Room with a View, day three, Monday

You are always in trepidation when you rent a holiday cottage. Is it going to be all that you expect. Of course if you have tons of money it can be all that you expect, but when you are working with a tight budget, it is such a delight to achieve the goal of reasonable price and a room with a view. It is a easier with the Internet to envision what your little holiday rental will look like, but the full panorama is not seen until you are there.

Glendale, looking towards Loch Pooltiel, from my bedroom window.

My diary and travel journal sitting on the window sill.

I had a terrible time this trip, adjusting to the time change. So I would be asleep by 9:00 to 9:30 PM, but then be awake again at 3:00 AM. Instead of tossing in bed, I would go downstairs, make a cup of tea, write up my travel journal and download all my photos onto my laptop. When I got home, at the end of the day, I was always far too tired.

Christy

P.S. Both my sister and I said we would love to stay here again Fasach

I'm Published.

It came! Yes it came in the Post today. My very own published book, of my photographs taken on the Isle of Skye.

This is the link to my book on Blurb. The entire book is now open for viewing. Click Here

I'm so pleased with it, such fun.

Christy

Isle of Skye, My Book on Blurb

I have made a book on Blurb, from my photographs of my week on the Isle of Skye. This is the link to it, where you will see a preview.

My Book on Blurb

I am really pleased with it. Jen at work, a graphic artist, went to a seminar where they featured Blurb and she received some very nice coupons to use their service. So she gave one to me worth $38.00 so on the day it was to expire I was able to finish my book. It probably took 15 hours all told. It was fun to arrange and look at my photos all over again and relive my time there.

Christy

Across the Skye Bridge on the Isle

Here we are on the Isle of Skye, with a view of the Cuillin Mountains. By now it's late afternoon and it's been a long day. From the Skye Bridge to the cottage was at least an hours drive, of course again longer because of the photo taking.

The view from my bedroom window.

My journals and books for the trip.

We were delighted with the cottage we had chosen to stay at, 6 Fasach, in Glendale. The heat was on when we arrived and so cozy. It's a good job we got there while it was still light, because it would have been very hard to find in the dark.

Christy

Still on the road to the Isle of Skye

Glenfinnan, this is the viaduct at Glenfinnan and when we were there, there was actually a train going across. It has appeared in many films, such as Charlotte Grey.

A true Scottish scene of heather.

This was in the area of The Five Sisters of Kintail. I'm not sure if these are The Five Sisters.

Loch Dunne

Eilean Donan

We had a glorious Saturday to travel on up to the Isle of Skye. It seems that Scotland and the Isles have had their wettest year in 100 years, but all that rain in just 50 days. I think we had the only week that did not rain. As when we got back to my sisters and I looked at the weather forecast, it was raining again up there. How fortunate we were.

Isn't Eilean Donan so romantic, a little austere, in that Scottish way how wonderful to build a home on a rocky outcrop, looking up the Loch both ways.

We passed through Fort William, the name makes me think of cowboys and indians. Ben Nevis rises here, the highest mountain in the British Isles. All names that conjure up pictures and stories in ones mind.

Christy

The Journey Begins, 1st Day, Loch Lomond

Peugeot 308 diesel, and my brother-in-law taking photos at Loch Lomond

Loch Lomond at 9:00 am

A man and his dog on Loch Lomond

Ranoch Moor

Our journey to the Isle of Skye from my sister's house in Suffolk, began after midnight on Saturday 12th September 2009. We travelled up the M1, which is the first Motorway built in Britain and it gets very congested, so leaving at that hour of the morning was great, because it meant that we were sitting by the side of Loch Lomond by 9:00 am drinking coffee and eating biscuits even though we stopped a couple of times on the way up.

I had rented a car at Heathrow airport, but it was a Ford Focus petrol and probably got about 38 to the gallon, I was able to change the car at Stansted airport, which is not too far from my sisters for a Peugeot 308 diesel, which averaged well arround 58 miles to the gallon, so 20 miles more per gallon, which is a big savings. I was so happy that I had bugged them to death to change the car.

From Loch Lomond on, all the way to the Isle of Skye is A and B roads, so the going from then on was slow. Made even slower by me wanting to stop quite often for photos. I had not travelled any of these roads since my teens.

Scotland has a desolate beauty, which cries out across the ages of it's history. Bringing back to mind songs you sang in Primary School, "I'll take the high road and you're take the low, and I'll be in Scotland afore you ..." We passed through such places as Ranoch Moor, The Sisters of Kintail, Fort William, to name a few. And some in our recent history, Lockerbie.

So begins my journey.

Christy

An Innocent in Scotland. More Curious Rambles and Singular Encounters, by David W. McFadden

I am enjoying reading this book. David McFadden's style of writing is personable. He wants to visit his ancestral home and follow in the steps of H. V. Morton's route around the country. McFadden is absorbed by the landscape and especially the people.

He is a great listener and engages you in his time spent in B&B's, pubs and just where he meets people and has a chat. People tell him all sorts of things from what's happening today in Scotland, the past, land clearance by the Lairds, to the travel of Scots to far flung places of the globe. His erratic travels follow Morton's journey in the 1920's.

The cover says it's a good fireside read. It's a little warm right now for a fire, but on a thundery, rainy afternoon, it makes for a good read.

Christy

A Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, 1773

James Boswell and Samuel Johnson Tour Scotland

We had tedious driving this afternoon ad were somewhat drowsy. Last night I was afraid Dr. Johnson was beginning to faint in his resolution, for he said, "If we must ride much, we shall not go; and there's an end on't. To-day, when he talked of Sky with spirit, I said "Why, sir, you seemed to me to despond yesterday. you are a delicate Londoner; you are a maccaroni; you can't ride." JOHNSON. "Sir, I shall ride better than you. I was only afraid I should not find a horse able to carry m." I hoped then there would be no fear of getting through our wild tour.

James Boswell, Ninth Laird of Achinleck (1740-1795). Scottish lawyer and diarist.

Christy