Skye to Inverness

After enjoying a delicious continental breakfast at Fisher's Rock B & B, we farewelled Heather (lovely lady) and headed off to Talisker's Distillery before hitting the road to Inverness. It was raining lightly but steadily and we were thankful we had a better day for our drive around Skye on Tuesday.

Hugh, from Talisker's, gave Peter three whiskies to try, including an 18 yr old and a 25 yr old. Peter tasted while I sniffed.

As we left the distillery we followed signs to an oyster farm. The oysters, which are shucked while you wait, had been out of the water for 40 minutes - can't get much fresher than that!
 

We left Isle of Skye by the bridge. First stop was Eilean Donan Castle, on Loch Duich.

 

 

Travelling along Loch Ness, although raining most of the time, was still lovely. We stopped off at Urqhart Castle for a short time as it was getting a bit late for arriving at Inverness before dark:

 

 



 





 

We were met at Invernevis B & B by Shella from the Isle of Skye. A very friendly and vivacious hostess who rides a Harley. She recommended The Mustard Seed for dinner - a contemporary restaurant with a great atmosphere.We had the early dinner setting - I had smoked haddock pate & chicken breast with green peppercorn sauce - yummo!  Peter's steak wasn't a patch on Jackson's, I'm afraid. The B and B is within 10-15 mins walk of the centre -  there seems to be 100s of B and B's (probably a slight exaggeration) on the way. Lots have No Vacancy signs but we've been told it is usually because they have closed for the season.

 

We decided to have a quiet, no driving day in Inverness on Thursday. We strolled around the town,  had lunch at a café staffed by young, disadvantaged people - great coffee and food - called Café Artisan. We called into a little art studio where they collect early century art works. We purchased a 1920 original pencil drawing of 'Toledo'.

 

Inverness, which is located right on the loch, has a nice feel about it. It was lovely to see the sunshine this afternoon - makes such a difference to the colours of the Autumn leaves which are still in abundance. Unfortunately the pubs which were recommended for traditional music don't start playing until 9.30/10pm - past these old folks' bed time - looks like we'll have to wait for Sunday a'noon in Edinburgh!

 

 

We're off to Stirling tomorrow for two nights, then onto Edinburgh before flying to France on Monday.





 





Exploring Skye

Yesterday, Tuesday, we headed off from Portree to explore the Island. Although we didn't quite see as much as we wanted, we had a great day. Below are a few photos from our day. We called into a studio in the middle of nowhere and met 'Bill', a 75+ yr old artist. an absolutely delightful man and a highlight of our day.

The following shots we taken as we drove around at a leisurely pace. The weather was mixed with sunshine one minute and light rain the next.



 

House featured on "Grand Designs"



 

We had dinner at the Boswell Inn and shared four entrees, including a bowl of mussels in garlic & white wine sauce - Fantastico!

 

Off to Inverness on Wednesday...

 

 















Fort William to Isle of Skye

I think it's time for a quick summary of food highlights so far:

Best breakfast

Peter: - Big Bear breakfast on Islay – Bacon, Oban sausages (fantastic), eggs, beans, tomato, , potato scone
Mary – scrambled eggs with smoked salmon at Newton Hall, inverary (made only with butter & no milk)

Best Lunch

Peter & Mary: Seafood shack at Oban

Best Dinner

Mary: Fish & Langoustines at the George Hotel, Inverary
Peter:  Ditto

We had  an excellent dinner at the B & B, followed by drinks and good conversation with Bev and Toby. It was wet and wild outside and to eat in was a good option. This couple combine the right amount of friendliness with professionalism. Although he hasn't lived in Australia for 20 yrs, he's more Australian than a lot of men we know.

We got away from Fort William mid morning on Monday. Bev advised us to take the 'old coastal road' and we had brilliant scenery all the way. We stopped off at Glenfiddan, famous for both the Glenfiddan monument, built in honour of Bonnie Prince Charles, and the Glenfiddan Viaduct, from the Harry Potter movie.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We caught the ferry to Isle of Skye, only a 30 min trip but it was a pretty wild ride:

 

We arrived into the Port of Armadale, about an hour's drive from Portree where we had booked a B  B, Fisher's Rock.  It's very modern with a view of Portree Harbour (with seals frolicking outside our window Tuesday morning):

More soon after we go exploring Skye.

Islay to Fort William

Dinner the night before we left Islay consisted of lamb chops & vegies for me and venison casserole for Peter at one of the local pubs. These were served with enough potatoes to feed six easily - chips, mashed & boiled:

Potatoes three ways a la Islay

We caught the ferry back to the mainland - lovely relaxing trip.


Leaving Port Ellen, Isle of Islay





Oban

The drive up to Fort William was spectacular. We dropped into Oban and had lunch at a little seafood shack on the jetty recommended in my guidebook. What a find! We had freshly caught prawn tails in garlic butter & mussels in white wine - both to die for. Oban is a pretty town with very friendly people. It had a nice feel about it and I would have been happy to spend a couple of days there.




Oban mussels

 

Best seafood in Oban

It was overcast most of the time and, on Craig's recommendation, we took a little detour up to Glencoe, the sight of a massacre of the McDonalds by the Campbells in 1692. Although it was raining the drive up glen was nothing short of awe inspiring. We intend going back on Sunday if the weather has cleared a little.

 

Our B & B in Fort William is run by an Australian couple, Toby & Bev. Toby comes from Manly & they intend returning to Australia to join their two daughters next year. The B & B, Manesfield House, is extremely comfortable and I would highly recommend it.

 

We planned to go for a walk up the glen on Sunday morning. Bev said my boots wouldn't do the job & kindly offered an old pair of her hiking boots. Our destination was Steal Falls at the base of Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in Britain. Even to access the walk, we drove out on an extremely narrow road wide enough for one vehicle. The car park had a sign warning 'Danger of Death' as a lot of the walk was on rocks near sheer drops. We soldiered on. Photos below give a bit of an idea of how remote, beautiful (& wet!) it was.



We are both loving the Scottish experience - particularly the people (who are sooo polite) and, of course, the scenery.  We haven't managed to find a coffee as good as we get in Armidale yet but we'll continue looking. we're off to the Isle of Skye tomorrow afternoon.  



Whisky Tasting on Islay

After a nice big breakfast, we drove the 10 miles to Fort Ellen to visit a couple of Peter's favourite distilleries - Laphroaig , Lagavulin and lunch at Ardbeg. First was Laphroaig where we were the only people on the tour (advantage of going in  the quiet season). Briony was very knowledgeable and delightful at the same time. She took us through all the stages of whisky making, including the maltings where the barley is laid out & turned every 4 hrs allowing it to germinate into malt. Arthur (below) has worked for 41 yrs in this trade and Laphroaig is one of very few that still do this manually.

The malt is mixed with water where it ferments. Then transferred into the stills where the evaporated alcohol is captured.

Laphroaig stills

We had booked into a master tasting at Lagavulin after lunch. as I was driving and am yet to develop the taste for 'iodine' whisky, I participated by smelling only. It was actually very interesting - tasting from the raw 58% alcohol to a 'smoother' 18 yr old.

whisky tasting - Lagavulin

We then drove up to a church ruin & the Kildarton High Cross which was carved 1300 years ago (oops photo sideways)..

View from Kildarton Cross



Inverary & Isle of Islay

We loved Inverary - stayed at Newton Hall Guest House, run by Bill & Janice. On Bill’s recommendation we had dinner at The George Hotel – he suggested the langoustines (a small crayfish) if it was on the menu as they would have been caught that afternoon. The hotel's building was very rustic, and had a great atmosphere & after enjoying our dinner they added garlic langoustine to the menu!  We had to try it so we shared an entrée – yummo!

View while having my smoked salmon breakfast

 After breakfast we had a quick visit to the Inverary Castle. The Christmas dinner in Downton Abbey was filmed here. The china room was a small circular room off the dining room filled with bone china. Below is just one cabinet. The gardens were beautiful but were didn't have time to walk around them as we had to catch the ferry to Islay.

 

The Ferry trip from Kennecraig to the Isle of Islay takes 2.5 hrs . The sun was shining & the sea was fairly calm.

Islay Ferry - very flash inside

 


arriving at Port Askaig, Isle of Islay

 

One of Peter's favourite whiskies, Laphaug, is distilled on Islay, the main reason we've come here. the Isle is known as the We are staying in the 'capital', Bowmore, at the Island Bear B & B, an 'interesting' B&B run by Bobby, who came for a holiday 10 yrs ago & stayed. We visited the Bowmore Distillery which  is in the middle of town. I found a shed which was full of barley spread very neatly over the floor. Later when showing Peter, he pointed out a red sign "No unauthorised people past this point". Oh well - better to ask for forgiveness than permission.

 

We had dinner over the road at the Lochside Pub. How can I say this? Both the B & B and the pub experiences were like chalk and cheese compared to Inverary. While the pub had little atmosphere, it had a wonderful waitress who was looking after a very busy dining room. She was blond, always smiling and was a human dynamo who spoke just like the blond assistant on 'Absolutely Fabulous'.  The table next to us was full of  9 & 10 yr old girls celebrating a b'day. Rather than being annoying, they provided much entertainment.

 

Today we are off to vist four or five whisky distilliaries. More later...



 

 

Glasgow to Inverary

We picked up our car, a black Astra, and headed out of Glasgow, after buying an attachment for the car so the GPS would work. I thought the very pleasant girl serving us said, "will there be anything else?" to which I replied "No thanks". Peter jumped in & said "Inverary". What she actually had asked was: "Are you going anywhere nice?" As you would imagine, he scenery was spectacular and we had a very relaxed drive along Loch Lomond. a lot of the trees still have their Autumn leaves, which is an unexpected bonus. Photos below are of Luss (one of Craig's suggestions), a tiny village on Loch Lomond:

Peter in main street of  Luss

Rainbow over Loch Lomond

Sunny Scotland

Flight from Syd to Dubai (14.5 hrs) was fine. Craig our travel agent, booked seats which ensured we had optimal space on the A380. I sat next to a really nice young man from Wollongong. He was on his way to Frankfurt where he had a tennis coaching job (although he did spill a little bourbon on my seat when he fell asleep!)

We had a 2.5 hr stopover in Dubai (5 am) & managed to get into Emerites Business Lounge (although we'd been advised in Australia we couldn't on Peter's Qantas Lounge m'ship - but it's always worth asking!). We were then able to enjoy much needed showers.  I had a great coffee & mini pistachio muffins while Peter, as he would, enjoyed a chilled glass of Moet at 6 am!!

Feeling like new people we arrived in Glasgow spot on time - 12.35 pm. We stayed at the citizenM Hotel in the CBD. It is a 'minimalist' but funky place. DIY check-in, HUGE bed in TINY room. Remote controlled everything - colour of shower recess (colour choice: pink, green, yellow & blue). I tried to set alarm & TV came on about 2.00 am! It also controlled the lighting, temperature, blinds (Peter was changing TV channel & blinds starting closing all by themselves!)

In Glasgow only one day so we were out exploring in no time. Glasgow Cathedral first - had dungeon-type chapels downstairs - quite creepy for a cathedral. Then caught Hop-on-Hop-off bus for quick overview. Had dinner at the Ubiquitious 'Chip' - lovely place in the WestEnd - highly recommend it.

In bed by 7 pm.
Off to Inverary today. Forecast is rain & wind but clearing this afternoon - expected temp is 11 degrees but we've come prepared!

Peter & I arrived at Armidale airport to find out the plane was overbooked, due to an earlier flight being cancelled. We were asked if we would be willing to get a taxi to Tamworth & catch a flight nearly 4 hrs later. As we aren't due to fly out of Syd until 9.45 pm we agreed. I was hopeful that we might even get an upgrade for being so agreeable but it's not looking good. We actually had a very enjoyable trip with Alex, the taxi driver, and Helen from Canberra. We chattered all the way.  I couldn't believe how dry (brown) it is around Tamworth - a lot worse than the Armidale area.