Journey to the West

  Glenelg, United Kingdom
Thursday, May 1, 2008

1st May 2008:
 
Woke up to another wonderful Scottish breakfast by Caroline. This time, she has added the "black pudding" to our menu and only after devouring that did I find out what it actually was!! It was delicious, but no more for me - hahaha!!
 
Cruising Loch Ness:
 
We took Caroline's advice and went down to Drumnadrochit village to search for Gordon, a man who does boat trips on Loch Ness. We were told that he grew up in this area and hence, is very knowledgeable of the lake and the legendary Nessie. We got the tickets for our boat trip at the shop situated next to Fiddler's  in the little village - you won't miss it!
 
We were driven by a mini-van from the village to a spot where Gordon kept his boat, only about 5 minutes ride in the minivan. He was indeed knowledgeable and we cruised for about an hour up close to the Urquhart Castle (2 miles south of Drumnadrochit). It was lovely to do the cruise as it was a great experience to be on the great Loch and listening to Gordon talking about all the attempts by people in locating the evading monster. The water was really blue and there was a rising mist from the horizon, lending a mythical air to the whole place.  
Of course after such a trip, we were intrigued by the efforts made by these people and our curiousity led us to our next stop, the Loch Ness Exhibition Centre  where we obtained further details of the scientific research and exploration carried out in and around Loch Ness in the search of Nessie.  

Route A82 into A887 :
 
We started from Drumnadrochit on the A82 heading south along the Loch towards Invermoriston, which is about 13 miles away. This was quite a picturesque village and we saw the much talked-about old stone bridge mentioned in many guidebooks. We didn't stop and proceeded to leave the A82 and took the A887 heading west.
 
As soon as we were on A887, the scenery began to change and we passed through Dundreggan and the spectacular Glen Morriston. We stopped at many places along this drive to capture the amazing sights and we are so proud of our Nero. He really did a good job capturing the natural lighting and colours of the landscapes.  

Route A887 into A87:
 
Towards the end of A887 and about the beginning of the stunning Loch Cluanie, we joined the A87 and passed through even more amazing views. It was very mountainous on both sides of the road and our jaws just dropped in awe when we passed through the dramatic and spectacular Glen Shiel. Peaks were just soaring on both sides of the road and were felt really small, travelling on the long and quiet road in between all these giant mountains.


 
We continued on to Shiel Bridge and took a small road just after it that branched off to Glenelg. The road leading to Glenelg was indeed one of the most beautiful journeys in Scotland as claimed by some guidebooks. We passed through the majestic and totally awesome mountains of Kintail along this route.  
 
We followed the advice of our guidebook to drive through a single track road which ascended steeply through a series of sharp bends until we reached the top and the view from up there was absolutely FANTASTIC!! See our pictures :-




After taking in all the breathtaking views, we headed back reluctantly to the village and took another single track road to take the Glenelg -Kylerhea Ferry to the Isle of Skye.




We were told that this is supposedly one of the most scenic and romantic route to the misty island.
That must be true because we found out while we were there that this location was filmed in the recent Hollywood production "Made of Honour" starring Patrick Dempsey.

 
We were very lucky to have made this trip during this part of the year because there were not many tourists at all.


During our ferry journey, it was just us and another car and the view was indeed very pretty but way to short - it would have been nicer if it was a little longer than 5 minutes!

 
But it was the quickest way to get us into SKYE !! Yeah!! We are off for more adventures and beautiful photography...Catch up with you soon :-D