Boots, Boats and Scotty’s West Coast

As promised, our food and drink experiences are on their way, so please stay tuned as I’m sure you’re eagerly awaiting our reviews of Loch Bay Seafood Restaurant and Michelin Star Restaurant, The Three Chimneys. As they say… good things come to those who wait!

While you patiently await those goodies, I’m going to continue on with our story, including our final day on Isle of Skye and ventures through Glenfinnan, Fort William and Glencoe on the road to Oban.

Friday morning we woke to the most beautiful sunrise and warm weather on Isle of Skye. The entire country was gearing up for a “heat wave” that was making its way to the coast. 
Unfortunately for us, we were on our way out, but that didn’t mean that we couldn’t enjoy the beautiful weather during our last afternoon on Skye. We sat down for our last full breakfast with John and Fiona, said our warm goodbyes, promised to leave amazing reviews on Trip Adviser (already done J) and packed up the Juke-meister.

The road out of Stein sparkled as the water reflected from below and we talked about how much we would miss the view we’d grown to love over the past several days from our bedroom at John and Fiona’s. First on the list for today, was an hour-long hike through the Fairy Pools located in the South of the Isle near a place called Glen Brittle.

We pulled up and admired the rolling hills that were shaded with all kinds of colors of green, yellow and blue. The fairy pools were enchanting – with fresh spring water that you could see through entirely. They glittered with light blues, greens and some darker shades too that were visible from the rocks below. We took a few sips and hoped that our wrinkles would disappear entirely within seconds… still waiting to see those effects, but hey! It was worth a shot!

We hiked our way through the various pools, snapped pictures and continued on to our next destination – another stop at Talisker for gifts. Patrick spent time roaming the rows of Scotch and debated on which bottles to buy for our bar cart at home; it was a lengthy process but he finally made his calculated decisions and then we headed to lunch on the hill at The Oyster Shack.

The Oyster Shack is a hole in the wall garage that sits on the top of a hill overlooking the waters of Skye. They opened their doors for us at Noon sharp and we were the first to order. We only had about 30 minutes for a quick bite before we had to leave to catch our ferry boat from Armadale to Mallaig on the mainland. Patrick went with scallops, and I decided on the smoked filet of salmon. I DEFINITELY WON best choice – Patrick kept creeping over to my plate for extra bites. It was literally the most delicious smoked salmon I’ve ever had. Mmm… I’ll be dreaming of that for weeks to come. We enjoyed our fish and chips, and our last views of Skye before heading to catch the ferry.
 

We arrived on the mainland a few hours later and headed off to see Harry Potter’s Hogwarts train – the Glenfinnan Viaduct. The photographs of the Viaduct online were so stunning, that I just had to stop by to see for myself. Merp… it wasn’t that great in person… mainly because some of the view was obstructed due to construction that was being done on the monument, but still… I was bummed. Never the less, I snapped my pictures, said hello to Harry Potter and we continued onward.

Glencoe is in the Lochaber area of the Scottish Highlands; it lies at the northwest end of the glen, on the southern bank of the River Coe where it enters Loch Leven (a salt-water loch off Loch Linnhe). It is a chunk of land that has been featured in many, many movies – some more famous than others. As soon as we found a parking spot in the area where we planned to hike, Patrick immediately recognized some of the views from the James Bond movie, Skyfall. Boys will be boys…

The mission of our hike was to find the Hidden Valley of Glencoe – also known as Coire Gabhail. This is the valley that many years ago, housed the MacDonalds of Glen Coe’s rustled castle. They hid it from view in an area where only they themselves would be able to find it. I can confirm this – as our hike was anything but easy! We had to climb some big rocks, cross over a moving river, up some hills, down some hills, across wooden planks and stone stairwells – only to find the Hidden Valley! MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! And man was the view beautiful! A huge feeling of accomplishment washed over me when we reached that hill; it was well worth the sweat.

Our hike took about two and a half hours, and just as we returned to Jake the Juke, the sun was setting over Scotland. We called our B&B to let them know we were headed their way, and continued on toward Oban. Too exhausted from the full day of hiking and driving, we decided to stop at a local Tesco to pick up a smorgasbord for dinner. Meats, cheeses, fresh breads, jams, wine and chocolate! What more do you need?

We trucked our dinner to Castle Barcaldine, where they were waiting our arrival. Castle Barcaldine sits just outside of Oban in a town called Argyll. To date, it is Argyll’s only ancient castle, which was built in 1609 by “Black” Duncan Campbell and restored in 1897 by Sir Duncan Campbell (3rd Baronet of Barcaldine). A Scottish Castle set on the shores of Loch Creran, Barcaldine boasts breathtaking views of the snow-capped mountains of Glencoe and is also in the perfect location between Oban and Glasgow for travelers making their way South. We loved every minute in the Castle! We watched a movie, ate our feast and rested up for our (I hate typing this…) last full day in Scotland.

Glasgow patiently waited our arrival and we look forward to sharing our experience with you next!

Cheers,

Two for Takeoff