Rain, rain, rain go away, come again September 17

The huge bus was gone from our view this morning but there was some sort work van thingy in its place.  I did manage a pic without it.  

There was a coffee maker in the room and I was overjoyed however I struggled with it.  Hopefully in the morning it will be easier.

Scrambled eggs and sautéed mushrooms, a piece of ham, and a croissant with butter and apricot jam and of course coffee for breakfast.  I decided to give the sausages another try, but no, just no.

We took the Skye bridge to Skye and it rained and blew!  Mr Personality really does not know how to sell things, rather portends gloom and said we might not do this or that if the weather was bad.  Regardless we went to Dunvegan Castle which is still inhabited by McLeods on the top floor.

Maids Quarters, it had a list of chores beginning at 0400!

Maids corrdor

Lock of Bonnie Prince Charlie’s hair gifted to Flora McDonald who is one of whom is regarded as to having saved him form the English.

One of my favorite things was the dungeon, only because i had seen the concept of a hole in the castle where people were just left. And this one was actually in the walls of the castle, they said it was so they could smell the food the maids were bringing to the table through the walls and that it punished them more. 

As I went through the castle,   I wondered what it might be like to share your home with the public like that?  People are so careless if other peoples things.

There were lovely gardens there as well and I was surprised at the variety of

Things growing i.e. rosemary a huge old bush and I would not have thought it would survive. 

I particularly enjoyed the water garden 

We had a rather disagreeable experience in Portree, Skye. 

 We were dumped out and told to make getting lunch a priority and we were turned away from 4 establishments and the 5th was not even open finally to Chinese which while not execrable didn’t encourage me to fail my dieting attempts.  It was supposed to be sweet and sour chicken and I knew it was chicken nuggets but honestly what is sweet and sour chicken?  Regardless we didn’t really get to spend any time in Portree nor was it a culinaryj success.  AND to tip it off “Stephen” just sang the Skye Boat Song.

We stopped for a look see and a wee dram at this monument, it is in honor of Collie and McKenzie statue which over looks the Sligachan river which is reputed to bring eternal wisdom or eternal beauty ( depending on which tale you hear / or believe) to anyone who plants thier face in the river for 7 seconds.  I did not to this as I believe in agreeing gracefully!

The Sligcchan Hotel is near here, but not near enough, caught out in the umpteenth rainstorm my lovely new red corduroy coat bleed all over my tan jeans (you would think I would learn my lesson as yesterday it bled on my cream sweater) so a beverage was in order.  I tried a local scotch, nicely smiley. Accompanied with a Murray mint, it was Devine.  

We came back, I showered do I will be ready to roll in the AM and we went to dinner here in the Balmacara Hotel. Claire and I got a pre dinner drink, which I took in to dinner.  I had a Cesar salad replete with more then one anchoise,  A lovely Scottish salmon with Hollandaise sauce, mashed potatoes, carrots and broccoli. Cream Brûlée and Shortbread for dessert but I was woefully full by this point. 

It Sure Isn’t Outlander!

Departure time was 7:50 today, breakfast was scrambled eggs and ham, some lovely tiny pastries and coffee.  First we went to Luss to see Loch Lamond, 

 It was a cute little village and the views of the lake were lovely.   

That look is determination to get a decent selfies, not crabbiness!

From there we stopped at a Green Wellie, to see the best BR in the UK,  I was not impressed.  I liked the bathroom yesterday better!

Then after traveling amongst lovely beautiful lakes glens  and streams we got let out at a visitors center which irritated me to no end as we had passed up several opportunities to stop and taking photos from inside the bus is shoddy at best. We eventually found a scenic view after being forced through a gift shop. And there was a Peet

house there too which was quite interesting.  Mother Nature took the opportunity to make my umbrella wet and it was off to the next stop of Ft William. 

 I was pretty excited to get there and there is only a stone wall left.  It had a size able part in Outlander’s first season.  We dined on goat cheese, artichoke hearts  and honey for me and potato, spinach and courgette soup for Claire.  I had just made this at home and was not interested. It tasted about the same though.

We then drove to Eileen Donan Castle.  Built in mid 13th century, it was partially destroyed by the Spanish in the Jacobite uprising of 1719.  IT was purchased / rebuilt by a McCrae in 1911 /1932.  There are still McCrae family members who are custodians of the castle.

Regardless it was beautiful and the wild weather added to the ambiance of the place.

We are staying at the Balmacara. Hotel right on the water.  It is crazy out there right now, windy and blowey who knows what tomorrow will bring.  But we did get to see the schedule at dinner!

Speaking of dinner it was good, Tomato soup with a roll, Chicken and mashed potatoes I think the chicken was stuffed with Haggis.  

And for dessert Cranachan which is whipped cream (the real stuff) raspberry oculus, toasted oats, honey and whiskey accompanies with a shortbread cookie.  Pretty yummy.

Rain, rain go away, and it did!

We woke after a night of no internet so I apologize for the blog format, but working on the phone has been miserable.  Breakfasr was nice though the croissant was , well we aren’t in France, are we?  Eggs sunny side up, ha, croissant, and cafe au lait.  There were tomatoes, stewed mushrooms and the ubiquitous beans, which I passed on.  It was a rather a rushed affair as the tour guide had nit shared the schedule with us (which raised the ire of Claire) and we did not know our departure time. We shared our displeasure with him, but his customer service skills seem to be a bit lacking. 

The first stop was Weymouth  Victorian train station while Stephen “sorted” for us.  It’s beautiful though the bathrooms were supposed to be special and they were not.

We then too’ the ferry Toto Bute.  It is a grey blustery day , but after waking up to a torrent it has been a dry day.

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We went to a beach and had a quick look, there were supposed to be standing stones on the way to and from the beach according to “Stephen” but I never laid eyes on them, grrrr,  he’s not batting 100 today.

We then went to Mount Stewart House and it was lovely.  The name Stewart harkens back to the word steward which was the person closest, the server to the King. However, the house was not built by any Stewart I had heard of before.

What would it be like to have your own church?

I LOVED this bedroom!  I could sleep there!

The bathroom definitely got my approval!

We moseyed around the gardens. One before lunch (which was a small part of Claires ham and cheese toastie, and a cup of honey roasted parsnip soup) and one after.

Claire was particularly (me too but not as MUCH as Claire) struck by these lovely purple hydrangea.

Ferry back to  mainland via a ferry from Rosshire

And low and behold here were the Victorian bathrooms

Dinner at a local pub beef pie with mashed and honey roasted carrots.