Skye

Trip Start Sep 09, 2008
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Trip End Dec 20, 2008


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Flag of United Kingdom  , Scotland,
Saturday, November 29, 2008

This weekend, sort of as a last hoorah since I need to start studying for finals, I decided to go to see the Isle of Skye.  I was told by someone that I had to go before I left, and after going there, I can see why.  I think that the scenery I saw this weekend was without question some of the most beautiful I have ever seen.  After Thanksgiving dinner, I got home at about 12am, then woke up at about 5am on Friday to meet Yana and go to Waverley station to catch the first train to Glasgow.  At Glasgow, we caught a bus to Kyle of Lochalsh, the town just before the Skye bridge.  It took about 5 hours to get there, but we went through green glens and snowy mountains, passed a bunch of deer, and glassy lochs on the way.  When we finally arrived, almost as soon as we were half way over the bridge, it started to to rain snow...sort of a half frozen rain that was just freezing cold and wet.  Good omen...yes, that is sarcasm.  Thankfully, it stopped, or at least slowed quite a bit, when we made it over to Kyleakin.  The town was ridiculously small - there were a grand total of about 3 places to eat out, one of them only open for lunches on weekends, and the others not really open until later in the day...so for lunch, we went to the post office/grocery store.  After sitting around a little while, we went to a hostel that had free hot chocolate and tea to hang out and wait until 5 for someone to be at reception so we could ask about a room.  Luckily, there was a nice little room with two twin beds in it - sorta rare for hostels - and for a decent price, so we took it for 2 nights.  After dinner, Yana and I hung out in the den in the hostel because it had a fireplace, and was the warmest room in the place until the heater in our room had time to heat up.  While there, a whole bunch of other people came in from Australia, Austria, Canada, and Italy.  It was neat to hear about all their travels.  Apparently they were there as part of tour, and since we didn't have any solid plans, Yana and I decided to join up with them on Saturday.

Saturday morning, we left at 8 and stopped to see the red and black Cuillin hills, and dipped our faces for 7 seconds in a river there so we would be forever beautiful.  We next stopped in Portree, which was a really cool little town, with a fantastic harbor view.   After that, we hiked up to the Old Man of Storr, which I think was my favorite part, and the most beautiful.  We saw the Kilt Rock, formed thanks to volcanic flow, and then the Faerie Glen, which had a tiny castle and strange looking hills.  All along the way, our tour guide was telling stories about giants, witches, fairies, and warriors, so it was really fun, and I am glad that we happened to run into the tour group!  After dinner that night, Yana and I just hung out and talked bit, then went to sleep.

Sunday, we decided, since the group was going back to Edinburgh, and it was so fun on Saturday, we would tag along with them again, which was another good decision.  Along the way, we stopped to see the Eilean Donan castle, and then a few times just because it was beautiful and our tour guide wanted some pictures, as did almost everyone else.  That doesn't happen on the public bus that we took to the Isle on Friday.  We stopped by Ben Nevis, which we could see much better than when Arcadia passed by there for the highlands trip, GlenCoe, which, we could again see much better than before, so it was awesome.  At the next stop, we saw Hamish, the famous Highland Cow, near Doune, but unfortunately, we didn't get to see the castle.  It is one of the castles used in Monty Python's Holy Grail, so it would have been cool, but, ah well.  The last stop before Edinburgh was Stirling for the Wallace monument, which was free thanks to St. Andrew's Day.  It was too foggy to see a lot from the top, so but it was still neat.  We arrived back in Edinburgh at about 6pm I think, which is not bad time.

This was definitely an awesome trip and a good way to conclude my time here!
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Comments

eddad24
eddad24 on Dec 3, 2008 at 01:26AM

Yay! Another Great Post!
And cool pics to. Good thing you are just naturally talkative and ran into those other people touring too huh? Good on you!

Awesome and stupendous don't hardly do the pictures and the experience justice do they? Thanks for sharing.

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