We had a later start than usual as we had decided to visit
Inverewe Gardens which was just down the road.
There were plenty of colourful flowers out, although the Azeleas and
Rhododendrons were almost over. We
wandered around for what seemed ages, although we had a map there was plenty to
see but it was a bit like a maze! It was
great fun to explore. The garden itself
covers 54 acres and is part of the Inverewe Estate which covers around 2,000
acres!
Towards the end of our visit we were on our way to the
walled garden before going to the Visitors Centre and shop, when we noticed a
“viewpoint” overlooking Loch Ewe. Mathew
went straight over while I got distracted by a flower and started taking a
photo. He called me over for the
binoculars and we weren't sure at first, but when it ran onto the shore with
some food in its mouth, we knew what it was for certain – an OTTER! :) Finally we could say we have actually seen a
wild otter! We went around the corner
into the rock garden to see if we could spot him, but we couldn't – we thought
he was hiding in the bushes further up.
One thing is for sure though – we could hear him eating! *crunch crunch crunch* was all we
could hear before it suddenly went quiet.
He probably had a nap after that!
In the shop I bought something which I thought suitable for
Christmas or a Birthday, and some of those giant mints which are basically
Edinburgh Rock but with peppermint flavour :)
After this, we drove on towards Eilean Donan Castle stopping off at
various view points on the way. Today
the cloud was much higher and as the day went on, we saw more and more of the
mountains and the sun even came out and warmed us up. We had a late lunch in Kirkton where we just
had some sandwiches, nothing fancy. The
lady there asked us where we were off to next and we told her about Eilean
Donan Castle which she said was about 40 minutes away, and Fort William which,
straight from Kirkton would take about 2 hours.
Back in the car we set out through more mountainous scenery
before arriving at Eilean Donan Castle at around 3pm. I sent a message to the next B&B we were
staying at just outside Fort William, telling her we would be arriving a little
later than planned. Eilean Donan Castle
is THE Castle which is known as “Scotland's most romantic Castle”, and it had
been used in a number of films such as James Bond and more memorably, Highlander. There were in fact a number of photographs
inside on the walls of Christopher Lambert dressed up on his horse leaving the
Castle on the bridge.
It was just after 4pm when we left the Castle and made our
way towards Fort William. Mathew kept
asking me what mountains we were looking at and driving past but I had no
idea. I had the map, but I could only
make a guess as to which peaks were which.
I probably got a few wrong, but these mountains are so huge and craggy,
it looks like there are mountains on the mountains!
We eventually arrived at Garadhe Buidhe B+B which is
just outside Fort William and situated on a very windy single track road, off
the beaten track and out of the way of most things! It was 6pm and we were first welcomed by Tess
the Alsatian who was very excited to see new visitors. Then we met Jane, who as it turned out, used
to live in Markfield! It looked like her
husband Michael was busy working on the extension to the B+B. It turned out that it was going to be a holiday home for 6 people known as "Salmon Catch Cottage", as apparently they have lots of fishing groups of 6 visiting the area.
We chilled out for a short while before heading out to
dinner – we parked not far from an Italian Pizzaria, walked around Fort William
and decided we wanted Pizza so we went all the way back to the Pizzaria!
:D Back at the B&B later on, we
tuned in to the last 20 minutes of the first Wimbledon Highlights of the year
before chilling out and preparing for our journey to Penrith the next day. This time tomorrow, we'll be in England
again. Better turn those Scottish notes
into change!
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