Off to the Island, or Day 22 in Inverness, Eilean Donan, and Portree

We had two choices for this morning. One was to take a bus at 9:30. The other was to take a train at 11:00. We made the right decision and grabbed enough food for breakfast and a partial lunch after we checked out at 10:00.

I was asleep for the first half of the train ride, but the scenery when I woke up was already more hilly than when we left Inverness. We were in the Highlands before, but we were really in them now. (And sheep all over, to complete the picture.)

We arrived at Kyle of Lochalsh (don't know what a kyle is, but Loch Alsh was right there), and hopped on a bus to the most romantic castle in Scotland: Eilean Donan. It was rebuilt from 1912 to 1932 by a pair of Macs, then became a summer home. It was the most lived-in castle I've seen yet, which can really inform the rest of what we've seen. We chatted with one of the docents, then caught the last bus back to Skye.

We are staying at Portree, the northern most village on Skye. The only bridge to Skye is about 3/4s of the way south, then the ferry back to the mainland is at the very south (and where we'll be departing from on Tuesday).

We spotted our B&B from the bus, so it was a short walk back to it from town. It is a cozy pair of houses, but the one we are staying in doesn't have Internet (which is why I'll most likely be posting in the mornings for a bit).

We ate at the "cafe" (not with the accent, so they rhyme it with "laugh") at the Caledonian Hotel. It's run by a well-known chef, but it has good prices since it's a cafe. We ate a bundle (including more haggis for Alex and a venison burger for me) before picking up some sweets at the grocery and turning in for a blessfully early night.