The Isle of Skye Welcomes Us! (with Smoky's photos) (Saturday, Sept. 12)

Reluctantly, we left Sandy and Margaret, our hosts at Dunhallin B&B, early this morning and headed for Skye. Dunhallin turned out to be a great, centrally located place to stay, and Sandy and Margaret became friends in just a few short days. Check out their website; we recommend them if you get to Inverness!

This was a great stop!

We chose a route to Skye that would take us through the northern highlands since this would be our only chance to see this part of Scotland. We headed northwest out of Inverness on A9 and quickly exited to A835. Smoky found some information about visiting a facility near Dingwell where you could see Tollie red kites, a bird of prey making a come-back in Scotland, and it was not far off the route we were taking to Skye. Hooray for GPS! We entered the postal code for the kite center and followed the turn-by-turn directions (e.g., "In a quarter mile, enter the roundabout. Take the 3rd exit to A835."). By the time we came to the last turn, we had gone from a major carriageway down to a one-lane road with turn-outs! At the first road after this turn, we found a sign for Tollie red kites, with some rather confusing hand-drawn arrows on it. We drove in the direction we thought the sign pointed, along a rather bumpy farm road. At one point, we turned around and went back, thinking we surely misread the sign. We turned around again, retraced our path, went further, and found a neat little building right in the middle of a field. 

Tollie Red Kite building, front, with
viewing area to right.

The parking lot was empty, and we wondered if it was closed today. On further examination, however, we discovered that the building had a unique locking mechanism on it. You pushed a green button at the same time that you turned the handle on the door, and the lock mechanism opened. Inside was a large room filled with information about kites, tables where school children could work on kite-related projects, large photos on the walls, charts where visitors would record their sightings, and at the end of one leg of the building, the whole wall was glass, looking out over the field where volunteers bring carrion for the kites to feed on once a day.

We obviously missed the feeding time, but we did get to see a couple of kites. They didn't stay long, and by the time we retrieved our binoculars from the car, they were gone for good. We were also much too early for feeding time. Maybe next trip!

Smoky told me these are called
"great tits"!

Outside the building were a number of feeders for song birds and a unique viewing area that provided openings in a wooden fence at different heights to accommodate both short and tall folks, allowing clear viewing of the feeders for song birds and kites without spooking the birds.

At the end of this viewing area was a unique round structure with an air vent on top. Wondering what it was, I walked down to examine the metal door. Hmm, it looked like it opened, so I swung it to the right a little. Guess what I discovered! A Scottish woo woo!

Wow! It's a woo woo!

Hmm, the door opens!

What is this round building?

"Hey, Smoky, come look at this!" I called. Inside was a really neat handicapped-accessible bathroom, complete with hand rails you could pull down if you needed help getting up or down. And the best thing about it: the name!

This explains the woo woo!

OK, enough about kites and woo woos, let's move on down the road. By the time we reached our next stop, the Falls of Rogie on Black Water River, our clear sunny weather had come to an end. It was raining pretty steadily. We put on our raincoats and hoped the waterproofing on our packs would work. 

The hike to the waterfall was fairly short and mostly downhill. This particular falls was quite dramatic, with large rocks sitting on angles. We had a great view of the falls from the suspension bridge. On the opposite side of the falls from the car park was a salmon ladder, constructed to allow the salmon to bypass the falls while swimming upstream to spawn. 

Falls of Rogie, taken from the
suspension bridge.

By the time we got back to the car, we realized that the waterproofing on my pack and Smoky's hat was not working! I have a rain cover for my pack, very neatly tucked away in my suitcase. Smoky's hat is probably going to have to be replaced by something a little more waterproof, especially since rain is expected almost every day we are on Skye. 

The lobby of Ledgewon Lodge Hotel, a lovely old place.

When we left the waterfall, we were both feeling a little hungry, but, unfortunately, there were not many villages along the route we had chosen. We passed two small traveling food trucks, but I kept hoping we would find a small pub where we could have lunch. Soon enough we figured that was not going to happen, as the road kept getting narrower and the countryside more remote. After a little while, the topography changed, and we began seeing more small lochs near the road. The scenery was beautiful. Suddenly, sitting atop a rise on the right hand side of the road was a very large old building with a sign near the road that said, "Ledgewon Lodge Hotel, serving lunch and dinner"! 

Smoky's delightful lunch at Ledgewon Lodge Hotel.

This was a very elegant, old place; in fact, our server told us it had been a hunting lodge. There were several people in the lobby, and we were not too late for lunch. I had a wonderful tomato soup and a baked cannelloni, filled with spinach and cheese. Smoky had halibut and a beautiful vegetable tray of cauliflower, carrots, and snow peas. Both meals came with salad and a marvelous light citrusy dressing. Considering we thought we were going to have crackers and apples for lunch in the car, this was a wonderful surprise!

The first road I drove on!

Telephone booth in the
middle of nowhere!

After leaving the lodge, I got really brave and decided to try my hand at driving. There wasn't much traffic, and the road was wide enough for two cars.. Plus Smoky could be free to take some photos as we drove. What a hoot! I think we both came away from the experience with a new appreciation for driving in Scotland. Smoky had a chance to feel what it's like to be on the passenger side of a narrow road, and I had a chance to laugh at him when he reacted the same way I did when he drove!

Shortly after I took the driver's seat, the road changed to one lane with pullouts! Eek! It took me a while to become more comfortable with that. Fortunately, at the same time, the scenery got more and more amazing. We stopped whenever we could to photograph the lochs and rolling hills. 

Eilean Donan Castle, low tide (photo by Shann).

About 4:45 we pulled into the parking lot at Eilean Donan Castle, one of the most well-known castles in Scotland. It sits on an island at a point where three sea lochs join. The afternoon had been a rainy one, but as we neared the castle, the sun broke through the clouds and the light on the castle and the water was gorgeous! We decided to take advantage of this great lighting today for photographing the outside of the castle. Later this week, we'll return to see the inside of the castle.

Smoky's version of Eilean Donan Castle. Love that moody lighting!

This view of Eilean Donan Castle shows the bridge over to the castle.

With about 30 minutes of driving time left to get to Portree, we climbed back in the car to cross the bridge onto the Isle of Skye. Smoky is again behind the wheel. We made a quick stop at a ruined castle recommended to us by our friends Tom and Pat, photographers who lead trips to Scotland. Would you believe we were greeted with this?

At the end of the rainbow is the ruined Castle Moal, ancient seat

of the Mackinnon Clan. Nice welcome to Skye!

Right after the rainbow, the sun came out and highlighted Castle Moal. Smoky got this photo.

The sun shines on Castle Moal.

Canowindra B&B is our lodging for the next several days. Georgie greeted us as we pulled up at dusk and showed us around their lovely facility, purpose built as a B&B. Our room is large with a great bed. The en-suite bath is spacious with a walk-in shower that is at least twice as large as the one we had most recently. All is great on the Isle of Sky!

--Shann