June 1 & 2 - Inverness to the Isle of Skye

Busy day.  Traveled to Loch Ness and took our group picture.

Rick Steve's Scotland Tour Group 2012 at Loch Ness

 Didn't see anything unusual in Loch Ness. It's one of the lakes and canals that are part of the Caledonian Canal that crosses Scotland from the North Sea to the Atlantic Ocean. 

 

Loch Ness contains more water than all the freshwater bodies of England and Wales combined.

We stopped at Fort Augustus for lunch, a Guinness and to watch a two boats go through the first of three locks.  We toured both Urquhart (ruined) and Eileen Donan (refurbished) castles.  We stayed at the MacKinnon Country House Hotel in Kyleakin on the Isle of Skye.  During and after dinner we were entertained by Alex MacFie.  He played the guitar, whistle, accordion and bodhran (a drum). Sample music

Day 2 of our time on the Isle of Skye found us at Talisker Distillery for a tour and scotch tasting. Excellent tour, excellent scotch!  After a hike in the Black Cuillin Hills we went on to Portree for lunch. Our tour spent some extra time there watching a special Diamond Jubilee parade featuring teen-age bagpipers and highland dancers.  All the villages have their own celebrations this weekend marking the 60th year of Queen Elizabeth's reign.

We spent the afternoon touring the Trotternish Peninsula, stopping at all the viewpoints and museums.  The sun was shining, but the wind was howling.  It's a wild, windy, rocky part of Scotland.