Wednesday, July 07, 2004
The Scotland Report: Installment VI
Sunday morning we enjoyed a wonderful breakfast in our hotel in Portree and then headed north to explore the Trotternish Peninsula.
The road was narrow, but the scenery was amazing. We got out of the car to admire Lealt Falls and the rock formation known as the Old Man of Storr. It was misty on the old man that day, but you can have an idea of what is was like:
One thing I forgot to mention from our very first night in Scotland is that as we were walking from the plane to the terminal, a small airplane buzzed by at what seemed like pretty close range. One of the airport workers informed us that the plane was off of the aircraft carrier the USS Enterprise, which was in local waters as part of an exercise. We thought that was very cool but expected no further encounters with the Enterprise.
Imagine our surprise then, when we rounded a curve up on the northern end of Skye and saw this just off the coast:
The carrier was surrounded by other smaller ships, and we even saw a plane taking off from its deck. I hopped out of the car and immediately began snapping pictures, but that sucker moves FAST! Here's another halfway decent one though:
We stopped for lunch at a riding center, where Daddy and I had the most amazing scones with strawberries and whipped cream. In the field outside the parking lot, we saw one of Dr. Doolittle's legendary animals, the Push-Me-Pull-Ewe:
We were now finished with the Trotternish Peninsula and continued on to explore the northwestern part of the island. We went to Dunvegan Castle but opted not to go inside for the tour. It was getting late, and we were more interested in trying to find the seals that we had heard lived in the area. So we drove past the castle and down an even narrower road and were able to see a few seals on an island in the middle of the loch. I took this picture of the castle:
We spent the rest of the afternoon driving down to the town of Broadford to find a place to stop for the night.
I was excited to see a youth hostel, and in spite of Dad's assertion that "I ain't no youth," I insisted that we at least check it out. It turned out to be a wonderful bargain that more than offset the splurge from the night before. We got a 6-bed room to ourselves at a rate of 12 pounds per adult and 9 pounds per kid. The room was simple but clean and comfortable:
All around Scotland, I wanted to get a picture of my dad in front of one particular street sign. In Broadford, I finally got my chance. I call this one "Hey, Papa Boyd! What's your sign?"
The road was narrow, but the scenery was amazing. We got out of the car to admire Lealt Falls and the rock formation known as the Old Man of Storr. It was misty on the old man that day, but you can have an idea of what is was like:
One thing I forgot to mention from our very first night in Scotland is that as we were walking from the plane to the terminal, a small airplane buzzed by at what seemed like pretty close range. One of the airport workers informed us that the plane was off of the aircraft carrier the USS Enterprise, which was in local waters as part of an exercise. We thought that was very cool but expected no further encounters with the Enterprise.
Imagine our surprise then, when we rounded a curve up on the northern end of Skye and saw this just off the coast:
The carrier was surrounded by other smaller ships, and we even saw a plane taking off from its deck. I hopped out of the car and immediately began snapping pictures, but that sucker moves FAST! Here's another halfway decent one though:
We stopped for lunch at a riding center, where Daddy and I had the most amazing scones with strawberries and whipped cream. In the field outside the parking lot, we saw one of Dr. Doolittle's legendary animals, the Push-Me-Pull-Ewe:
We were now finished with the Trotternish Peninsula and continued on to explore the northwestern part of the island. We went to Dunvegan Castle but opted not to go inside for the tour. It was getting late, and we were more interested in trying to find the seals that we had heard lived in the area. So we drove past the castle and down an even narrower road and were able to see a few seals on an island in the middle of the loch. I took this picture of the castle:
We spent the rest of the afternoon driving down to the town of Broadford to find a place to stop for the night.
I was excited to see a youth hostel, and in spite of Dad's assertion that "I ain't no youth," I insisted that we at least check it out. It turned out to be a wonderful bargain that more than offset the splurge from the night before. We got a 6-bed room to ourselves at a rate of 12 pounds per adult and 9 pounds per kid. The room was simple but clean and comfortable:
All around Scotland, I wanted to get a picture of my dad in front of one particular street sign. In Broadford, I finally got my chance. I call this one "Hey, Papa Boyd! What's your sign?"
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