Day Twenty - Skye

[byslantedlight]

Well, I very carelessly booked a YHA without wifi for tonight - but it's right on the shores of Loch Ness, so I have one eye out for her highness, and I shall make the best of it! *g* (Except that having put my post carefully together, this computer is awful, so we'll get as far as we get on the extortionate fee I paid... which isn't very far - darn it! More pictures tomorrow, I guess...)

Well, to start with today, breakfast was happy. The best porridge I have ever had - with cream and strawberries - and then a full Scottish, including fried bread... I was so full at the end that I had to turn down the homemade muffins, but the landlady packed up a couple for me to take away... How fab is that? If you're ever in Skye, the Rainbow View, Kyleakin is highly recommended! Plus there were ducks and hens and a rabbit (who apparently thinks he's a hen - or a duck) on the daisy-strewn lawn...

Then I set off! I wanted to drive north, up to Uig, where I'd heard tell (okay, read) of a little-visited fairy glen. So I drove and I drove and I drove... *g*

I guess the local buses run on a slightly relaxed schedule... *g*

And I found the fairy glen...

First there was a fairyfall, and then I dipped down and into a green, turretted and towered and mounded world - and it felt like magic, somehow! I could absolutely feel why the locals apparently believe this is haunted by fairies - oh, imagine it by moonlight! Apparently it's been planted with rowan, for human safety... *g* There were more waterfalls on the other side of the valley too - mini-Rivendell!

So I carried on past Uig...


And I found a souterrain! An Iron Age souterrain, just sitting there, waiting to be explored...

Sadly you can see why I didn't get very far into the entrance - but here's how much further back it apparently goes (it's been excavated)!

Carry on around the north of Skye then - to the folk museum. (The blacksmith was the only inside picture I took, because they didn't allow photography inside the rest of the museum - I suspect this time because they were worried people would steal things... I can't believe people do that, but apparently so - spoiling it for the rest of us...)

And then sadly back south...

...to Dunvegan Castle, home of the McLeods!They have a fairy flag there, which was given to the family hundreds of years ago by the fairies (there are a few different stories about why) along with a promise that it could be used three times to save the family - they just had to wave the banner in a time of trouble, and they would be saved. It's been used twice so far - the first during a battle, but the second in 1946 when the castle was on fire. Everyone was desperately trying to save things, and the banner was brought out - and the fire died away... *g* The banner itself is now in a frame, behind glass, and very very delicate - it's been dated as about 1800 years old (iirc) - very old! No photo of the banner, but I've just put in a link to it up above - and oh, so much information, I'll have to go and read it all! Again, no photos in the castle, this time because it's still the McLeod family home, but pictures outside were fine!


Time for me to leave Skye though - waaah!

Past wonderful places, and on the Kyle of Localsh past feral goats (not wild, actually feral according to the signs!) and a wee herd of deer, too (but too fast to take photos...)

To the YHA on Loch Ness - here's the view out my window! No sign of Nessie yet, though the water does chip and chop in the most interesting ways... And here's some gorgeous gorse, which smelled like coconut, up close... *g*

And that's me - here I am in the YHA now! The sad thing from here on in is that I'm heading even more south, on the way home now - but there's still Friday, Saturday and Sunday to look forward to! Hope you're all having a good week too... *g*

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[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Sorry about the photos - I could only get four posted last night, because the YHA internet was so appalling. It took me 40 minutes to get those done, even having pre-written, cut and pasted the text! They're up now though, if you fancy a look... *g*