Some of my favorite pictures from our 2012 trip to Scotland are from Eilean Donan Castle and the Isle of Skye. This is exactly why these are on list to see seen in depth on our upcoming trip in June to Scotland again!!! This time we are devoting an entire day to the Isle of Skye!! Plus, we are planning to tour Eilean Donan this time and are only staying a few minutes away in hopes of capturing amazing sunrise and sunset photographs.
This was day 10 of our trip, so we were a little slower to get moving in the morning. We finished up our laundry at our B&B and then headed south from Inverness to Urquart Castle ruins on the famous Loch Ness in hopes of spotting Nessie!!! It was easy to see how these castle ruins must have been impressive perched on the Loch Ness. I would have loved to see them in all their glory. The landscape is beautiful and the castle is enormous. There is a great visitor center packed full of information and a wonderful little café.
Amy at Urquhart Castle
Next, we headed to the famous Eilean Donan Castle!!!! My favorite castle by far. We were in a hurry to get all the way to Dunvegan Castle and back that day, so we only stopped for a short time. Just long enough for some amazing photos.
I was so lucky to get this amazing shot from a employee of the castle that just happened to be walking past. He agreed to pose for me in his kilt!! He was standing there with his sword looking stern, when at the last second as I went to snap the photo he did this!!! I laughed so hard I’m surprised my photo wasn’t blurry!!!
After spending way too much money in the gift shop again, we all piled back in the van drove straight to the Isle of Skye and onto the Dunvegan Castle on the outer west coast of the island.
While I loved Dunvegan Castle and gardens, I think we could have spent our time elsewhere on the island. We didn’t have time to locate and hike to the fairie pools or go the east side of the island to see kilt rock and some of the other natural wonders of the island.
We saw Stalker Castle on the way south and stopped to take photographs. The landscape the entire way was full of rolling hills and lush green landscapes though most everyone in the car fell asleep while I drove.
I’m not sure why we planned it this way, but we had made reservations for the night at Barcaldine Castle on Oban. OMG!! Fabulous!!! It was about a 3 hour drive from Dunvegan Castle on the west coast of Skye to Barcaldine Castle, but it was worth it!!! We had the entire castle to ourselves complete with hidden passageways!!!!
We stopped for a few bottles of wine on the way to the castle, as suggested by the owner, and arrived in the early evening. The host showed us to our rooms up the winding staircases and let us settle in while he started up the enormous fireplace and opened our wine for us. We spent the rest of the relaxing evening sitting by the fire chatting. Of course, I had to soak the enormous claw foot tub in our room!!
Breakfast in the morning was fabulous and fueled our day’s adventures!!!
