OK, just got back at 2am this morning. I'm at work now, catching up, so I'll leave a few highlights.

Lodging: All the places we stayed at were great, and many were exceptional. I HIGHLY recommend Killin Guest House in Grantown-on-Spey (Jane was a wonderful hostess, and it was walking distance from a pub with delightful pies). Also The Lodge at Edinbane on Skye was spectacular - 14th century haunted hunting lodge. Hazel and Pete run a pub with food on the property as well, and all was fantastic. Seaview in Fionnphort and Mill at Eryland in Orkney were also wonderful, and the apartment we rented in Edinburgh was perfect.

Food: The good, the bad, and the ugly. Most of it was great. A few shining moments: Three Chimneys restaurant near Dunvegan, Skye; Oakwood Restaurant near Inverness (on the A82); The Old Flax Mill near Killin; Pies at The Craig Bar in Grantown-on-Spey (and the owners are real characters!). The Reef Restaurant in Bunessan we ate at - expensive but fantastic fresh seafood!


Some forgettable food moments: Tomato and lentil soup with pasta = Spaghetti-O's sauce with ketchup mixed in with some spaghetti noodles. Most of the dishes served at the Keel Row were disappointing to us.


Sights: OMIGOD! Why did no one tell me how breathtakingly stunning the north coast of Scotland was? This wasn't in anything I researched. As we drove along the coast road, we kept seeing sights, and saying "wow, that's the most beautiful thing I've seen!" - until we went into the next cove, glen, or cliff - and said it again. Wow! The Isle of Skye is gorgeous, but most people know that. The Lewis landscape was surreal - a moonscape of peat bogs under a grey sky reminded me of some old black-white film. The mountains in Mull were just as beautiful as the mountains in Glencoe. And the Grampians were so desolate they took your breath away.

I had a wonderful time, though I was ready to ship my family back after the fourth day (first day driving together). I will be writing up a full report later, with pictures, for all to have fun with. Any specific questions I'll be happy to answer now - especially about B&Bs and such, as I know some folks are staying in similar or the same places later on.

&quot;<i>OK, just got back at <b>2am</b> this morning. </i>&quot; Ain't jet lag wonderful

Can't wait for the rest of your report - we'll give you a day or two to recover.

That's too bad about the Keel Row - I've had several good meals there, but the last time was at least 3 years ago. Things change I guess

I absolutely <i>KNOW</i> what you mean about wanting to send folks home. Or at least probably - you may have an even worse tale to tell . . . . .

Wow - welcome back! Thanks for the update - I've been looking forward to hearing about your trip as I love Scotland so very much!

The north is so gorgeous, isn't it? We, too, kept saying such and such is the most beautiful and picking new favourites, every minute of the way. I truly believe you would be hard pressed to find more beautiful scenery on the planet.

Cannot wait to hear more!

janisj: I think Keel Row suffers from being one of the only options around for dinner, no competition. The lunches were great, the burgers very tasty, etc. The dinners were all rather blah. Not terrible - just not great. But John and Jane were wonderful hosts, and we had the Lunga room, which overlooks the bay.


About sending folks home - it wasn't bad the first couple of days in Edinburgh, since we were carless and walking everywhere. However, once we got cars, the crap started hitting the fan. The result being that my friend Kim will not drive with Jason in the car (and if she isn't driving, she gets carsick). Also, we've determined that in the future, I either travel with my friends, my husband, or my parents - never again will I mix those sets together. All involved agree on that now.

travel2live - I previously considered the Dingle Peninsula to be the most beautiful place I have ever visited. That is now replaced by the north coast of Scotland - that road just went through some amazing sites, from Scrabster all the way down to Ullapool. Of course, it may have had something to do with the fact that we had had three rainy, dim days in Orkney before that, and it was a mostly sunny day.

Weather: Highest temp was probably 17C, lowest was 8C. It rained at least a little every day, and there were about 10 days of all day rain and gloom. Evidently we got there just after 7 weeks of glorious sunshine and a heat wave. Orkney gifted us with 8C temps, 40mph winds and rain - COLD! But we were prepared and wore lots of layers It IS Scotland, after all. The travel days (from B&amp;B to B&amp;B) usually ended up sunny and bright, though.

I can't wait to read the rest!!

Oh, boy, I have been waiting for this! Very much looking forward to all the details.

ttt!!!

Can't wait to read all about it.

I'm so glad to see this report (thanks, janisj for the head's up!) and will be especially interested in your experiences in the far north and the islands. Today I ordered a few guidebooks of the Highlands and Islands for a possible trip in June.

Here are some more snippets about the islands:

While the weather was dim and dreary, the landscape was still stunning and spectacular (fun with alliteration!)

We visited the Tomb of the Eagles and the Italian Chapel the first day. One of the rare moments of sunshine came while at the tomb. You have to drive all the way to the end of the islands for it, but it's worth the drive and the mile hike. Not just for the tomb, but for the incredible angular cliffs and seabirds around there. Everything was at an angle, which is actually how the discoverer found the tomb - the tomb stones were straight, and seemed out of place. You have to pull yourself into the tomb on a rope and a board with wheels, but it's light inside due to skylights. The walk back along the cliffs is highly recommended!

The Italian Chapel was delightful, and much more moving than I thought it would be. The artistry and story is incredible!

We wandered around Kirkwall a while in the afternoon, and visited the Sheila Fleet and Ortak jewelry stores. Sheila Fleet has some spectacular modern/traditional jewelry styles (though not cheap!). We also saw a blackening truck go through - sort of a pre-wedding tradition on Orkney, which involves throwing a molasses/flour mixture on the bride and groom and parading them through the streets before making them wash off in the freezing ocean. And these were their friends!

The second day we visited Maes Howe, the Ring of Brodgar, Stones of Stenness, and Skara Brae. It was cold and windy, but still fantastic. We went exploring around the north end of the mainland and found the Broch of Gurness as well as some seals and spectacular cliffs. It was only dark for a couple hours each night, and never got black, just a deep twilight (I have pics).

The drive between Orkney and Lewis was, as I said, spectacular. More beautiful than Dingle, IMHO. I will have to post the pics.

Stornoway was a nice little town, and very compact. We ate a couple times at the Indian Restaurant on the dockside, it had great food. The Tea House nearby had good food as well, we sort of chose that because nothing else was open for food

We drove around the 'loop' the first day, seeing the blackhouses, Calanais stone circles (we visited 3 of them), and Dun Carloway. At this point we were almost getting to the point of 'oh, it's another rock' However, Calanais was spectacular, and we pretty much had the stones to ourselves after a bus had left... very nice.

Afternoon my husband and I decided to drive north in search of Point Ness and the lighthouse - a long drive, but with spectacular results - the cliffs are amazing! Well worth it.

The next day we drove around Harris. The sandy beaches were incredible! The water was aquamarine and looked Carribean, even with gloomy skies and rain. I poked my toe in the water, it was warmer than I thought it would be. However, we drove counter-clockwise, and the last part of road, going north towards Tarbert was the scariest piece of road I drove the entire trip. It is very narrow (though freshly painted on the edges!), and very twisty along cliff edges. There were several parts where there was NO edge on either side, it just dropped going from cliff to cliff ... Yikes! I drove in 2nd gear the entire time, which was like 10 miles worth. I think it took me an hour. The B&amp;B on Lewis was Hal O' the Wynd, which was nice and clean and Graham was very nice, but it was pretty standard, nothing special. (no sheets, only duvets)

We went on to Skye for four days, taking the ferry from Tarbert to Uig and driving to Edinbane. That was nice and easy, and we had a lovely time at the Lodge there. (and yes, there are some rooms that aren't pink!)

We had a lunch reservation for Three Chimneys at 1pm, so we went towards that the first day, taking a longer route around the middle of the island. Three Chimneys deserves its reputation, it is worth it! I also went to Skye Silver to make some jewelry purchases myself We found more seals and some beautiful vistas.. and a real Scottish Rush Hour (herd of sheep in the road). We also visited Dunvegan castle, which is a beautiful place - the gardens especially!

We spent some of the day in Portree doing laundry at the Youth Hostel (bright yellow building, can't miss it!). The next day we explored the Trotternish peninsula, and tried to find the Old Man of Storr, but he remained hidden in the mists. We did find the Kilt Rock, and heard the music of the wind whistling through the bars at the lookout point. Unfortunately, the colors were hidden by the clouds, but it was still quite beautiful. We continued on north, stopped at a castle to explore, and all the way around to Uig. Found the Fairy Glen, that is definitely worth a drive! It is surreal and bizarre. There is a cave in the rocks at the top, go explore!

The last day on Skye we attempted a drive down to Armadale, but gave up on the weather. We did go to a concert of the Peatbog Fairies in Portree one night, which was an interesting study on the demographics of the area!

The drive to Mull was long, but mostly on good roads, except the last 30 mile bit of danger. We spent one morning on Iona, but the weather wasn't good enough until the second afternoon to take the boat to Staffa to visit Fingal's Cave. Worth a trip, definitely!

I'll keep giving snippets until I can compile the whole thing!

Enjoying your report - hurry with some pictures! Orkney is on my short list (the list that may actually happen, as opposed to the general wish list, which far exceeds the time and finances available).

Pictures will have to wait at LEAST until this weekend. I took about 6000 pictures, no exaggeration. They are all on my husband's laptop at the moment. I had a momentary lapse of reason and left my camera in the rental car when we dropped it off - but I called and they are shipping the camera to me. Luckily I had already downloaded all my pics!

Green Dragon, have been awaiting your report. We visited Scotland in 1998--but didn't make it to Skye, and absolutely want to go back.

Did you have to pre-reserve your car to take it on the ferries between islands?

Now that we're 10 years older, I have to ask: in order to see the standing stones on Lewis, would one need to drive along the clifftop road with no shoulder? DH did drive us out to the Slieve League cliffs near Donegal, Ireland, but, again, he was younger.

I'll be looking forward to pictures, and more details.

GreenDragon - please don't stop now! Will you eventually have the entire report on your website?

In the meantime, anything about Mull and Iona . . . and the area around Killin . . . Sheesh, who am I kidding - I want it all and I want it now!

I don't know if I had to reserve or not, but I did - I prebought ferry tickets for each ferry crossing except the one from Lochaline to Mull - that one doesn't take reservations, and operates like 10 times each day.

No, the little road is not necessary for the standing stones at all, it's on Harris and not Lewis yes, there are single track roads around there, but they are not the pure evil that is that road on Harris.

LCB, patience, patience! Yes, I will eventually compile this all with pics. It won't be this week because I am working full time during the day and teaching at night each night - I get home around 9pm each night, that won't change until the weekend. And I can't get my hands on DH's laptop until then, anyhow!

GreenDragon, this is almost as good as if I could make a trip myself. (Note I said ALMOST as good. My only trip out of the country this year is 4 days in Sayulita in Mexico for my birthday next month, but hey, I can't complain about that!) Orkney was on my list last year but didn't make it, and I will make sure the north coast is on my next trip for sure. Really enjoy your descriptions.

Julie

Thanks for your notes about the islands, GreenDragon - they should tide me over until you can post more (including pictures!)

Great trip report so far. Hope we'll endure the long drives with our teenager &amp; toddler. We'll be in Scotland 2 weeks from now.

I am also a great fan of the Three Chimneys. It has very good food and pleasant atmosphere and staff.
I also regularly visit Skye Silver.
It's a great place for getting a supply of Christmas and birthday presents.

I wonder if there is any way to include a map and your trip route marked on it to go along with your report. That would be such a great reference tool. I'm not sure what websites or programs would do that. Even just an old fashioned way of drawing on a map and scanning it in?