Isle of Skye, Scotland

We flew in late Wednesday night to Edinburgh. After collecting our bags and picking up our rental, we headed straight to our hotel for the night at Travelodge Edinburgh Airport. It was a nice and clean hotel with friendly staff. It also had a great breakfast buffet in the morning. After a good nights rest and a yummy Scottish breakfast, we headed out to Isle of Skye. Our first stop on our drive was Fort Williams for lunch but we stopped at many places on the drive to take some pictures. Out of Edinburgh, we followed the M9 towards Stirling and then the A84 and A82 to Fort William. We grabbed some lunch where we tried some haggis (which was actually not that bad). Afterwards, we swung by the tourist office and were able to book a ferry ticket from Mallaig to Armadale. After a beautiful (and short) ferry ride to Isle of Skye, we headed on the A851, A87 to our rental cabin in Portree. 

  Loch Lomond & the Trossachs National Park/ Glen Ogel

Glencoe Valley

Our lunch in Fort William

  Glenfinnan Viaduct (Harry Potter Bridge)

We parked behind the tourist area and paid a small fee. At first walked across a small field to a fence to look out at the bridge. We then turned back and went up the hill behind the tourist building. We followed the path for a bit up to the foot of the viaduct where there was a crowd of people waiting to see a train. A train goes over the bridge 4 times a day. Rand was getting pretty antsy so we headed back down and missed seeing the old steam train by seconds. 

 Rand LOVED seeing all the cows and sheep from the roadside

 Here is our adorable rental my Mom found in Portree

Our first full day in Isle of Skye, we headed on the A855 loop to A87 around that part of Isle of Skye. The route is absolutely breathtaking and honestly, you do not need to plan out an itinerary. Just follow that route and you will see signs for sites. Our first stop was Old Man of Storr. We left our rental around 9 and were one of the first few to get to the site. When we left a couple hours later, it was crazy packed and parking was crazy.

Kilt Rock

 The Quiraing

That day we stopped and had lunch at The Sheiling in Idrigill, Uig.  I know some people might be put off my the older, run down looking place but the food was absolutely delicious. You will not be disappointed.  

The next morning we headed out to Dunvegan Castle. 

On our way out through town to head to Fairy Pools, we stopped for lunch at Lochside Crafts. Lunch was very good and we also enjoyed the view of the Loch.

During my research on Scotland, I heard so much abut the Fairy Pools and we were not disappointed. I only regret not having the whole day to just explore around that area. It was just stunning. The Fairy Pools have a pretty decent sized parking lot and sometimes have a food truck serving lunch, snacks and drinks. After our hike, we rewarded ourselves with coffee and ice cream. 

One of the first challenges on the hike was stepping on this small beam over the small river. It has been raining non-stop for days so the water level was higher than normal and was moving pretty fast.

Another fun obstacle during our hike

That evening the guys went golfing at Isle of Skye Golf Club

so after the skies cleared, we went for a little walk around our neighborhood.

That night, Rob and I had the opportunity to go out on a date :) We got reservations at Restuarant at The Rosedale and headed to Portree for our romantic dinner out.

The next morning we headed out of Isle of Skye to Lochness and Perth but not before stopping by the Eilean Donan Castle.

P.S. A random but awesome sign we saw all around Isle of Skye