Greg and Deb's Travel Blog

We had an early’ish breakfast, and then headed out on the road by 8am to try and beat the predicted Armageddon weather (if you missed it, see yesterdays blog instalment) and the other tourists to the nearby sights.

We had a very easy start this morning, our ferry to Skye is now due to arrive here at midday, so there was no rush to do anything.

We checked out around 10:45am and drove the 2 mins to the ferry check-in area. Once parked we went out to find something for lunch. We eventually got a takeaway bacon and egg roll each from the pub, there were very slim pickings in town.

The ferry arrived on time at midday,  and we were on-board and sailing away before 12:40pm.  We are both amazed at how efficient the ferry companies are at the turnaround of the ferries.

Lunch was tasty and we sat back for an easy cruise over to Uig on Skye.  We set the gps in the car for our hotel, so it is easy once on Skye, and we love it when “Nora” says, “Board the ferry” ?

We started the day with a morning chat with our parents, good to know they are doing well.

We took the slow road to Rodel, there were two ways to get there, the Google maps suggested way around the west coast and the slow way down the east coast.

Almost immediately, no make that immediately, we left Tarbert the road became a very narrow single lane with “passing stops” dotted along it. I went into full tourist mode and we did the trip at 20 to 25 mph all the way. Stopping in passing stops, on corners, on single lane bridges and in the middle of the road for photos. In the 1 1/4 hrs it took us to drive the 27km on The Golden Road, not because of its beauty (which would be appropriate) but because of the cost of it. The

A slower start today which we appreciated.  Didn’t need to be at the ferry until 9.30am.  We both laughed when the GPS in the car told us to, ‘Catch the ferry!’  Len told us when we were with him and Monica that he calls his GPS Nora (igNore her). It is surprising how often we do, so we have named ours Nora too, we often talk to her.  ?

We were both up a bit before 6am (Deb was awake at 4:30 am- excited, lol). We packed had breakfast and were waiting at the ferry terminal around 6:45am.

Our ferry loads and unloads from the rear, the same as the Kangaroo Island ferry, it isn’t full. Deb had to get out before I parked the car, there was no room on her side to get out. The guy that asked her to get out had a VERY broad Scottish accent, and had to repeat himself before we understood him. ?

It’s Deb driving day. ?? On the road at 9am to explore the past, up to about 5000 years past. The Orkneys seem to be a bit like Adelaide – everything seems to be about 30 mins away (make that 20 mins in Adelaide).
Fog and rain greeted our day and continued all morning. So many tourists everywhere. Bus loads of them!
The countryside here, and that is most of the Islands, reminds us of scenes from British police shows set in the countryside or small country towns.

First thing we sorted a tour on Orkney so things worked together a bit more, then we hit the road north. We called into Dunrobin Castle for a photo and kept driving. It had been raining almost from the start of our drive and not too far north of Dunrobin fog set in. In places it was very thick and it obscured the scenery which was unfortunate, that part of Scotland is said to be very picturesque. We will never know!

We decided to have a castle free day today, so a good part of our morning was the drive up into the Scottish Highlands (see my trivia note at the very end of this blog) and visit some different old stuff.

The Clava Cairns, or more correctly, “The Balnuaran of Clava” are Stone Circles combined with Stone Mounds, and are very different to the “regular” Stone Circle sites we have all heard of and/or visited. They date back to 4000BC, and were used as Bronze Age tombs. There are 4 Stone Circles in the area we visited (there is said to be many more in the area), 3 of which were large with stone burial mounds in the centre of a stone circle, and 1 small one with just a small stone circle and a burial pit at its centre. Two of the mounds had an astronomical alignment for the entrance passage into them, they aligned with the sunrise of the winter solstice. I found them intriguing but they lacked the presence/connection I get from the Neolithic Stone Circles we have visited.

We enjoyed a sleep in this morning, both of us got about 8hrs sleep which was good. We were on the road heading northeast around 9am. It is Saturday, so the roads in St Andrews were quiet.
Our day started as we crossed the Firth of Tay and drove into Dundee. Our visit to this city turned into a drive through. Like a lot of UK cities and towns parking is very difficult to find, and when you do find a spot it is very expensive. Dundee was Scotland’s first UNESCO City of Design. We drove down to the shores of the Firth of Tay and found Broughty Castle, built in 1490. It was taken by the British without a shot being fired in 1547, taken back by the Scots 2.5 yrs later, and it began changing hands over time. It more recently served as a naval fortress in WWI & WWII. An impressive structure with a drawbridge and all.

We left our hotel and picked up our hire car, a Citroen Cactus and were on the road heading north about 9am.

We drove across the Firth of Forth and after missing a turn off, got back on track and at the right locations to take a few pictures of the bridges over the Firth of Forth, both the “new” road bridge and the famous Forth Railway Bridge built in 1890 which is a UNESCO site.