High Road, Low Road - Low Tide...No Ferry

 This morning we met up with our tour guide and were given some unfortunate news (for most people anyway).  The tide was too low so they cancelled our ferry ride.  While I was sad because I had been interested to see what that would look like, I wasn't so sad about not having to worry about sea-sickness (which I'm completely prone to).  In its stead, we got to tour Scotland's most photographed castle: Eilean Donan Castle! So, off we went on our journey up to the Highlands from Glasgow.  Most of the way up looked like this:

Pretty dismal, right?! Except it wasn't.  It was rather enchanting to see the mountains peeking through the mist - the pictures just don't capture that part well at all.  Our guide told us that she's been doing this tour-guide-gig for 25+ years and it never gets old, driving through the Highlands. Her favorite part is seeing the heather in full bloom, the spectacular vision of purple hillsides for miles around you.  That doesn't happen until August though, so we were kinda bummed that we wouldn't be able to see that one in person this trip.  Then we rounded another bend and the sun peeked through the mist just enough that we saw an entire hillside of purple.  It was jaw-dropping!  When we asked her about it Marge said it was probably Rhododendrums. Regardless of what it was, the vision was a wonderful blessing for us to behold!

Along the way, and just before the "purple beauties" sight, we made a "comfort stop" and there was this bagpiper serenading us while we *ahem* did our business. LOL This was also our last glimpse of Loch Lomond. (I can't get the video to load, but maybe when I get home to my own computer I can work some magic there haha)

After we were mesmerized by the purple hillsides, we headed even further up the canyon roads and, let me tell you - THOSE ROADS ARE SO NARROW!  They are seriously treacherous - it made me so glad we weren't the ones driving!!  Tour buses are especially scary when they meet another bus or large truck.  Each large vehicle must slam on their brakes to keep from hitting each other.  Then one of them must back up to wider spot in the road to make room to pass and the other one must pass with extreme caution (sometimes adjusting 2-3 times to just squeak by and not scrape paint off the sides of both vehicles). Not much phases our tour guide but in one of those instances, she yelled out "Jesus, Mary, and Joseph and the wee donkey!".  I'm not sure why that made me laugh, but it cracked me up!  Maybe it was the "wee donkey" part?

Next, we drove toward Isle of Skye - if we couldn't ferry past it, we decided to drive right on to the Isle and have a look-see before heading to the castle tour. Along the way, we saw the train station where the first Harry Potter movie was filmed (even though in the book, the platform is in London).  They had the local school children play the extras on the platform and in a couple of the train scenes.  How fun is that?! We drove over this amazing bridge to the Isle of Skye in the village of Kyleakin, had a quick stop to say we'd been there and grab a picture, and then we were off to the castle!

Eilean Donan Castle was smaller than Stirling Castle, but still so full of history and fun around every corner!  They don't allow photography inside the castle to help preserve some of the really old relics within its walls, and also to protect some of the family heirloom treasures displayed there from theft (I think). I did sneak this picture on our way out the door (the attendant said it was ok, I promise, no rules were broken nor were any precious historical artifacts hurt).

Those last two were actually outside the castle, still on the grounds.  We went exploring some on the shoreline and grabbed a few more amazing shots:

We then made our way to - *drumroll* - LOCH NESS!!!  We didn't see Nessie, unfortunately, but we did see the castle ruins which she likes to frequent though!

 

We stopped for the night in Inverness (Inver means "mouth of"), so this town is located at the mouth of Loch Ness and it opens up to the sea!  We walked down to the pier and walked along the shoreline.  Since it's low tide, we found some fun rocks and shells.  We made our way back toward town and managed to get in to a "reservations only" restaurant (only because they'd just had a cancellation)!  How fancy!  What better way to spend my anniversary dinner than in an upscale and posh restaurant that only takes reservations?! They must have known we were coming 😂

Also, here in the Highlands is the only place here in Scotland where they have a Gaelic-only-speaking college (I think it was on the Isle of Skye.  As such, about 50% of the population knows that beautiful language.  All the signs have info in both English and Gaelic. 

Overall, it was such a wonderful and magical day for me, being able to spend my anniversary with my sweetheart in one of my bucket-list places I've only ever dreamed of visiting.  Like I posted the other day - Dreams really do come true ❤