Day 5 happened to be Allison's birthday. We had seen pictures of the Isle of Skye in a Scotland book we bought to plan for the trip, and I knew she wanted to see it. So we undertook the 2 hour bus ride, which was well worth it. The scenery between Drumnadrochit and Skye was absolutely incredible. Thanks to a low camera battery and some lessons learned from trying to take pictures from a moving train, I didn't take many pictures from the bus. One place I regret not taking pictures was at Kyle of Lochalsh, across the water from Skye. It was hands down the most beautiful scenery on the trip. As it was a perfectly clear day, the water between the mainland and Skye was bright blue, and you could see all the mountains that encircled it. Nonetheless, Skye yielded bounteous beauty, if slightly otherworldly. Our main objective was to scale the mountain above.
A couple shots here are actually from the bus on Skye. Unlike the rest of England and Scotland, Skye was still yellow and brown. Rocky and barren, it felt a little like Mars.
The sea juts in on one of the many inlets on Skye.
When we boarded the bus to Skye, we had no real idea where we should be let off. Our tour book described the Cuillin Mountains as Britain's finest mountain range and within walking distance of Sligachan. So we asked the driver to let us off there (again, I had to ask for the proper pronunciation). Little did we no that Sligachan consisted of two pubs, a bed and breakfast, and a few scattered farm houses. We were greeted by the enormous Cuillins that surrouned the valley where Sligachan was situated. With about 6 hours to kill, we set out for the mountains. Luckily, there were other hikers headed that way, so we followed them.
See the tallest peak in the above picture? That's the one we were shooting for! Only about 950 meters up!
It was hard not to stop and take picture after picture.
The ubiquitous Scottish sheep.
We stopped here for the light lunch that we packed. It is about half way up the mountain.
There were numerous mountain streams, and even a few lakes as you can see here.
Getting closer!
Allison's line was, "just one more peak." We were getting close to the summit, but decided the last stretch required equipment and experience which we lacked, although we saw a few more hard core climbers scaling the top.
This is the summit from the highest point we achieved and the view of the valley below.
The view was our reward. You can see the tiny village of Sligachan (the little white buildings). We estimated this spot to be around 750 meters, based on the height of the other peaks around us and our proximity to the summit.
Two sweaty, ragged hikers.
So many beautiful old churches.
I believe this is the River Ness
These canals were quite cool. They had a mechanism for moving boats uphill.
Unfortunately, this shot doesn't do justice to this view. It's the Beauty Firth, and it was incredibly cold and windy on the shore.
Urquhart Bay winds around the hills.
The ruins of Urquhart Castle. Unfortunately, we never made it down for a tour, but we got some nice pics on different days.
The hills near Drumnadrochit, part of the Great Glen. Sheep everywhere. Would love to live in one of the houses on the hills.
This view is just behind our bed & breakfast. If you're ever there, look up the Brady's B&B. Great hosts in a great location!
