We were abruptly woken up to a strange alarm on Naomi’s
phone at 6 am. She jerked upright and
said something like “Oh no”. It was an
alarm from the Israeli government about an impending missile attack…the US and
Israel had attacked Iran and Iran was hitting back. Naomi has received these alerts before, as sadly
it is a reality of being an Israeli citizen.
We fell back asleep, at least I did. At 8 am, we turned on the TV and watched the
update on the BBC News. As the
broadcaster was reporting from Jerusalem, an air raid siren started to wail in
the background. The news anchor asked if
the reporter needed to take cover, but he stated he had a few minutes. About ten seconds later, Naomi’s phone went
off again…”Whoa, that’s crazy”, I thought, “We’re connected to this conflict!”
It didn’t take long for us to find out that Naomi’s flight,
which was scheduled for tomorrow, had been cancelled. Originally the plan was that I was going to
drop her off at Heathrow and then continue on to Weymouth (which would have been
a long driving day). Now she was going
to return with me to my aunt’s place and wait until El Al airlines provide her
a new flight when things calmed down in the Middle East. It was a silver lining indeed.
We decided to extend our trip by one night after I confirmed
with the rental company that we could keep the car another day and decided that
we’d spend a night in Liverpool. I’ve
never been there and it has been a long time for Naomi (the same one with her
mom when she was a teenager and they went to Edinburgh). You never know what curveballs life might
throw at you, and sometimes they are good ones!
Time for breakfast.
We shared a table at breakfast with a nice Scottish couple in their 50s who were celebrating their anniversary and had a nice conversation with them.
On the road again.
We stopped at the Glencoe Visitor Centre with the hopes of seeing some more Highland coos.
We stopped at the Three Sisters viewpoint (three peaks that we passed by a few days earlier) and were pleasantly surprised to find a bagpiper there.
It was chilly, but it didn't stop this piper...
He was a very friendly piper and we had a short discussion about the weather which led into climate change.
The Three Sisters.
And that little white house that we saw on our way to the Isle of Skye.
The couple that we had breakfast with mentioned a hotel and cafe passed the Three Sisters where they claimed the deer were always hanging about. Naomi was excited about that prospect, and it didn't disappoint. There were a couple of stags who couldn't care less about being close to humans. The couple did mention that if we didn't go in for a coffee, we would like get a parking ticket as there were cameras all around...so I let Naomi out to snap the following photos while I circled a few times around the parking lot.
They were photogenic.
One of the last snow capped mountains as we begin heading south towards England.
And one of the last lochs...
Some wind turbines by the highway.
Some fake sheep outside of our bed and breakfast.
The view from our room.
Our dinner spot, a short walk from the guesthouse...the George and Dragon.
It was a lovely spot, although there was uncertainty if we would get fed as the restaurant side was fully booked and we didn't have reservations...but it worked out in the end.
And the food was fantastic! We shared this salad and...
...this brocolli and cheese soufflé.
Back at the room, trying out our new comfy "welly" socks we bought at a rest stop today.
Unfortunately, our short stay on the Isle of Skye is already
over. We sat down for breakfast in the
hotel before getting on the road and had a pleasant surprise…there are snow
capped mountains across the bay in front of the hotel! We had been here for 36 hours and had no idea
that they were there thanks to low hanging rainclouds.
Look at those mountains!
A cute painting in the hotel....a hippy coo.
It was a lovely stay in the Cullin Hills Hotel.
Looking over towards Portree.
We decided not to just beeline it off the island but to
drive part of the second loop that we had planned to do yesterday.The weather was much nicer today with some blue
sky and low, fluffy cumulus clouds forming from the moisture on the ground from
yesterday’s rain.
Our route took us by the village of Dunvegan and even though we
knew that it was temporarily closed, we stopped by Dunvegan Castle to see
if we could get a bit of a look.
This was as close as we could get thanks to a locked gate.
However, a worker on a dumper approached and unlocked the gate. He mentioned that the castle was closed for some road work. Naomi asked if she could walk in a bit closer and was able to get this photo.
The scenery near Dunvegan.
Lovely mountains to the south.
What a gorgeous coastline.
I got a kick out of this. This is an old camping trailer that has been painted black with big fried eggs on it. Those are chickens all around it. I guess it's been converted into a swanky chicken coop!
A lovely spot for a picnic...but we weren't hungry yet.
Hello cow.
All of the sheep seemed to be interested in Naomi, perhaps thinking she'd feed them.
Naomi had a "sheepish audience".
Nice!
Check out the mountains!
We passed this spot a few days ago when arriving on the island but the clouds were so low that we couldn't see the mountains. We had to stop to check them out.
That's a statue to a couple of climbers from the late 1800s to early 1900s.
John Mackenzie and Norman Collie, two mountaineering buddies who did many first ascents on the Isle of Skye. In 1896 they made the first ascent of the outlying Sgùrr Coir’ an Lochain, probably the last summit in Britain to be climbed.
Trying to be pensive like John and Norman.
A cool black and gray crow in the parking lot.
Ya!
Some parts reminded me a bit of Canada.
Only 10-15 minutes after crossing over the 500-meter-long Skye Bridge back to “mainland
Scotland”, we arrived at the Eilean Donan Castle, which
we had passed by a couple of days earlier on our way to the Isle of Skye. With blue sky in the mid afternoon, it looked
a lot different than the other day, but it was cool to see it both ways.
The castle looked a lot different today!
The castle is regularly described as one of the most photographed monuments in Scotland, and is a recognised Scottish icon, frequently appearing on packaging and advertising for shortbread, whisky and other products.
Doing it a bit “bass ackwards”, we entered the gift shop first as I needed to use the toilet. Usually, visiting the gift shop should be the activity at the end of a touristy visit!
I almost bought this hat...
After the gift shop, we wandered over to the ticket counter where there was a very friendly and jovial woman in her 60s. When she heard that I was from Canada, she couldn’t help but recount her visit to a few spots in Canada, such as Saskatchewan and the Rockies. She was a funny lady, and we must have chatted with her for over 5 minutes…she may have been the highlight of the visit!
Walking over to the castle...turns out you didn't need a ticket to walk around the outside, just the inside.
Approaching the entrance.
I have a lot of faith in the portcullis operator!
The inner courtyard.
The original castle was built in the 1200s, although there is evidence of a previous structure dating back to the 6th or 7th century. The castle was destroyed in 1719 during a British Jacobite rising. It was rebuilt between 1919 and 1932 and has since become a popular attraction as a museum and even as a site for wedding receptions. The castle has also been featured in a number of movies including being the MI6 Scottish headquarters in the James Bond movie "The World is Not Enough".
We ventured into the main building on the left. Unfortunately, no pictures or videos of any kind were permitted.
Back on the road, heading to Fort William.
We hadn't eaten lunch so we thought about having a late afternoon bite at the same place we stopped at on our drive to the Isle of Skye. I liked their chicken tacos so much that I could have had them again...but sadly the place was closed.
First time we have seen a sheep on a gas pump.
The rental car is looking good in this environment.
We pulled over after passing a field with some Highland coos and walked back to check them out along with a small tour group who had the same idea.
The tour guide shrieked a bit at Naomi as she got a bit too close to the electric fence doing this pose for the photograph!
We pulled into Fort William in the late afternoon and checked into our guesthouse. Originally, this was going to our one-night camping in the campervan Octi, but due to its transmission issues, we rented a car and Naomi found this spot at the last minute. It was in town, on the lake, and just a short walk to the “High Street” where most restaurants were located.
High Street.
Our burger dinner at a popular restaurant called "Geography".
If we hadn't eaten pizza the night before, we might have hit this pub/pizzeria, it looked pretty nice.
Tomorrow
is another travel day, about a four hour drive back into England to a small
town near Penrith.
