Before leaving Skye, we visited the ruins of the Donald family castle, Armadale and a visit to the Museum of the Isles which tells all about the epic story of Clan Donald / MacDonald. The castle is a mansion house first built here around 1790, facing south-east over the Sound of Sleat. In 1815 a …
This morning we headed to Talisker, the oldest distillery on Skye. We arrived early and looked around the shop before our private tour. We met our guide George, and he took us through the distillery explaining the process of malting, fermentation and aging. We then went to the tasting room where we sampled the Reserve, …
Day 12 – August 23rd – Whisky, Fairies, and more castlesRead More »
Woke up nursing a bad cold. But with meds hoped to manage it. With rain in the forecast for later in the afternoon, we set our sights for the first stop at the “Old Man of Storr”. This is a cluster of ancient landslip pinnacles. To reach it there is a 2-mile moderately step path. …
Leaving Inverness, we headed to the Isle of Skye. Along the way we made a couple of stops. First was just for a photo of Loch Ness. We did not see Nessie, but we will be returning and I am certain I will find her. We next stopped where Allan wanted to show us the …
This morning we toured Brodie Castle, a 16th century castle that was the ancestral home of the Brodie clan for over 400 years. It was turned over to the National Trust just in the late 20th century by the 29th Laird, who was an actor and famous for his role in the play “Harvey” hence …
Our first stop this morning was the battlefield of Culloden. Here on April 16, 1746, the last battle in support of the Bonnie Prince Charlie was fought. It was a terrible rout for the Jacobite cause in support of the Stewart kings. Lasting less than an hour, there were over 1600 casualties, mostly, from the …
Day 8 – August 19th – Bloody History and some not so Bloody HistoryRead More »
When in Scotland one has to try the Whisky. This morning we headed first to a tour and whisky tasting at The Glenlivet. We stopped briefly when we saw some of those funny Scottish cows, the ones with long horns and long hair in their eyes. Continuing on, we got to the distillery early and …
Having forgotten to set an alarm, we were a wee bit rushed to finish packing and checking out. But we were only a few minutes behind and Allan was waiting and we started off toward Inverness. Our first stop was Stirling Castle. This was the seat of the Scottish kings. Like most castle / forts …
Day 6 – August 17th – Stirling Castle and getting stuckRead More »
The plan today was to head to Crieff for the Highland Meeting, a community event / fair consisting of competitive events, as a way of celebrating Scottish and Celtic culture. As we drove out of Edinburgh, I noted to Allen that we would be passing close to the Kelpies, horse head statues that I has …
Day 5 – August 16th – Crieff Highland Meeting & moreRead More »
Today we were met by our guide Karen. She is originally from Wisconsin, married a Scot and has been here more than 40 years. She was very knowledgeable about the history and the city. We first drove around to an area of Georgan buildings stopping in front of one that is owned by the crown. …
