July 21-23, WTRD 46-47
Monday, July 21, 2018
After another heartfelt goodbye with our gracious hosts Paul, Maggie, and their sweet dog Hamish, we leave behind the Riof Cottage with its spectacular view, and head south.
We hope as we head south that we will escape the grey drizzle, wind, and fog.
While in the Outer Hebrides, we had to break into our gear bag and retrieve the cold weather clothes we had stowed in the back of the car. It is going to be a long day of driving and ferry to reach our destination South Uist and our search for some blue sky and sunshine.
Harris and Lewis is a single island, separated by a stream and a lake and some subtle road signs that say exiting Lewis and entering Harris, otherwise the land looks pretty much the same, although Harris is distinguished by its wide flat beaches and title areas. We kept hoping the sun would pop out for just a bit to show off the aqua blue water, but it didn't and the tide had ebbed quite low so the water was far in the distance.
Nevertheless, we loved the misty pastel look of sand, blues, and grays along the beach.
At the south end of Harris and Lewis, it was raining as we boarded the ferry to the isle of Uist.
It wasn't too late to take a walk when we arrived, but the weather made staying indoors by the stove in the kitchen chatting with our hosts over a glass of wine and dinner far more appealing. Libby and Bryan are a lovely couple with wonderful life stories and we enjoyed their company immensely. Libby is an author who has woven parts of her life and those of her children into her novels.
Libby signed my copy.
Tuesday, July 22, 2018
We set off in the late morning exploring what we could in the soggy weather. We drove as far south on South Uist as we intended to our first stop, the Tom Morris Golf Course, Askernish, one of the oldest links courses and a "golf jewel" in the Hebrides.
If it had been at all enticing to even step out of the car, we would have considered a round of golf on the original 6 holes. As it was however, we could barely make ourselves get out of the car to look at the map of the fairways and go into the club house. It was cold, windy and rainy.
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| Chill in the mist |
We spent some time in the Kildonan Museum, craft shop, and tea room before heading back to Libby and Bryan's place.
When we arrived the pets were warm and snug while they napped by the wood stove.
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| Two Rescue Racing Grehounds |
And a Loveable Cat
After sharing the dinner table with our hosts, we decided to play a game. Bryan is a golfer and had picked up the game of FORE, which had struck his fancy, but he had never yet played. I had seen the game on a bookshelf and suggested we play.
There was a bit of a learning curve as Bryan and Russ read through the directions.
The game came with three collapsable boards, each board representing three fairways on a grid and a black weighted die in the shape of a golf ball. There was also a white putting die with numbers 1-3 once a player made it to the green/apron.
Each time a player struck their ball, they indicated what club they were going to use for the distance they wanted to achieve and rolled the die. Taking from a vertical stack of boxed cards of chance, the die roll and club chosen corresponded with a determined the distance and right or left spin 30 degrees from center.
We played three holes before we decided it was time for bed. It was 10:00 pm and Libby had to get up and going for work the following morning. It was a delightful way to spend the evening and we did get a little "golf" in today after all.
Wednesday, July 23, 2018
On the road again, we headed to back to the mainland, via the Island of Skye. Our day today looks much more inviting. By tomorrow we hope to ditch the cold weather clothing. We took another ferry from North Uist to the Island of Skye.
We spent the day driving through the Island of Skye and enjoying the mountains (old volcanoes), green valleys, waterfalls, and ocean inlets and lochs.
Leaving the Isle of Skye, we ascended and descended a steep bridge over the loch and ship channel
We were once again on the mainland of Scotland. Bryan had told us that we should stop to photograph the Eileen Donan Castle. It is the most photographed castle in Scotland and is the emblem used on most of the Shortbread Biscuit Containers.
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| Top left green road and Skye Bridge to Mainland, #13 is Dornie Castle |
After a photo stop and look around we continued our drive to our accommodations near Fort Williams.
We arrived at our AirBnb at 6:00 pm. It is a lovely home, originally a parish house over 120 years old, in Spean Bridge.
We ate a quick chicken salad dinner in our room and went for a much needed walk up to a commemorative sculpture of World War II and down along the river back to our abode by 9:30. The clouds are departing and the sun is coming out for longer periods of time.
The trailhead begins at the statue and takes us across farm lands.
and then dips down to an abandon railroad right of way that is now a pathway that parallels the river Spean.
We climb black out of the valley, sitting for a bit on the commemorative bench looking over the landscape before heading back to the old Parish house, nearby Parish, and graveyard.
The sunsets here at Spean Bridge.
Tomorrow we will visit Fort Williams and do some more walking in the Highlands before we head to Ireland.
