The ferry off of Skye only goes every 2 hours, and we didn’t want to spend half of our last day in Scotland stuck on Skye, so John reserved a spot for 8:20 AM, and we had to be there a half-hour early. Since we were sleeping on the other end of the island, we were aiming to leave by 6:30 at the latest. Driving across the island was slow-going, even though the traffic was light that time of morning. First there was the haar on the north end of the island, then the single-track roads and sheep on the road.
Our hostess at the B&B was kind enough to get up with us and make coffee and toast to go with our fast cold cereal. We didn’t make Hannah eat, trying to avoid another car-sick incident. Anyhoo, you would think after Edinburgh, we would have learned our lesson, but staying out late and getting up early seem to be the main ingredients in a Hannah barf-fest. She was hungry by the time we reached the ferry about 1 minute before loading, but she didn’t want any of the snacks we had, and the ferry only had chocolate muffins and cookies, which she would have gladly eaten, queasy or no. So she was angry and hungry for the whole ferry ride.
Once back on the mainland of Scotland, we headed east, well, after getting turned in the port where we got off the ferry. First stop, scenic barf clean-up on the side of the A830.
Second stop, Glenfinnan, site of the Glenfinnan Viaduct that was featured in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets when Harry and Ron drove their flying car over the Hogwarts Express. Unfortunately, we were on a tight schedule, so we couldn’t walk closer for a better view.
John really, really wanted to drive down to the tiny island of Iona, but we kept driving and driving and not getting any closer, and Hannah was sick again. We finally ended up skipping Iona and taking another ferry across Loch Linnhe.
We took a little driving break at Loch Leven and enjoyed the sunny day and the scenery.
The Scots really seem to know what a treasure their scenery is. They’ve made lots and lots of parking areas along the roads, particularly where the scenery is especially impressive.
Then we headed for Glen Coe, but of course we got lost and ended up making a biggish detour to Kinlochleven, where we had a nice lunch and wandered around near the river. John and Hannah amused themselves stacking the smooth river rocks, and I stole a couple of smaller ones as souvenirs.
We finally made it to Glen Coe, a beautiful valley that was the site of a massacre in 1692.
By the time we got to Bridge of Orchy, it was time again to stretch our legs. For Hannah and John, of course, that meant wading in the nearest body of water, the River Orchy.
We had to stop to check out Loch Lomand and use the bathroom (desperately!). (While waiting for me, John helpfully picked up a brochure, only it was in Italian. *g*) John found a sign that indicated the direction and distance of several points of interest, and he insisted that we try to find Rob Roy’s cave. We followed what we thought was a path, but it was a dead end. We realized that the sign wasn’t saying how to get to the points of interest, just in what direction they were. On second thought, we would have had to have crossed the loch to find the cave. Oops!
On our way into Glasgow, we stopped at Dunbarton to see the castle, but we got there about 5 minutes before closing, so we didn’t get to go in.
It was just as well that we didn’t go in, because we were already starting to cut it a little close. We were supposed to turn the rental car in around 6, but our flight didn’t leave until 9 pm. We figured the rental car people wouldn’t mind if we were a bit late, but the airline wouldn’t let us check in if we were there later than 45 minutes early.
When we left Dunbarton, it was after 5, and we still had to get all the way across Glasgow to Prestwick, whose slogan “Pure dead brilliant” set John’s teeth on edge for some reason. Driving in Glasgow was a nightmare. We got stuck in traffic, we got lost trying to find the freeway, we had to find our way through a hellish detour that resembled nothing more than a rat maze, and we almost ran out of gas. Since we had the car 5 days, we had to pay in advance for the rental agency to refill it and could turn it in empty.
I talked John into checking in right away, even though there was a longish line and we hadn’t eaten yet, which turned out to be good, because the line got twice as long by the time we got through, and then we could go eat before going through security. I wanted to buy some more souvenirs, but we ran out of time. One thing I found unusual about Prestwick was the availability of an outdoor smoking area inside the security zone. It was completely enclosed in chain-link fencing, so there was no possibility of sneaking in or out without bolt-cutters, which probably would have been noticed in the x-ray machine.
The flight home was uneventful, as far as I remember, and the drive home was loooooong. It was after 2 am before we got there, so our last day of vacation lasted a good 20 hours.
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