England & Scotland Day 3 & 4

11 August 2012, Day 3

We continued to head north to the Isle of Skye.  This was my first visit there and the second for my husband. The weather was pretty nasty. Weather wise, My husband's first visit there was not good either. So it was a disappointment for all of us.  

Eilean Donan Castle - We passed and did not get into the castle as the weather was not good and we were short of time.


The Skye Bridge - The approach to our destination of the day


The Kilt Rock, Isle of Skye


The Kilt Rock, Isle of Skye


The weather was so miserable that we decided not to spend a night on the Isle of Skye. In the end we drove around the island hoping to see as much as we could but visibility varied greatly from so so (like this) to zero.


12 August 2011, Day 4

Because of the change in plan leaving the Isle of Skye early, we had difficulty finding an overnight accommodation. After plenty of phone calls, frantically browsing the internet on the iPhone, we eventually secured 3 beds in separate domitories in a youth hostel in Ballater.  When we got there, it was 11pm. The next morning, we went to one of the best ski resorts in Scotland - the Cairngorm Mountain Resort.

The Cairngorms feature the highest, coldest and snowiest plateaux in the British Isles and are the training grounds for sub-arctic missions and expeditions.

Wild reindeer on Cairngorm Mountain




The Cairngorm Funicular railway tunnel, going to the highest railway station Ptarmigan in the U.K.


The Cairngorm Funicular


Base station of the Cairngorm Funicular


After the Cairngorms, we headed East to where the weather was a lot better and where my friend's place is as we would stay in her house for a few days.

Invercauld Suspension Footbridge, a scenic stop on our way to Aberdeen


The Dunnottar Castle near Aberdeen is a castle in a spectacular setting and the weather there was marvellous.


Dunnottar Castle


A view from the castle


Travelling Tip: We paid entrance fees for each castle and heritage site we visited.  In hindsight, we could have saved by buying a British Heritage Pass which offers free access to many castles and heritage sites for a year.

每次看完你的帖子都有直接想买机票走的冲动。。。。。。

Mao 发表于 2012-9-14 01:38
每次看完你的帖子都有直接想买机票走的冲动。。。。。。

Me too. I have been thinking that a schedule like what I had in 2011 would be nice - spending 4 months in Europe during the Tasmanian winter and travelling around to visit or revisit places. The car accident makes this impossible this year.