Scotland Vacation--day 6

---

Day six--Isle of Skye to St. Andrews

Woke up early, had another AWESOME breakfast, packed up the car and headed down to the south of Isle of Skye to get a view of the Cuillin Ridge.

On the way, we hit up Talisker Distillery where we indulged in some tasting...

This also helped later when I would pay tribute to Saucy Mary at Castle Moil. =)

The whiskey we tried was.......flavorful. I swore I tasted flowers...and soap?

I found out I'm not really a whiskey kind of girl.

Purchased some whiskey as gifts from the distillery where a cashier proceeded to tell us we could get the tax back on the purchase at the airport. Another cashier explained the policy and then said, "The UK really needs all the tax it can get you know, to pay for your wars."

Ouch!

Husband and I kind of laughed and could see this guy wasn't joking.

"Well, we're here on vacation paying twice as much for everything...so that should help."

We smiled and walked away with our purchase. If we really wanted to make something of it, we should've just made them go through the hassle of taking the whiskey back and refunding our money, but I was ready to move on, and I really did want to bring some whiskey back....so....we continued on.

We could see see the red cuillins on the drive (apparently there are red and black cuillins)...and numerous stone bridges.....

Finally, we reached Elgol and had a great view of the black cuillins.

Check out my photos of the black cuillins:
http://sugarmountain.vox.com/library/post/vacation--day-six.html

Took in the view for a little while and then headed for Kyleakin, home of Castle Moil.

Stopped off at the post office to send a few postcards...

And then there it was....Castle Moil calling to me from the hill above the town...

Check out my photos of Castle Moil:
http://sugarmountain.vox.com/library/post/vacation--day-six.html

We reached Kyleakin around lunchtime so grabbed a quick bite to eat before making the trek up to the ruins.

As we started the trek toward Castle Moil, we saw Saucy Mary's lodge, hostel and tavern...snapped a few shots and then searched for the trail that would lead us to the castle.

The trail wasn't easy to find, we kind of guessed where it was and happened to guess right.
We had to walk through a neighborhood to get to a dead-end dock where the trail picked up behind a parking lot next to the dock.

We walked through seaweed stuff.......

Climbed over rocks with yellow stuff......

Pushed our way through thick greenery.....

And finally, we could see the castle....

Climbed to the top of the castle and had an awesome view of Kyleakin and the Skye Bridge that connects Isle of Skye to mainland Scotland...

Check out the view of Kyleakin from Castle Moil:
http://sugarmountain.vox.com/library/post/vacation--day-six.html

There was nobody else there....it was our castle....

Sat at the window for a little while wondering if Saucy Mary had once looked out this window...

She definitely had quite a view....

Ok, ok, you're wondering if I paid tribute to Saucy Mary......

of course I did! However, I'm not about to post a picture of that on a public blog. =)

I was really sad to leave Isle of Skye...we had been there only 2 days and it already felt like home....I long for it even as I type this blog.....

but alas, I must move on.

After Castle Moil and saying cheers to Mary, we started the journey back to St. Andrews.

On the way, we drove through Glen Sheil to snap a few photos of the most photographed Castle in Scotland...

Eilean Donan....

Check out my photos of Eilean Donan:
http://sugarmountain.vox.com/library/post/vacation--day-six.html

Continued on to St. Andrews and slept really really well that night.

---