Stop Six: Loch Ness & Isle of Skye

We arrived in northern Scotland midevening. We stopped in Inverness for dinner before heading to the little town of Beauly and our AirBnB accommodations. We stayed in a little suite annexed from the owner’s main house. We spent the evening catching up on TV shows, eating our delicious cupcakes from Edinburgh, and wishing the dog next door would somehow escape into our apartment (we miss Tucker so much!).

We left early the next morning for our cruise on Loch Ness. When we arrived, we were the only ones there. Sweet, a private boat! Sadly, we spoke too soon and about three tour buses full of people pulled up to join us. Can you believe we were the only ones who booked the excursion on our own? Funny little adventurers we are!

The cruise was lovely, but very cold. We toughed it outside on the upper deck for the first half of the journey before retiring inside for a hot drink. The cruise took us to Urquhart Castle, and Morgan and I had an hour to explore before catching the boat back. It turned out to be the perfect amount of time to check out the ruins of the Medieval castle. The castle was strategically built in this remote location because it made it hard for enemies to attack, yet the lake made transportation a nonissue. My favourite part was seeing the “murder hole,” which is a hole above the main entry gate where people could slyly throw boulders on enemies below who might be trying to attack. Right off the shore of the castle lies the deepest parts of Loch Ness. We kept our eyes peeled for Nessie, but she must have been napping because we didn’t see her.

The cruise back was significantly warmer and significantly less crowded. We sat on the upper deck and listened to the commentary about the lake’s ecosystem and its role in mythology (Nessie-related and otherwise). It was a great way to see the lake and a fantastic way to spend a morning.

We were both getting pretty hungry by the time we arrived back on dry land. The restaurant at the cruise dock did not look appealing to either of us, so we decided to tough it out. As we headed out of town, Morgan took a wrong turn and we ended up right in front of an adorable bistro. We decided to check it out and ended up having an awesome lunch! I had homemade macaroni and cheese (super good, but not as good as my Gramma Hebb’s!) and Morgan and a bowl of chili. A very fortunate wrong turn indeed!

From Loch Ness, we headed west to the Isle of Skye. This place has been on my bucket list for a while now, and Morgan and I were both pretty excited to see the Scottish wilds. I can tell you that this place did not disappoint! The drive was absolutely stunning with imposing green cliffs flanking the highway and incredible views of the water. We made so many stops along the way because we just couldn’t get over the beauty of the area! A couple notable stops were the Old Man Storr and Quiraing. We also met two dogs and a horse at one of our stops! Google sent us to the end of, basically, a glorified driveway for one lookout and we were promptly greeted by our little animal friends. Rosie, one of the pups, was particularly friendly…running circles around us and jumping up. Too cute!

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Our accommodation in Skye was so unique and may have been my favourite of the trip so far! We stayed in the small town of Uig at a boutique bunkhouse called The Cowshed. The property consists of a main bunkhouse (with a full kitchen, lounge, bunkrooms, and large bathrooms) and about 10 cowsheds that are standalone residences with small kitchens, beds, couches, bathrooms, and tiny patios. Some even have small dog cowsheds for your furry friend! We rented one of the cowsheds and were lucky enough to get one at the top of the property with a gorgeous view. It was such a cozy place to stay! I loved the bright, white bedding, the heather grey couch, and the cedar wood paneling. Very minimalist and sleek. The Internet was almost nonexistent, which made me promptly decide I need to go back for a dissertation writing retreat. Yes, the #wanderlust is strong with me.

After settling in to our little shed, we headed into “town” for dinner. Town, in this case, was the one hotel in the area that also had a restaurant, haha! Lucky for us, the food was delicious and they gave us a spot right along the window where we witnessed a beautiful sunset. No wonder they call it Skye!

The following morning, we ate cereal and drank coffee on our little cowshed patio. Blissful! Then, we packed up the car and headed back out on the road. We were sad to leave our little accommodation, but had a couple stops planned for our drive down to Glasgow. The first stop was the Fairy Glens in Uig, located only minutes from The Cowshed. The Isle of Skye has long been thought to be the home of fairies! The glens are little mountains situated on top of rolling green hills. They do look like they are out of a fairytale. Despite the beauty of the glens, the best part of our drive was that came across a Highland cow! We had seen a couple already but had not been able to safely pull over for a photo. Lucky for us, this guy was just hanging out in his field right by a vehicle pullover. We spent our sweet time admiring his wacko hair and getting some snapshots. This was not our final cow sighting either! On our drive, we also encountered a herd of cows right in the middle of the road. Some of the drivers seemed a bit annoyed by the inconvenience…we found it hilarious and, again, took a lot of photos.

Our second stop was the Fairy Pools, about an hour outside of Uig. A short hike led us to a series of waterfalls and babbling brooks surrounded by stunning purple heather. I have fallen in love with the Scottish heather! The way the bright purple looks against the green landscape, it gets me every time!

The pools were marvelous! The path to the pools included crossing a couple of small rivers by leaping from stone to stone. The pools were located in the crevice between two imposing mountains. It made for quite the scenic stop!

On our way into Glasgow, we also drove through the Trossachs. I wanted to see this area because it is featured in a lot of Romantic and Victorian poetry. The proximity of the Trossachs to the city made it a popular travel location for writers. It seems that it continues to be a popular vacation destination, as we saw many signs for winter and summer sporting activities as we drove through. It is easy to see why people still visit…it is very pretty! It reminded me of a bit of Whistler…minus the Village.

Returning to European city life feels bittersweet. Bitter, because we have so enjoyed exploring the rural side of Scotland. It was everything I envisioned…and, in some cases, more. The sublime, majestic scenery and sleepy, little towns definitely get a big “thumbs up” from the Seatters. However, we are looking forward to get back to the hustle and bustle of city life. More soon from Glasgow.

Yours affectionately,
Lindsey