kilt Rock

My favourite stop was the Quiraing - a landscape made by a landslip thousands of years ago which caused some interesting rock formations with dramatic peaks and valleys along the Trotternish peninsular. We had 45 mins to hike up the Quiraing and take in the views - with the downside being the ground was very boggy which meant we got very wet feet (and I hate getting wet!). Half way up we heard a noise from behind and we stopped to see what it was - it was a low flying fighter jet that zoomed over our heads and then turned on its side and went behind the Quiraing - it was quite thrilling to see and very noisy! Wee bonnie Gordon said he had never seen that before so we were lucky to have been there at that time.

Views of the Quiraing

Views of the outer Hebrides from Quiraing

Our final main stop of the day was the Faerie Glen - a bizarre landscape of grassy cone-shaped hills. Wee bonnie Gordon was raving about the place but I wasn't that impressed - it was ok and nice to see but I think he oversold it to us. As we walked up the Faerie Glen, which is on a hill, I saw two people slip over in the mud which made me a bit aprehensive going up and then, when we were at the top one of our group slipped over and broke her ankle! Well that did it for me and I was even more aprehensive going down much to Peter's annoyance! I was glad to get down from the Faerie Glen but we then had to wait for the ambulance to arrive, and then it took four of the burliest men in our group, along with the ambulance men, to stretcher the poor lady down and off she went to hospital whilst we carried on with the tour.

Faerie Glen

Waiting for the ambulance to arrive!

We then stopped off for dinner - wee bonnie Gordon had taken our orders earlier in the day for either homemade chicken or vegetable curry which we picked up from a lady in a layby (!) and then we drove on to Eilean Donan Castle to eat our curry on the waters edge whilst admiring the view!

Eileen Donan Castle

We then drove back to Inverness and, due to the incident at the Faerie Glen, we were about an hour behind schedule and did not reach Inverness until about 9:45pm, so it was dark by the time we were ready to drive back home. Driving in the countryside, up the side of a hill, on tiny roads, with no lighting was quite challenging but we made it in one piece, only freaking ourselves out once when a cat ran out in the middle of nowhere making us jump. It was very dark and I literally couldnt see anything beyond my full beam lights and it was hard to see where the road was as it was so twisty and turning. When we arrived back at the cottage the owner came out to tell us they were in the middle of a power cut so when we got in we had to find candles and matches so that we had some light! By 11pm it still wasn't on, and we were tired from our long day so we went to bed by candle light!

 

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Scotland: Monday 10th August

As bad weather was due this afternoon we decided to look around the town of Inverness in the morning and then go to the cinema in the afternoon. The town of Inverness is not very big but it is very pretty with its old buildings, the castle and the River Ness running through it. We had a look around the shops and the went for a walk along the River Ness.

We couldn't believe how warm it was and ended up carrying our coats as we were so hot!

We then went to have a look at Inverness castle - you can't go in but there were lovely views from the town from there.

Inverness Castle

Views from the castle

We had some lunch in Inverness and then made our way to the cinema to watch Mission Impossible - the grey clouds had already started looming when we went into the Cinema and it was pouring when we come out. I had to drive home with it thundering and lightning all the way back - I kept screaming every time we saw a fork of lightning as it was making me jump.

As it was wet for the rest of the evening we stayed in and had dinner at the cottage.

 

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Scotland: Sunday 9th August

Today the weather forecast was saying windy with showers - first thing it was quite bright so we thought we would go for a walk from the cottage to one of the smaller lochs close by - it looked easier on the map than it actually was in real life - we had to walk through a field full of cows who were way more interested in us than I would have liked, over styles covered in barbed wire, a boggy field and over a fence which I got my leg stuck on and Peter had to man handle me to get me free! After all that we could see the loch but couldn't get close to it because of a fence so we gave up in the end!

View on our walk

We then took the scenic drive along winding roads to Loch Ness. The scenery was amazing and we went passed two large lochs and through woodland.

It was very windy when we arrived at Loch Ness, and there was a mist hanging over loch, which made it very atmospheric.

We stopped off for Sunday lunch at a pub on the shore of Loch Ness - it is the white building behind Peter in the picture above. It was nice but the service was slow and we were there for nearly 2 hours! When we came out we had planned to do a 2 hour circular walk from the pub but 10 mins in it started to pour so we had to turn back.

On the drive back home the rain stopped and we saw a rainbow!

 

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We're in Scotland: Saturday 8th August

Today we flew up to Inverness for our holiday in wee bonnie Scotland (to be said in a Scottish accent). The queue at Gatwick for all Easyjet flights was shocking, it pretty much snaked around the whole of the North Terminal but thankfully it did move quickly and we eventually dropped off our bags 45 mins later.

After a 90 minute flight we arrived at Inverness Airport and went to pick up our hire car for the week - the lady went to collect our car and we were slightly alarmed when she came back with a bright orange one - well at least we won't have any trouble trying to find it in the car park or forgetting what it looks like (just look out for the most garish car and we're sorted!).

The orange mobile

The cottage we are renting is about a 30 min drive from the airport - I took a turn too early on the way there and we ended up driving along a road which could best be described as a track/path which was on the edge of a quarry (which was below us) but the trusty orange-mobile got us there in one piece.

The cottage is very nice, with lovely views of the countryside, and the owner had even made us some scones for our arrival!

Our cottage

The view!

Bit scared!

Once we had settled in we drove to the local supermarket which was about 15 mins away to pick up some groceries and then decided to stop off for some fish and chips. The SatNav took us to a rough looking estate - we weighed up the options on whether it was worth getting beaten up by the hooded youths hanging around and decided, for fish and chips, yes it was and we bravely stepped out of the Orange-mobile and queued up with the locals. We noticed that everyone was asking for 'a supper' for example a fish supper or battered sausage supper (which was popular) and even a haggis supper so when we got to the counter and asked for 2 fish and chips the lady serving just looked at us - thankfully the man next to her translated for us and we finally got our fish and chips which were very tasty!

 

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