The next morning in Portree I had breakfast at our hotel (Amanda ate at a café across the street called Relish because they were AWESOME at accommodating her celiac whereas our hotel was not—have we mentioned how INCREDIBLE the UK was with GF stuff? It was amazing), but I had to try these items from a local pastry shop as well—a Coke donut and an almond bar. Both quite tasty.
Beginning the hike up to the Old Man of Storr, about fifteen minutes North of Portree:
Skye's tall mountains off towards the South:
It was crazy windy that day—this clip gives you a feel for that as well as how many people there were on the trail (though I haven't edited any out in the photos, they tend to blend in with the rocks). This was definitely the most heavy-hit tourist spot we went to, with the Quiraing being the second:
The view back down the way we came with a dramatic sky overhead:
Isle of Raasay in the mid-ground and the mountains of mainland Scotland in the distance across the Inner Sound:
The last few photos (and the next two) were taken in a brief sunny moment:
Old Man of Storr in the background on the right side of the frame (this makes it look small):
Looking for a good vantage point to get a good shot of the Old Man:
This gives you a better look of how huge it is (note the small trails winding around it):
Wider shot:
More awesome clouds:
Intrepid photographer:
Looking for a batter vantage point:
The view I had at the top:
The Old Man of Storr is the one in the middle:
A friendly couple from Germany took this picture for us:
After Storr, we went back to Portree to get lunch from Relish (easily our favorite place to eat—we go there again the next morning). The burger and "dirty" fries were fantastically tasty:
We ate at a park on top of a little rise in Portree called "the Lump." Good views of the town:
This is the Apothecary's Tower. There was a spiral staircase inside you could take to the top (the two previous pictures were taken from there). The walls inside are decorated with messages (mostly appropriate) from various graduating classes of the local high school:
Down on the dock in Portree:
Waterfalls by the parking lot for Lealt Falls:
Lealt Falls in the background—sheep grazing on a cliff's edge in the foreground—what else is new? He wouldn't look up no matter how hard I tried:
More sheep (the Abhainn An Lethuillt river in the background):
Cell phone pic of some ruins of an old fishing operation at the base of the river:
Dinner on our way out to Elgol to get some more great sunset shots! The little red peppers on this were amazing—we have no idea what they are, but they were memorable. They'd burst with a shot of juicy flavor when you'd bite them:
Stormy clouds over mountains and lochs on the way out to Elgol:
Elgol, unfortunately, was a bust and the only time we got completely rained out the whole trip. :( Because of the rain there was zero visibility and therefore nothing to photograph but blank sky and ocean. Feel free to Google "Elgol Skye" if you want to see what we missed.
Here's more enchanting clouds as the light finally disappeared on our drive back:
Breakfast at Relish the next morning. Seriously, this place never disappointed and the staff was delightful:
Last shot of Portree (the lump is the leafy thing in the center. If you look close, you can see the Apothecary's Tower:
In Kyleakin on the East of Skye to see the ruins of Caisteal Maol before heading East to Inverness. You can see the pair of bridges in this shot that connect the Isle of Skye with mainland Scotland:
Caisteal Maol's ruins:
Kyle of Lochalsh across the water:
The ruins in the background of this shipwreck picture:
Caisteal Maol:
Stopping by Eileann Donan on our way past. This time we did go inside, which was pretty interesting, though photography was not allowed inside the castle.
Back in the highlands on our way to Inverness:
The ruins of Urquhart Castle on Loch Ness:
We did get rained on a good bit here:
Loch Ness—narrow, long, and deep:
Just a little further North—Inverness. Here is the River Ness, which passes through the center of the city. Inverness is regarded as the capital of the highlands and was a beautiful little city. We honestly would've enjoyed a little more time here. However, you can notice our trip fatigue because I didn't even bring the camera with us—all shots in Inverness were just taken with our phones:
Enjoying more gelato on the Greig Street Bridge:
Seriously charming:
Dinner at a nearby restaurant. Mine:
Amanda's:
The Airbnb we stayed at that night was very comfortable. In the afternoon when we stopped at our room to drop off our bags we did overhear (through the door joining our room to the rest of the house) our landlords having a humorous argument with their toddler about whether or not it was time for a bath—weeping and wailing ensued. Luckily the night was perfectly silent. The next morning in Inverness:
Banana crème brûlée French toast (awesome):
Amanda's avocado toast with poached eggs:
Waiting in the tiny regional airport in Inverness to catch our flight to Amsterdam:
Our plane!
Goodbye, Scotland!
The Netherlands below:
We had some drama in Amsterdam getting our plane sorted out. We literally ran to catch our flight from Amsterdam to Salt Lake City. We plopped down into our seats only to be told that there was an issue with the flight control system that would require all of us to switch to a different plane. This wasn't all bad as it meant we got to relax and eat and do some shopping (the stroopwafels we got in the airport are the only ones I've ever had that actually lived up to their billing). After a long flight to SLC, it was good to be home!
Comments