Haggis Day Six - Lewis to Harris to Skye to Loch Ness!!

This morning we had a few issues with the bus (ie we were on fire), so ended up on the side of the road with a fire extinguisher. After a bit of a fix-it session, Kenny and some of the guys managed to get the bus going safely again. Turned out that the handbrakes had got stuck and we’d been driving about the place with them on, but also, an inner tyre had popped when Kenny was hoofing it around the coast the day before (we were all hanging on for dear life!).

Kenny, under the bus, with a fire extinguisher...

Once the bus was going again we stopped off at the stones of Callanish, another circle of stones. This time, the stone arrangement has a lunar emphasis rather than solar like the others. Other than that, the purpose is still unknown.

From the stones, we drove through Harris and to the ferry for the Isle of Skye. This time it was a massive ferry, and we sat in on some Gaelic lessons during the trip, which was really neat. It’s pronounced totally different from the way its written!!

Once we arrived on the Isle of Skye, Kenny had lots of great info to share with us as he was born and raised on Skye. We saw ‘black houses’ which were the traditional style of house before the highland clearances, they went black inside from the smoke of peat used for fuel. We also saw plenty of strange mounds or bumps in the landscape – which Kenny tells us are the homes of faeries. We’re not supposed to doubt the existence of the faeries. There are also some strangely placed cabbage trees and other southern hemisphere plant species littered about the landscape, which are apparently washed up to Scotland through the gulf stream. That’s why they also get tropical species of fish there too. Crazy huh?!

Random cabbage tree-like species brought up from the sourthern hemisphere by the gulf stream

A 'black house' on Skye - they were actually painted white. The rocks on the edge of the thatched roof are to hold it down in the wind :S

Claiming the telephone as a Scottish invention, these phone booths are randomly placed around the countryside.

Kenny then drove us up a very narrow and scary road to the Quairang, where this is the view;

The Cuillin mountains on Skye are also famous landmarks. The red and black cuillins are both the oldest and youngest mountains around, completely different rock composition. They also create the border between the MacLeod and MacDonald clans (the 2 competing clans from Skye).

Kenny (a MacLeod) decided we could all use a freshening up in the 'detoxifying' waters of Skye, so he led by example and we all had a facial dip, at the site of a battle/wedding between the 2 clans. Apparently we all look years younger already.

Here's Mish, rejuvenating....

This is the Old Man of Storr. The storr is said to be the teardrop of a giant who lived there with his wife. When she died, he was so sad he cried a mountain of tears, and filled the loch below.

Storr Loch, the teardrops of a giant

Once we left Skye (there's a bridge from Skye to the mainland), we drove on to castle Eileen Donan, which has been in countless movies and is really lovely.

That night we stayed in a hostel at Loch Ness!!!