What a difference a day makes! While yesterday was rain, wind and cold today was sunny and beautiful. Cetainly wasn't summer warm, but it was the most confortable temperature.
We woke up in the Inverness townhouse at around 6am so we could pack as we only booked for one night. Why? When we booked the cruise the boys and I will be on the last 10 or so days of this trip, Isle of Skye was a port call. After our final, non-refundable payment Skye was removed from the itinerary and Dublin added in it's place. Happy to see Dublin, but Skye was where we really wanted to visit. Mrs. Koog made some changes to our Scotland itinerary and Skye was back on our list! Unfortunately, in that time the Inverness townhouse was rented and we needed to find another place. Alas, we move again.
After packing up our stuff, we headed to the train station where we would meet our tour to the Isle of Skye. Mrs. Koog and B-Koog dropped E-Koog and I off at the station to get snacks for the 12 hour round trip. We all met up at the bus, checked in and boarded. The bus was packed. There was a young woman in front of me clearly did not use deodarant. Every movement of her arm was a dark stinky cloud and she moved about A LOT. Did I mention the trip was 12 hours? Ick!
The driver started the journey by announcing this was her first day driving alone. I was about to get up, when she clarified she'd been driving for many years and "this is the smallest, big thing I drive in the Higlands." What a relief! And she was a great driver!
We made a few stops along the way to Skye. The roads were winding, blind curves, very narrow and had an unnecessarily high speed limit in my opinion! Mrs. Koog was happy to leave the driving the Amanda, our driver, for the day.
Lunch was in Portree, Skye. Cute little seaside town. We had a good lunch and did a little shopping at 2 places, the drug store and the art store. I desperately needed motion sickness medicine. Between my friend with the crippling body oder and the winding roads at high speed, I was about to hurl. The Mrs. and I both also needed ibuprofen because, at our advanced age, the body aches! The second store has become a tradition for the Koog Family where ever we are, the art store. The boys love artists local to where ever we find ourselves. After lunch our purchases in hand (and ingested), we were back on the bus and headed to the Fairy Pools!
The ride to the Fairy Pools was unforgetable. Amanda the driver did her best to prep us on the single track roads, made of squishy peat with rock to make it solid in the center but squishy on the side, and a shear drop on one side. Her honestly, while refreshing, was terrifying. "Our bus is too heavy to be on the edge of the road because the peat will squish and well, we just will stay away from the edge." A fact I could have been fine not knowing! Oh, and the switchback. It was unreal. I exhaled as we parked and got off!
The pools were more than I ever expected. So beautiful and peaceful. There is a nice walking path up to the pools. Due to Scotland's "free to roam" law, it was fine to stray off the path to explore. That's where I got to experience the spongy peat. We took hundreds of photos. And, just like that, our 90 minute stop was done. In prep for the terror of the road down, I took another pill of the dramamine type medicine I got in Skye. This pill knocked me out! I slept the entire way back. Best for everyone.
Nearing the end of the trip, she made a surprise stop to see the hairy coos!! Now, that does sound like a gentleman's club, but it wasn't. The hairy coos are Highland cows and we loved them! We spent about 30 mins feeding them carrots and petting them and trying not to get poked with their giant horns. (that's what she said...) After the hairy coos, we were back on the bus for the 10 minute ride back to the train station.
We picked up the car and drove to our accomodations for the night, a hotel in a Castle!
We woke up in the Inverness townhouse at around 6am so we could pack as we only booked for one night. Why? When we booked the cruise the boys and I will be on the last 10 or so days of this trip, Isle of Skye was a port call. After our final, non-refundable payment Skye was removed from the itinerary and Dublin added in it's place. Happy to see Dublin, but Skye was where we really wanted to visit. Mrs. Koog made some changes to our Scotland itinerary and Skye was back on our list! Unfortunately, in that time the Inverness townhouse was rented and we needed to find another place. Alas, we move again.
After packing up our stuff, we headed to the train station where we would meet our tour to the Isle of Skye. Mrs. Koog and B-Koog dropped E-Koog and I off at the station to get snacks for the 12 hour round trip. We all met up at the bus, checked in and boarded. The bus was packed. There was a young woman in front of me clearly did not use deodarant. Every movement of her arm was a dark stinky cloud and she moved about A LOT. Did I mention the trip was 12 hours? Ick!
The driver started the journey by announcing this was her first day driving alone. I was about to get up, when she clarified she'd been driving for many years and "this is the smallest, big thing I drive in the Higlands." What a relief! And she was a great driver!
We made a few stops along the way to Skye. The roads were winding, blind curves, very narrow and had an unnecessarily high speed limit in my opinion! Mrs. Koog was happy to leave the driving the Amanda, our driver, for the day.
Lunch was in Portree, Skye. Cute little seaside town. We had a good lunch and did a little shopping at 2 places, the drug store and the art store. I desperately needed motion sickness medicine. Between my friend with the crippling body oder and the winding roads at high speed, I was about to hurl. The Mrs. and I both also needed ibuprofen because, at our advanced age, the body aches! The second store has become a tradition for the Koog Family where ever we are, the art store. The boys love artists local to where ever we find ourselves. After lunch our purchases in hand (and ingested), we were back on the bus and headed to the Fairy Pools!
The ride to the Fairy Pools was unforgetable. Amanda the driver did her best to prep us on the single track roads, made of squishy peat with rock to make it solid in the center but squishy on the side, and a shear drop on one side. Her honestly, while refreshing, was terrifying. "Our bus is too heavy to be on the edge of the road because the peat will squish and well, we just will stay away from the edge." A fact I could have been fine not knowing! Oh, and the switchback. It was unreal. I exhaled as we parked and got off!
The pools were more than I ever expected. So beautiful and peaceful. There is a nice walking path up to the pools. Due to Scotland's "free to roam" law, it was fine to stray off the path to explore. That's where I got to experience the spongy peat. We took hundreds of photos. And, just like that, our 90 minute stop was done. In prep for the terror of the road down, I took another pill of the dramamine type medicine I got in Skye. This pill knocked me out! I slept the entire way back. Best for everyone.
Nearing the end of the trip, she made a surprise stop to see the hairy coos!! Now, that does sound like a gentleman's club, but it wasn't. The hairy coos are Highland cows and we loved them! We spent about 30 mins feeding them carrots and petting them and trying not to get poked with their giant horns. (that's what she said...) After the hairy coos, we were back on the bus for the 10 minute ride back to the train station.
We picked up the car and drove to our accomodations for the night, a hotel in a Castle!
Comments
Post a Comment