Good morning, sheep! I woke up and slipped out onto the porch with my coffee. The sun comes up at about 3:30 am, even earlier than me, so it was pretty light by time I got out to greet the sheep before our drive around the Isle of Skye.
Okay, maybe one more castle. We visited the Dunvegan Castle, which is still used by the MacLeod clan chief and his family at holidays. The clan descends from Norse nobility and has inhabited Skye and surrounding islands since the 1200s. The setting of the castle is classic, with battlements on all sides and a long stone stairway leading down to the sea.
Skye is full of fairy stories, and we visited Fairy Bridge near the Dunvegan Castle. Legend has a couple of versions, but it is believed a MacLoed chief fell in love with a fairy princess and they parted ways here on the bridge. The fairy princess gave the chief a fairy flag to wave in times of distress, and the silk flag, tattered now after some 800 years, is preserved and hangs in the castle.
We drove down through the middle of the Isle to the busy village of Portree for lunch and then headed up to Trotternish Ridge for a few sites. Our first stop was The Old Man Storr, an iconic rock formation from an ancient landslide. However, legend says the Old Man of Storr was a giant who lived on the Trotternish Ridge. When he was laid to rest, his thumb remained partially above ground.
Lealt Falls was our next sight-seeing stop. The wind was really picking up--out on the ledges looking back at the falls and over the Sound of Rasaay we had to plant our feet to keep from blowing away!
We braved the narrowest and windiest road yet to make our way to Quiraing, the northernmost point in the Trotternish Ridge, which was formed by a series of land slips and is still moving today. The views were crazy--and so was the wind!
We picked up a few grocery items to make tuna melts for dinner back at the cabin. This is the best spot, so enchanting. I walked out the door and through the sheep pasture to hang out on the rocks and watch the seals for a while.
We'll head off the Isle of Skye tomorrow and on to our final few stops of our trip.
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It made me cold looking at some of your photos today. That could be, in part, because it’s cold and clammy in Anchorage today. We cancelled a graveyard tour due to the weather. We’re not as brave (or crazy) as you two to go out in the weather. Loved your photos, as always!