The weather had been sunny and glorious for 3 weeks- before we got there. When we arrived it became cold, windy and rainy. We always adapt to the weather and don't let it interfere with our plans too much, so we just carried on with most of our plans.
I had arranged a private lesson with a local photographer for one day. I like to take photos when we travel but I am definitely just a hobby photographer, so this was a chance to improve my skills. We met up with Tim at 8:30am and set off for the day. Mike was appointed the dog-watcher for the day as Tim had just acquired a rescue dog and didn't want to leave him alone at home all day. So Mike and Tweed spent the day hanging out together. We stopped at the old bridge at Sligachan then continued on to a spot with a lighthouse. After snapping some shots there, we took the road to Elgol - stopping along the way at Kilchrist church ruins and also to take photos of Highland cattle (love those hairy things!). The beach at Elgol is really unusual, very rocky and you can see the Cuillins (mountains) across the water. So up until this point the weather had been cold and windy but not rainy. We decided to head back toward Sligachan to get some waterfall photos and the rain just cut loose. It's difficult to get photos with raindrops all over your camera lens and I was freezing by that point also we called to quits. By this time it was 5:30 or so in the evening and I was ready for a nice hot dinner. I'll add some of the photos from that day to the blog.
Our plan the next day was to drive to the Quiraing, or at least the Old Man of Storr and Kilt Rock. The weather was looking pretty good as we drove north and it was nice and sunny when we got Kilt Rock. Despite all the rain there wasn't a ton of water coming over the falls but it was still pretty. We made it to the trailhead for the Old Man, along with lots of other people. The walk up is pretty easy and a well-worn path. By now however the clouds and fog had come in and pretty much obliterated the view of the rocks and pretty much everything else, so we turned around and headed to the other side of the island to Dunvegan Castle.
Dunvegan Castle is the seat of the chief of the Clan MacLeod and dates back to the 13th century. There are very nice gardens there and the inside of the castle is worth touring as well.
Neist Point lighthouse was our next stop and the last one for the day as it was getting close to sunset and Mike didn't want to negotiate the narrow road after dark. After taking a bunch of photos and saving a lady from falling in a creek, we headed back. Now the key to driving on these narrow roads is to know when you're supposed to pull over in a wider spot to let someone pass you from the other direction and they need to know how as well or things get all screwed up. Well, guess what? Somebody didn't know the routine so everybody got screwed up and one car even blew a tire trying to pull off on the verge in a bad spot. In 2012 on our trip to Scotland we got an excellent piece of advice from a local lady who said do not pull off on the verge (edge of the road) because in Scotland it is very soft and you will get stuck - soooo we avoid the verge! Luckily we made it back to Portree without any mishaps.
There are some things we wanted to see that we just didn't have time for, so we definitely need to go back!
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