from our B&B in Fort William. We had had some confusion with the road layout the night before, but in the morning we figured it out enough to make a quick stop nearby before beginning our final step to Skye. So far, the main issues with driving on the wrong side of the road, for both of us, have been the roundabouts and driving too close to the left side of the road. As I can't drive a rental car in the UK due to my age, all the driving is up to my mom, and she is handling it well. Even though I can't help with the driving, navigation has proved to be a challenge, because there are not always signs at the roundabouts to tell us where to go, and I feel the need to keep an eye on the left side of the road quite often in these early days. But by now my mom has gotten a feel for driving on the left side of the road, after driving so much yesterday, and I think we are both more at ease in the car.
As I said, we took one stop before leaving Fort William, to take a look at Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in Scotland. Unfortunately it was a bit of a misty morning, so we couldn't see the top, but the sight of the mountain disappearing into the clouds was still a testament to its renown. Mountains always fascinate me; it's probably because I don't live around them, but their height and size amaze me every time, so it was exciting to see at least the base of Ben Nevis. We took a little morning walk down the road in Glen Nevis, and found a mushroom carved out of a tree stump. Very creative!Then...we drove. And drove. And drove some more. We didn't really stop anywhere, but the landscapes were very nice, so here are a few pictures to fill the gap, from the whole ride up:
And eventually we rounded a bend and saw a castle. We decided to push on to Skye instead of stopping, however, so the castle will be discussed in a later post.
We arrived on the Isle of Skye via a large bridge, apparently a rather recent one, and made our way to our B&B, Swordale House, which was a couple of miles outside of Broadford, one of the major towns on Skye, according to the map, but it actually is quite small. The B&B was very nice, and across the road from some sheep, which was also a nice touch.
Since it was only midday, we went out to explore the
island a bit. After a quick lunch in Broadford, we went down to the Sleat Peninsula to go on a loop road which would take us across the peninsula through a few small towns and back to the main road, according to the map. The owner of the B&B also recommended it, saying it was a nice road, with no drops.
As it turns out, there were no real drops, but it was the narrowest road we had been on yet. Better yet, it was single lane, with passing places every so often in the event of meeting someone coming the other way. It was actually quite a harrowing experience, but we managed to get through it by working together to make sure we stayed on the road. The map also lied about the "small towns"...according to the symbols, they were the same size as our previously visited Comrie, but in fact they were actually a few houses scattered in the middle of nowhere. Also, for the last few days my mom had been talking about how much she wanted to have to stop the car for sheep crossing the
road - naturally, the first time we actually had to stop for sheep was on this road, when we were definitely not in the mood to appreciate it!We managed to get back to the main road eventually, and found a Gaelic station on the radio which was quite nice and gave a sense of Scottishness to our whole adventure.
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