Such a long day today--especially when you wake up needlessly at 5:15 which we have been doing every single day of this holiday. First we caught the 8:30 ferry to Mull then hurried over to the Fishnish-Lochaline ferry and got in line and got on the next one.
What we hoped WOULDN'T happen to us as we took 3 ferries today:
Very expressive doggie on the ferry:
Eilean Musdile Lighthouse this morning:
Hidden Mickey on the ferry!
Then we drove through the Moidart area to get to Mallaig. Moidart is where Fiona McLaren lives. She wrote the book about the painting of Mary Magdalene that was owned by her father.
We had reservations on the 4:00 ferry, but we wanted to try to get on the 1:30 one. Oops--it and the 3:30 ferries were cancelled because of weather. So we got in line for the 2:00 and were amazingly one of the last to get on. Passing under the Loch nan Mamh Viaduct built in 1897-1901. During construction, a horse & cart fell in to the bridge support and they were buried whole. The Jacobite Steam Train regularly crosses it.
We also saw the Prince’s Cairn which stands next to the A830 near Beasdale on the shore where Bonnie Prince Charlie departed for France in
1746 after the rebellion's failure at Culloden. The cave is also nearby in Druimindarroch.
So we made it to Armadale on the Isle of Skye and drove quickly to the Aros Centre to have lunch--really good Chicken Burger for me. Ray had the Scottish Breakfast.
The Isle of Skye was once ruled over by a woman who warriors came to the island to be trained by and learn. Skye in Gaelic is Scathach/Sgathaith "sky-ah," the Isle of Mist.
Lots of Gaelic language here. In the Gaelic alphabet, it is not called the ABCs because the first 3 letters are "B-L-N" There are 18 letters to the alphabet. Ancient Gaelic had no H so it had only 17 letters. The letters are: ABCDEFG (H) ILMNOPRSTU
K=C as in cat loch
is guttural bh=v mh=v
Driving across Skye:
Our Keeper's Cottage for our week on the Isle of Skye:
Our cottage was the former gamekeepers cottage, overlooking
Loch Snizort. The River Snizort is
Skye’s foremost salmon river. The
cottage is 166 years old. The cottage
adjoining the Keeper’s Cottage was home to famed poetess Mary Macpherson (Mairi
Mhor nan Oran). Born Mary Macdonald in
Skeabost in 1821, she was nicknamed Big Mary of the Songs due to her size and
larger than life personality. She was a nurse by profession but became noted for her prolific poetry, political interests, and physical stature.
She left Skye to marry and when her husband died, she was left to care for their 4 children alone. She discovered her voice as a poet in her fifties while imprisoned for a short period in Inverness ona charge of theft froma woman she had been nursing. She protested her innocence through her songs. Shwe returned to Skeabost in 1882 and spent the rest of her life in the Woodside Cottage--the back wing of the Keeper's Cottage.
She was
bard of the 1880s Land League agitation and invited to become official bard of
the Clan MacDonald Society. And old well
bears a plaque commemorating Mary’s family.
It is not far up the track from Skeabost Cemetery, on the right of the
forestry road. She topped the poll to find the most outstanding Scottish woman in 2016.
The problem we have always had with renting a house for the week is that I think Scottish people have a natural immunity to dust and mold and mildew. On the Isle of Harris last time, I got a horrible case of Bronchitis from mold that I didn't even notice until it was too late. The very nice apartment we rented next to Holyrood Palace was so dusty although the maid had just come. This place had a strong smell of carpet cleaner--that powdery stuff they put down then vacuum up--that Ray had to immediately reclean the entire place before I could even breathe inside! Now that he's dusted every surface and we've opened the windows, things are much better. Keeping my fingers crossed!!!
Here are photos of my adventuring mice playing around in the kitchen:
And poor Ray trying to figure out how to use the Hob and Oven:
This is a lovely little cottage in the perfect location and we are looking forward to our week here.
