Back to the Isle of Skye

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My BFF Christa came to visit for two weeks in June. This was her first trip to the UK and I crafted a busy tour of Scotland and England to give her a taste of the British Isles. One of the first places we visited was Skye. Steve and I had spent a night on this island in the Hebrides chain last winter. It was beautiful then, but it was even more incredible this time around!

The sheep enjoy a rather pleasant view.

I have come to love lambing season. Seeing all the babies jumping and running about is quite enjoyable. I try not to think about them on someone's plate. This fellow was as intrigued by me as I was of him. He's entirely too cute to eat. And look at that tail! I had no idea sheep had long tails!

Just some of the island's spectacular scenery.

It was a rainy/misty day - pretty much the norm for western Scotland. The munros (aka mountains) were playing hide-and-seek in the low-lying clouds.

We had heard about the dinosaur footprints found on the beach of An Corran in Staffin, so we made our way there during a drive around the northern part of the island. It took quite a bit of looking, but we finally found one of the footprints. I wish I had thought to put something in the frame for scale. Steve kept looking for a much larger footprint. Sort of what you'd see in a Godzilla movie. But the print ended up being smaller than anticipated. Still, it's a dinosaur footprint! How cool is that?!

Some more shots of the beach.


We were beginning to give up hope of actually finding the footprints, so Steve crafted one of his own. This one is definitely Godzilla-scale.


These folks are also hunting for footprints.

We made our way around to Kilt Rock.

The clouds were so thick and low they obscured the Old Man of Storr.

When we visited the Quirraing last winter, it resembled Mars. The grass had died back and the late-afternoon sun gave everything a red glow. It looks a lot different in late spring. If you want a reminder of our first trip to Skye and the Quirraing, go here.

We climbed up the hill and took a ridiculous number of photographs. But it's hard not to when you're surrounded by this.

Steve shooting a panoramic on his iPhone.



Here are the panoramics I took on my iPhone.

This is my favorite photo from the day. I don't know who the fellow is in the pic.


The next day was a bit clearer. You could actually see the Old Man of Storr. I shot this with my iPhone. 

A typical Skye cottage. I have no idea why the houses are spotted like this. I have no idea who thought it was a good look. It's not.

As we left Skye for Inverness, we spent some time at Eileen Donan Castle.

I thought this tall ship was moored across the way, but it was actually heading somewhere. By the time we left, it was well down the loch.

We arrived just as a tour bus was unloading. There were so many people! We opted not to bother with the castle interior. Instead we enjoyed a cuppa at the cafe, had a browse around the gift shop, and played paparazzo around the castle grounds.


This is my favorite photo of the castle. I was liking my hiking boots that day. They got me places I wouldn't normally tread.

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