10:12pm, Uiginish Farmhouse B&B, Dunvegan
Relatively early night to bed today… Woke up at 7am, checked the skies (cloudy), and laid back in bed until breakfast at 8am. There was a cereal bar with yogurt, fruit, and a bowl of what appeared to be canned pears. I quickly made a bowl of muesli/Weetabix, and added the pears and pear juice to sweeten it up. When I took a bite, I quickly realized the "pears" were actually white grapefruit, and that grapefruit (and grapefruit juice) doesn't work well at all with milk and cereal. I still ate my bowl, rather than let it go to waste. We also ordered scrambled eggs, bacon (ham), tomatoes, and mushrooms, which was served with toast and tea. A great way to start the day! No porridge option though…
Breakfast...
The weather was a mixed bag this morning, and forecast to get worse later in the day. With only 6 hours of sleep (a little more for Wendy), we were tired, and planned for a short walk to the coral beach outside of Dunvegan, followed by a visit to some craft stores and a famous sheep skin tanning place nearby.
The rain kicked in as we left quickly and got in our car to start our day, then cleared up a bit as we drove past Dunvegan Castle (hidden by trees from the road, with an entrance fee required), and out to the north end of the peninsula. There was no traffic on the one lane road this morning, and we were the only car in the parking lot. We were tired, and the wind outside the car was fiercely ushering in the next heavy bit of rain. As we debated about taking naps in the car, the rain passed, and a large stretch of blue sky emerged. This was enough to motivate us out of the car, wearing our hats/gloves/scarfs, and multiple layers, to stay warm in the humid windy conditions (probably ~53 degrees out). We followed some tire tracks on a grassy road along a beautiful rocky coastline. In about 10 minutes, the fierce wind had blown a new cloud system in our path, and I put away all my camera gear, and donned my backpack rain cover. After 5-10 minutes, the rain cloud left us with blue sky. This would be the theme of the entire day.
Puddles on the road from rain throughout the night/morning...
The 1.25 mile walk to the coral beaches was very scenic. Stone fences divided up cattle grazing areas nearby.
I wandered further up along the fence, then caught a glimpse of the beach past the cattle field, and realized we need to keep walking along the shoreline to reach it...
There's the strip of beach ahead...
I stopped to put away and retrieve my camera during the several bouts of rain on our hike...
Another rocky beach, with colorful lines of seaweed...
Me along the grassy shoreline. The clouds were moving VERY fast today...
We both had red jackets and dark pants today. How about that?
In 40 minutes, we reached Coral Beach, and had this popular destination all to ourselves, with mostly dry weather, and brief moments of sun. This place is unique because the "sand" is actually ground up white coral. Fun to walk on, and doesn't stick to your boots like sand.
The ocean was a pretty blue when the sun shone...
I scrambled up a nearby grassy hill for photos.
Me at the top...
My view from the top...
Another close-up view of the coral beach make-up. Wendy stands on the beach during my return...
As we left the beach, we saw a full rainbow appear. A couple more people were hiking in by the time we returned to the car, and we encountered several more cars on our drive out (I'm getting good at working the passing zones on one lane roads). Glad we started early, despite the questionable weather, to have the solitude in this fabulous place.
Colorful heather and flowers during the walk back...
An old ruin along the shore...
On the way out of Dunvegan, we stopped by the local bakery ("oldest bakery on Skye"), and Wendy bought a lemon scone (delicious!), and a lamb mince meat pie to bring on tomorrow's hikes.
We then drove east on more one lane roads, (very scenic and sheep-lined as always) and visited the town of Skean.
Scenery while driving up the Waternish Peninsula
Not a bad pic taken out the car window (rolled up) while moving (with some Lightroom touch up)...
Wendy takes a pic from the boat dock in Skean (and I take a pic of her in the process)...
In Skean, we took a tour at Skye-Shearers, and learned the process of skinning/tanning sheep hides. Wendy asked a lot of questions, and examined all the varieties of sheep skins. I thought for sure she'd buy one. We decided to continue on, and re-visit this place on the way back.
Lots of variety of sheep skins available. Wendy investigated thoroughly...
We drove north on the peninsula, admiring the spectacular cliff views across Loch Dunvegan, before arriving at a famous yarn shop. They had an exhibit about all the local plants used to dye yarn. We spent a long time decided what kind of yarn, and color, to bring back for my mom.
This yarn shop sure is remotely located, but made for a scenic drive...
There was an exhibit on dyes used for yarn...
It was 3pm before we started driving back to the B&B. It rained hard, and was sunny a few more times. We stopped by Skye-Shearers, and Wendy considered getting a sheep skin, but in the end, decided she wanted a merino skin, which isn't native to Scotland. The drive back to Dunvegan was also scenic.
More views on the drive back...
Our B&B is the white house in the 2nd pic...
When we got to town, we called up the Old School restaurant (where we ate last night), and booked an early reservation for 6pm. We wanted to get to bed early tonight, and wouldn't be looking for a sunset outing. It was our first successful call with the cellphone, ironically used right as we drove past the restaurant.
At the B&B, we heated up hot water to mix with instant hot cocoa and honey. Wendy stretched, and got a massage (by me), and took a 2 hr nap. I dozed for 30 minutes before the alarm went off for dinner. A huge burst of rain came just as we were ready to head to the restaurant. We felt good we weren't missing a sunset, but soon the rain ended and we saw pink clouds out the windows. The weather is ever changing! For dinner, Wendy had a langostino starter, and I had carrot orange soup. Wendy had the duck for dinner, I had the salmon fillet. It was ok, but unmemorable.
My salmon dish, and Wendy's duck dish...
After dinner we admired the pink clouds from the road, and took a walk around the farmhouse B&B. When I looked up across the Loch, I noticed Dunvegan castle! Didn't realize it was in plain sight of our B&B all this time. I'll have to get a better pic of it tomorrow.
That's Dunvegan Castle! Complete with a flag pole, like Super Mario Bros castles...
We drank more hot cocoa/honey water, hydrating ourselves for tomorrow's big day of hiking. The weather looks to be favorable in the morning, rainy at mid-day, and favorable in the afternoon/evening. Hopefully that plays out.
Wendy went to bed with ear plugs and face mask to try to get in another 9 hrs. I'm up later typing this journal, but at least I'm done at 11pm now, instead of 1am last night.
Downloaded pics onto the computer, to create backups. Setting an alarm for 7:20am tomorrow.
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