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The Isle of Skye

If I had to describe today in one word, it would be “breathtaking “!  We left from our hotel in Fort Augustus, which is situated at the south end of Loch Ness.  We headed Northwest, towards the coast and crossed over to the Isle of Skye.  
The sky was a mix of sun and clouds but, somehow, we managed to keep the sun over top of us almost all the way.  The scenery was amazing, I wish I could find an adequate way to describe it.  The mountains are covered with ferns and heather that have turned to a copper brown.  The trees are a mixture of green, orange and red and we often were driving beside one of the lochs (lakes).  I did my best to capture pictures of the scenery.
The Isle of Skye is so amazing!!  We picked up a guide that lives on the island and she told us all about life on the island as we travelled along.  It is remote and sparsely populated. We were driving up the east coast of the peninsula, heading for the Kilt Rock and Mealt Falls.  It was raining to the west and our guide was coaxing the bus driver to get us there as soon as possible.  When we arrived, the sun was shining and it lasted just long enough for us to get our pictures and then it started to pour!!  We were so lucky with the weather today!!  I have heard of groups that got to the Isle of Skye and didn’t see anything because it was socked in.
We went back to Portree (still on the island) to have lunch.  On our way back, we stopped at the Eilean Donan Castle. This castle was once again different from any of the others that we have seen.  It was originally built in the 1400’s but got destroyed in wars.  In the early 1900’s it was rebuilt by the MacRae family and it is still being used as a vacation home (imagine that) by the MacRaes.  Their private apartments are closed off but the rest of the castle is open to visitors all year long.
As we were heading back to our hotel, we decided there was one thing left to see to make this a perfect day.....Highland cows!!  We had spotted some in a field on our way out so we were determined to see some on the way back.  Fern came through for us and hollered when she spotted them.  Our poor bus driver had no choice but to pull over.  Even though he was taking the risk of a big fine if he was caught for pulling over, he took the chance for us.  We all hopped off the bus and ran back down the road to photograph the cows.  We were really amazed and excited when the cows came right up to the fence to see us!!  You will see why we were so excited when you see the pictures, they are adorable!!

Well, that made it a perfect day!!!  We got back to the hotel at 6:00 pm and we once again split up to go for dinner.  A large group of us went to “The Boathouse Restaurant “ beside the lake.  It was a perfect ending to a perfect day!! 











































































































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