The 2019 Scottish Trip Part 2

The Sound of Sleat

 After watching Great British Road Trips the General Wade Military Road episode Thunderthighs requested we drive that road from Inverness to the Glenelg ferry.

From Facebook archives

28, 29,30 May 2019

We drove General Wade's Military Road all the way from Inverness to Glenelg and straight on to the ferry.  No chance to photograph it and no room to open my door once we were aboard.  As well as two blokes operating it this ferry had a pair of really friendly Border Collies.  Sadly I couldn't get a photo of them.

Dr Fester enjoyed the cruise and was so happy to see seals.
"Take a photo of them"
They're too far away.
"That's ok, you can crop it."
Anyway, there were seals who seemed pleased to see us.

 

 

Ferretfingers enjoyed the cruise too

 

When you get to the other side there’s nowhere to stop for a photo so it’s right up the hill in first or second gear. 

Our picturesque lunch spot was in Broadford car park.   

 

Then we drove back over the Skye bridge and down to the even more picturesque EileanDonan.

Twenty years ago (or more) when we first took the boys to Skye Ferretfingers was carsick and we stopped in the carpark here to clean him up.  Which we mention every time we spot it on the tv or elsewhere.  There was hardly anything there then.   

Now there's a posh visitors' centre, car-park-men to guide you, coach parking and hundreds of tourists of all nations.

We just had some very nice ice-cream, took some photos and headed for our guest house.

 

Our bedroom at Caberfeidh guest house has one of the best views we've ever enjoyed.  

I spent a lot of time just staring out of the window watching the changing light changing the character of the loch.  No photos could do it justice.   

The rooms were really comfortable and the breakfast was excellent too. 

The Dornie Hotel (just over the water) did us an excellent dinner.  Fester and I shared a seafood platter and introduced Thunderthighs to langoustine (not impressed).

 

Ferretfingers makes himself at home wherever he is; the view was wasted on him.   

He insisted on closing the curtains at bedtime.   

I still woke up at 4am.   

I went to the window to look at the loch, opened it to better listen to the dawn chorus, and heard the cuckoo.

The west of Scotland in May is definitely the place to hear the cuckoo; we heard and saw three last year on the Mull of Kintyre.

 

We had an uneventful drive to the Ardrossan Hotel in Ayr, dinner with Fester’s friend the Beetle Professor and his Wife, and a wet drive home via the Military Road (the Hadrian’s Wall one).