Scotland Part 3

The highlands were easily one of my favorite parts of the trip.

On the way out of town, we stopped at Loch Ness.

And spotted the Loch Ness monster... 

Then we visited the Glenfinnan Viaduct, a Harry Potter bridge that you may recognize by this picture

 

 In order to get a clear view of the bridge, you had to "hike" up a "rough and uneven" path

As you can see, I didn't exactly remember my hiking boots,

and apparently everyone in Scotland obeys instructional signs, because people were very quick to point this out...

I was fine, so.... yeah.

After the bridge, we were on our way to the parts of the highlands I was most excited to see. We had booked a B&B at a woman's house near the Isle of Sky, but in order to get to her house, we had to drive on a one-track road, for over 2 hours! And hear you, me... this is not a one-track road like they have in America... this is like, there is literally only room for one car, and if two cars were side-by-side, one would fall off a cliff. 

It was awesome! 

Our Sat Nav (GPS) had no idea where we were going...

The woman whose cottage we were staying in had recommended we get dinner in the nearby town (nearby meaning about 45 minutes away) so we stopped and ate at The Applecross Inn, which sits right along the West coast of Scotland and is known for their fresh seafood.

Upon entering the pub, we learned that you had to share a table with random strangers, because they didn't have enough tables to seat everyone. Lucky for us, we had made friends along the way... this couple had followed behind us for the past hour and a half and we had met them at one of our stopping points, so when we got into the restaurant and they were there too, they invited us to sit with them. It was fun getting to meet Alaster and Evelyn... They met in high school as well. :)

And check out our food!!

Jake had the seafood linguine

Evelyn and I had scallops (served in a giant shell...) 

with pancetta (bacon), all served over a bed of wild rice

And Alaster had the langoustine (shrimp) 

with a nice cold beer (or five...)

Dinner was a lot of fun, but the best part was yet to come...

We continued on the one way road and saw tons of sheep

(this picture doesn't do the scene justice...)

before finally reaching our destination: 

A village of 13 people all living in small cottages.

Karelia had a beautiful view that overlooked the sea

and before Jake and I went down to explore, she told us that you can often sea dolphins jumping around out there and she also told us about a time when she and her family were kayaking out in the sea and all of a sudden, five giant fins were surrounding them... five fins of SHARKS that is. Luckily they were only fish eating sharks.

We found a cool waterfall

But couldn't stay long, 

because we started getting attacked by midges (mid-jeeze)

(little gnat kinds of things that bite!)

Here is a small tour of our part of the cottage

And the AMAZING breakfast we woke up to the next morning...

Fresh, smoked salmon, eggs from the chickens in the village and tomatoes from her garden.

Best $99 we ever spent! If you ever need a place to stay in Scotland, this would be my #1 recommendation!

The next day was mostly just a lot of driving through the Highlands, because it was VERY very wet. 

Here are some of the best pics from the day:

The only decent picture I ever got of a Highland Coo

 Isle of Skye

Eileen Donan Castle

 

The most GORGEOUS waterfall just on the side of the road. 

I insisted we get a pic...

This was hands down my favorite part of Scotland because of how beautiful and green it was.... there was one mountain side that had over 20 little tiny waterfalls coming down off of it. Just beautiful!

If you're ready for more, follow us on to Scotland Part 4