Isle of Skye and Highland Coos

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The Scottish Highlands are incredible. If I ever get back here I think I'd spend a few more days in the area. Tuesday morning we drove from Edinburgh to Edinbane, on the Isle of Skye (connected by the Skye bridge). It's 5-6 hours driving time, and we stopped a couple of times, so it took a bit longer. We drove a "scenic" route (even tho it's all scenic) through an area called Glencoe. Very pretty.

The Isle of Skye is pretty rural, but filled with Bed and Breakfast houses scattered over the island. We picked one in the north for the first night, and another just a bit east in Uig for the second night. Both accommodations surprised me. the rooms were bigger, nicer, cleaner and had better views than the nicer hotels we stayed at. There are usually 3-5 rooms in the house for let. The owners are up to fix you breakfast (cereals, fruits, juice, toast, sausage, ham, eggs, hash browns, beans, haggis - whatever you want), and are very helpful in suggesting places to tour. Both nights our room looked out a big window to a lake. Oh - and the price is much better than any hotel also.

But the exhange rate on the dollar is a killer. The B&B for example cost us around $100 for room and breakfast. A cheap hotel is around $130. Of course, you can easily go up to $300-$400 for a hotel, even a standard one. the Marriotts in the cities are around $700 per night. Half of that is the exchange rate, but even if the dollar was 1 for 1 with the pound (its 1 for 2) it's still higher than in the states. The same goes for food. And petrol (gasoline) is around $8 per gallon.

OK - back to Skye. Amazing scenery. The island has wonderful history, including Dunvegan castle and the areas ruled by the MacLouds (from the Highlander movies). There are cliffs and mountains and forests and lochs and rivers and waterfalls and ocean and whale-spotting and highland coos.

What's a Highland Coo? A cow. But a hairy one, that frankly looks pretty funny. It is a bit shaggier, with a mop of hair over its head, than hangs in its eye's like a sheep dog. We finally saw some off the road, so we walked out into the field to get some pictures and video. Justin asked what would happen if he chased it. I said to give it a try - to go ahead and get close and give one a slap. I also pointed out the horns. But, hey, their domesticated, right? Well, he got close, but decided what with PETA and all that, he should just leave the poor things alone (ha)

that also reminds me, the B&Bs always advertise their eggs coming from "free-range" hens. And I know the sheep are always ranging free all over the roads and fields. but I heard today that england has a law that requires all sheep, pigs, cows, chickens etc to be free-range. interesting.....

Thursday we drove by Loch Ness, saw the Monster in the Loch, old Nessie - or the Lady of the Loch as we say - and so of course Justin asked if he could go slap it and see who was faster. I said what the heck, go ahead. Poor Justin.....

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