So now we walk up a bit to the Royal Mile to get to the Timberbush Tours office right next to the castle. We get to the area and we see the greatest vehicle ever invented by men, the short bus. It was gray with seat belts and the only thing missing was the mandatory helmet laws. So we get on the short bus in the hopes that the bus will end up getting us to the Isle of Skye. We strategically placed ourselves on the bus to be right before the emergency exit so that we could relax and recline my seat to sleep efficiently and without pain. So we leave Edinburgh and progress on our way to Glasgow to pick up the rest of our crew for the trip. It was at this point we all realized that the man driving the bus, our tour guide had a voice like nails on a chalkboard, or sandpaper in a really bad sounding instrument. He would drone on about things that made it relatively impossible to listen too. Now don't get me wrong, he did know a lot of information about Scotland and the places we visited but enthusiasm was really at an all time low. I chalked it up to being really early in the morning and he may have had a sore throat for the past month.
On our fantastic trip to Glasgow to pick up the other people and got stuck in traffic for an hour outside of Glasgow and we got to listen to him talk about random stuff for a while. So we eventually picked up the rest of the group from the train station in Glasgow and got off on our way to our first stop, Loch Lomand. We did get to listen to the driver reiterate everything we got on the way there even though everyone who got on the bus at Glasgow was sleeping and not paying any attention to what he was saying. Wooo hoo. So we get to Loch Lomand and the driver has told us about random facts that were pretty cool and we got to listen to the famous Loch Lomand folk song while we pulled up to the little nice town of Luss.
It is known as being a pretty little town that operates mostly on the income of tourists passing through the area. We did get a little time to spend in the area and we got to go to the loch side to see the water and take some nice pictures of the area. The pictures were good but the greatest part was the awkward conversations with the bus driver.After the stop we progressed up along side of the loch and at this point the bus kept rocking back and forth, like a nice boat, but it was not a boat it was a bus. This theme would haunt us for the rest of the trip, the rocking and swaying as the bus rumbled down the road. The outside landscape was very nice to look at, but as the day progressed the rain began falling harder and harder as we went along before the rain abruptly stopped and it cleared up. The bus was really roasting at this point and cool air and hot bus equal steamed up windows. Not just lightly steamed up windows where you brush it off with your hand and you are good to go again, oh no. This window was dripping with water and the windows would steam up right after you would wipe it off.
The next stop was the lunch stop at a little touristy area in the Fort William area. We stopped there and had the local favorite that the bus driver talked to us about, Cullen skink. It sounds funny, yes I realize that. But it is actually really good. It consists of haddock and other vegetables that we had with some bread. The white soup was very good and it was nice to have a Scottish recipe without haggis being involved in one way or another. At this stop I did stumble upon something that may revolutionize food as we know it today. I did find whisky salt. Yes you did hear me correctly, whisky salt. This would be awesome on anything really, but notably soup, potatoes, and the occasional salt on a margarita glass. That was one of the lasting memories of this stop as well as the whisky fudge that really did look appetizing.
So we continued to Skye and would make stops along the way. We stopped at the Three Sisters Mountain range and took some cool pictures as well as looked at the cool country sides.
This was the portion where we got to get out of the bus and look around for a bit. It was a long day of traveling and we eventually got to the city of Kyle of Lochalsh which separates the mainland of Scotland from the Isle if Skye. This little port town used to run ferries back and forth all day to get to the isle but they don’t run that any more. Some man with a lot of money came into the area and decided to build his own personal bridge to get there. So he threw a lot of money at the bridge and when it was finished he started to charge individuals 44 pounds to cross the bridge. Now the locals were not really happy about this, as you can imagine, because many of the people on the Isle commute to some of the larger cities on the mainland. So after a bunch of disputes the Scottish government decided that the best course of action would be to take over the bridge from the owner for a lot of money. So moral of the story is if you have a ton of money, and some time to kill, put up a bridge somewhere people need one, charge a bunch to cross, and get the government to buy it off you! Brilliant ideas. Crossing the bridge we finally get to the Isle of Skye and we get to see the beautiful darkness that has surrounded us at this point. So after rumbling on through the night we got to the biggest city in Skye, Portree. We had to drop the rest of the people off at their respective places to sleep for the night. This included all sorts of random locations dropping all of us off at weird places being hostels and hotels and some other shady locations along the edge of Portree. We got to our hostel and got to our room where were sharing it with 8 other people. It was a nice facility and locks on the lockers were very nice touches. It was only 8 o'clock pm so we decided to go grab some dinner at a local cafe. Portree is right on the water and has a very large fishing industry so naturally I got the fish and chips and it was very delicious. The fish was very fresh and it was a great meal.
After our little dinner we explored the area and took a quick walk along the dock and got a nice view of the Sound of Raasay and the Isle itself. Meandering around the town we stumbled upon a nice pub that was along the way and dived in as it started to pour. We stayed for a bit and got to listen to a local band play some music. It was a fairly small pub with not a whole lot of room to stand and talk to people so we only stayed in there for a half hour. After braving the rain we got back to the hostel and stayed up playing cards for a while. After that we hit the sacks and got ready for the next day of adventure around Skye.
So that is all for now, there is more to come on my trip to the Isle of Skye but I should be working on some of my homework that is due.
So until next time, this is Nick, Signing off.
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