(this narrative began from when I first landed in London on September 3, 2016)
Thursday
September 22, 2016:
Today, we had to leave our hotel in Glasgow,
Scotland at 8:00 am in order to head for the ferry boat that would take us to
the Isle of Skye at 1:30 pm. On the way,
we stopped at beautiful, calm Loch Lomond.
This lake is so picturesque that I took some wonderful pictures. This lake is nestled in the green, lush mountains
of northern Scotland, which is what makes it so scenic. Then, we stopped at a village called Glen Coe,
Scotland a little while later just for half an hour. We were all starting to get kind of hungry
then, but we still had to make it to the ferry on time. After leaving Glen Coe, we headed for the
town of Fort William, Scotland. There
was a small chance of getting a bite to eat there too, but by that time I was
concentrating more on getting a bathroom break and buying a water bottle. I knew that I had a package of shortbread
cookies that I’d bought yesterday and I could eat those to keep me going.
We kept following the “Road to the Isles” all the way
to Mallaig, Scotland where we all got off the bus and walked onto the boat
while Joe, our driver, drove the bus, minus its passengers, onto the boat
separately. We were to ride to the Isle
of Skye in the Hebrides Islands. This
ferry boat was much smaller than the one we’d taken to Wales from England. Our ride was also much shorter, only half an
hour at most. While on the Isle of Skye,
we visited the estate of the Clan Donald, called Armadale, an estate which
included the green and extensive gardens, a museum, a small restaurant / café,
and, of course, a gift shop. Of these, I
did not visit the “Museum of the Isles”, although I was told by the others on
my tour later on that it was well worth seeing.
After this stop at which I took many great pictures
(which I could print later because they were that nice), we returned on the bus
to the mainland by driving over a very long, high bridge and then proceeded
toward Inverness, Scotland where we were to spend the next two nights. We were told by John Hood, our tour director,
that this hotel, The Columba, is old and Victorian in style. What we found out is that the rooms and/or
beds are very small. Particularly, if
you had a companion or spouse with you, the room you had could be extremely
small indeed. My room was so small, in
fact, that you could fit my room at this hotel into my old bathroom at Homewood
Suites in Ajax! But still, I was okay
with it – it had a comfortable bed and I slept well in it.
First thing tomorrow morning at 9:00 am, we will
visit the nearby Culloden Centre (pronounced Cullaadon Centre). Then, we’ll go visit Cawdor Castle, a
charming castle located about half an hour to forty-five minutes away. At this point, we will return to our hotel in
Inverness. During our drive back, we
trace the shoreline of the famous Loch Ness, the destination of our excursion
tomorrow afternoon. I chose to
participate in this one.
We had a nice dinner at our hotel this evening and
will retire, if we so please, right after dinner. I chose to write some postcards and write out
my journal notes for today in longhand in my room and then take a hot bath. I’ll type up my notes tomorrow evening after
our excursion is over. Dinner after the
excursion tomorrow evening will be on our own.
I think I’ll choose to eat Italian – you can’t beat pasta for a
satisfying dinner anywhere.
copyright 2016 - Anne Shier
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