Highlands, Isle of Skye, Loch Ness, and Edinburgh!

I took the opportunity of not have classes or any required meetings/events for a week and went on a 3 day tour of the Highlands, Isle of Skye, and Loch Ness. Joe joined me on the adventure! We left from Glasgow on Tuesday morning and headed towards our destination for the night, Portree. The first stop along the way was at Loch Lomond where I had already been with the Uni. The stop was short but I was able to see a different part of the Loch than before which was nice. I somehow managed to delete about 60 pictures off my camera from the first day :( 

We were able to see where part of Skyfall, a recent James Bond movie, was filmed. It was close to a ski resort, which I can’t remember the name of...

Bond landscape

29 passenger tour bus!

We stopped to eat lunch in a town called Glencoe. After lunch we stopped at Inverlochy Castle which was off the beaten path thanks to our tour guide, John! 

Next was a stop in Dornie Hall for a view of Eilean Donan Castle, on the third day we came back to the castle. We spent the night in Portree, I stayed at the Bayfield Backpackers hostel. My bed was in a room with 4 other girls who were all from China. A few of them were on a 3 day tour as well. The hostel had a great view of the harbour was was close to the center of town. Joe and I splurged and had a nice dinner at an Indian restaurant.

Outside the hostel

My room

The next day while half the group toured the Talisker Distillery, John took us on a short hike to a waterfall that overlooked Loch Brittle. It began pouring as we headed down, but John fearlessly ran down the hill in his kilt to escape the rain. 

After the waterfall, we saw Dun Beag Broch and were able to see ruins of hollow walled stone structures. The tour had another option of going to Dunvegan Castle, I opted to not go and John took us to see the west coast. Here I saw the Duirinish Stone and a great view of MacLeod’s Tables which look over the city. 

MacLeod's Tables

Next, we stopped in Uig where I visited Uig pottery and bought a small bowl as a souvenir for myself!

Then we headed east to see Kilt Rock and the Old Man of Storr before heading back to Portree for the night. I had fish and chips for dinner which seemed fitting since the town is on a harbour. Portree is the largest town on the Isle.

Before reaching Loch Ness, we stopped at the Commando Memorial and again at Eilean Donan Castle. At Loch Ness there was an option of taking a cruise on the Loch which I opted out of because it was a very cloudy day. Instead I explored the shops and locks around. The locks are on the Caledonian Canal which links Inverness to Fort William. 

Eilean Donan

Sheep!!!

Locks

The tour ended in Edinburgh where I was given a ticket to take the train back to Glasgow. Instead of going back Thursday evening, Joe and I decided to stay the night in Edinburgh and travel back to Glasgow Friday night. Another friend from DU, Dan, met up with us in Edinburgh! 

We all stayed at the Caledonian Backpackers which was a funky hostel located just off Princes Street. Here we were in a 12 bunk room that housed us, 3 Irish girls, 1 French man, 1 Australian man, and another guy who moved in in the middle of the night. All of us went out that night for drinks, it was fun to hang out with people with different backgrounds. The hostel also served a free breakfast in the morning!!! Dan, Joe, and I went to Edinburgh Castle the next morning and then walked along the Royal Mile. My camera died and would not charge...so these pictures are from Joe and Dan. The castle was huge and a lot of ground to cover, we spent over 2 hours exploring. After the castle and Royal Mile we stopped at a market and I got a wild boar and apple burger! We took the train back to Glasgow that night after a tiring day. 

A sign in the hostel, "You dropped food on the floor, do you eat it?"

View from the Castle