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Published: December 3rd 2022
On August 20 we left Edinburgh for Dundee and points beyond. The largest draw for Dundee was the new Victoria & Albert Museum, an extension of the one in London. It is an amazing piece of architecture, two upside down pyramids of horizontal bands that spiral up and join together. It is on the waterfront next to the ship Discovery, a barque-rigged auxiliary steamship built for Antarctic research. Launched in 1901, she was the last traditional wooden three-masted ship to be built in the United Kingdom. Our next stop was Scone (pronounced scoon) Palace, near the city of Perth. It is an historic house by the village of Scone. Built in red sandstone with a castellated roof, it is an example of the Gothic Revival style in Scotland. The interior part that we were allowed to enter is very grand, huge rooms with crystal chandeliers, etc, which we were not allowed to photograph. On the grounds is a copy of the historic Stone of Scone, a rock bench on which past kings were crowned. After a drive through Cairngorms National Park we arrived at Inverness, our destination for the night. Ron’s friend, Iaian runs a hotel, MacDougall Clansman Hotel, where he
treated us to dinner.
August 21. After walking around the charming and beautiful old Inverness city center, we hit the road for the Isle of Skye, drove along most of the western shore of Loch Ness before heading west through the green, beautiful and almost treeless Scottish Highlands. By early afternoon we reached the very picturesque (the most photographed Scottish castle) Eilean Donan Castle. It is on a tiny island where three sea water lochs come together and is joined to the land by an arched stone bridge. We were allowed inside but forbidden to take photos. There is a private residential area in the upper part. We arrived at the town of Portree on the Isle of Skye in the early evening.
August 22. Skye. After breakfast we drove along the eastern side of the peninsula north of Portree enjoying the beautiful scenery. We stopped at the Skye Museum of Island Life that has examples of traditional stone buildings with thatched roofs. Some long-haired Luing cattle gathered at the edge of the fence waiting to be fed by the tourists from a bucket of feed. Next we drove over to the west side of the peninsula to
visit Dunvegan Castle, the oldest continuously inhabited castle in Scotland, built on a rocky outcrop on the shores of Loch Dunvegan, . Much of it is a museum with beautiful 18th century furniture, many fine paintings and artifacts. Extensive gardens are on the grounds. Our last stop of the day was at the Fairy Pools, a series of beautiful rock pools with cascades and waterfalls against a dramatic backdrop of the rocky Cuillin mountain range. The road to the Fairy Pools, like many on Skye is one lane with turnouts (called lay-bys.) When approaching another car, the closest to the lay-by pulls out onto it to allow the other car to pass. It took a while to figure the etiquette of the lay-by since it had never been explained to me.
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Scotland
Beautiful architecture.