I hope you all enjoyed that short introductory video into day 2 of my journey. When you look at my outdoor photos this time around, I'd like you to imagine this video. But, before I get started, I have to jump back to Germany for a moment.
Dear Germany, now this is what we would call 'a train'(ein Zug). That paltry puff of air that wafts through the cracked window and the open door, has nothing on this. I stood out in this almost all day, soaking wet as well, and nary a cough or a stiff neck were to be seen. Now it could be my ancestral Viking blood, or the fact a breeze is harmless. You can decide. For those non-Germans, a draft is deadly in Germany.
Ok, back to Scotland. We set off on a rainy, windy morning at about 9am, after a delicious full English breakfast. Well, full minus the black pudding (aka congealed blood sausage). Nope. Not today.
Our first stop was about 15 minutes from Portree. A place called Lealt Falls near Kilt rock. I wish I had a better photo, but we were in the middle of a Scottish hurricane.
After being thoroughly soaked from head to toe, freezing, and only 20 minutes into our journey, most people were ready to turn around. The ridiculousness of the situation made me giggle and as I ran back to the van and passed our guide Brian, I said, 'this is fun!'. He responded with, 'Aye. It's definitely interesting.'.
Our next stop on the Isle of Skye was Creag an Fheilidh. Here, or around here they have a the biggest collection of dinosaur remains found on the coast here. For some reason, I would never think dinosaurs would be in Scotland. And they have a little slab with dinosaur footprints so you can compare your own. 
Brian told us that sometimes the wind blows so hard, the water from the falls actually blows up instead of down. I believe it. I wish I had gotten a video of this, but the wind was whistling through the iron bars of the railing and it almost sounded like wind chimes.
I learned that the next town we were heading to was having its annual gallady, or fair as we call it in English, but the weather was so bad, we didn't actually get a chance to see any sort of fair. Before I move on to the next photos, I feel I should go back to giving a little background on Flora MacDonald. Again, she was the woman who helped disguise Bonnie Prince Charlie and escape the British. At first she didn't want to help, but it turns out the MacDonalds were secretly sympathetic to the Jacobite cause. Even though there was a 30,000 pound bounty on Bonnie Prince Charlie's head, this area of the Highlands was filled with MacLeods and MacDonalds, who again, were all sympathizers.
Now around June of 1746 Flora MacDonald was discovered by British spies (they were everywhere) to be helping Bonnie Prince Charlie. She was imprisoned by the British and interrogated. What happens next is how she gets her heroine status in Scotland. The Duke of Cumberland, or the Butcher Cumblerand, as he was lovingly known, was out to get Bonnie Prince Charlie after he fled the Battle of Culloden (remember Flora disguised him as a maid to cross to the Isle of Skye). Somehow Flora MacDonald was able to convince him and her interrogators that she actually had no political ties, and was just doing a favor. In fact, she would have helped the Duke of Cumberland in such a situation as well. Again, they believed her and let her go. When she arrived in Inverness on her way back to Portree, she received her heroine status. She had survived a British interrogation and helped Bonnie Prince Charlie. Her memorial is at the Kilmuir Cemetery. |
| This is Richard. He almost blew away. But on a interesting note, he was on our tour and was in Edinburgh to receive an international award in Engineering.... from Prince Philip himself! It's as close to royalty as I 'll get. |
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| Kilmuir Cemetery |
Later, Flora MacDonald, went on to marry Allan MacDonald (same last name, but not related). They went to America in 1774, but Allan decided to fight for the British in the American Revolution and was captured. Flora came back to Scotland when Allan was released in 1779, he also came back to Scotland and they had 6 children. She died in 1790. She has a dance named after her. And here is where I learned that a Ceildh is basically like a barn dance, in the Scottish sense.
The next stop on our tour was Faerie Glen. It kind of felt like a magical place. It was so green, and so beautiful.
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| A faerie sheep. |
So if you look closely, there are some small rocks in the field below. The story goes that if you move the rocks around, make a wish on then, and walk out of the glen backwards, your wish will come true.
I won't tell you what my wish was, but if you've been feeling particularly high in spirits lately, you're welcome.
There are so many natural water falls in the Highlands. Here you can see about four of them in the distance.
Our last stop for the day was Dunvegan Castle. Originally a curtain wall was built in the 1200s and later a castle was built in the mid 1300s and is still inhabited today 800 years later by the same MacLeod family. In fact, it is the oldest continuously inhabited castle in Scotland.
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| Dunvegan |
Dunvegan also had beautiful gardens, my favorite being the water garden.
We made it back to Portree around 5 o'clock. The bank was already closed. I'd had my dad transfer money into my American account the day before and so before dinner I said to Kerri, "Let me just run across the street real quick to the ATM and finally get some cash." What's the worst thing that could happen? The ATM ate my American debit card and the next day was Sunday. So I was out of ideas at that time. Nope. Not today, Kathleen. Not today.
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