#213: Inverlochy Castle (pg 47) (Listed as Argyll Highlands in 2nd Edition, pg 39)

April 24, 2018

We started out the morning by visiting Old Inverlochy Castle, located in Fort William.

It is the ruins of the 13-th center castle that served as the backdrop for my Inverlochy battles.

Queen Victoria came here in 1873 to see these ruins.

But it was here, that she stayed.

And she is quoted as saying "I never saw a lovelier or more romantic spot."  

It is set on 500 acres of private land on the shores of Loch Lochy. 

Verdict:  I must agree with Queen Victoria.  It is indeed lovely and romantic.  It's also cozy and historic and beautiful and charming and old in a "I'm staying in a castle! kind of old".  Even so, it's not necessarily a must do before you die. 

#212: The Hebrides (pg 43)

April 23, 2018

We spent the night before in Oban, then got up at the crack of dawn and headed to the dock where we boarded our ferry at 6:15am, which took us to the island of Mull.

We had a lovely drive across the entire island of mull.  We all loved seeing the Scottish Highland Cows....

And the water and old, classic bridges....

And lots and lots of sheep.

And, since it's spring, lots and lots of baby sheep.  So cute!!

We had to stop multiple times to let the "traffic" cross the road ;)

We finally came to Fionnphort and boarded our little boat.

We lucked out and had the whole boat to ourselves.

The island of Iona

About an hour later, we arrived at Staffa.

Staffa is an uninhabited island, known for it's puffin colony and Finnegal's Cave. During peak season,   this place gets quite a few tourists, but since it wasn't peak season and it was an overcast, somewhat drizzly day when we were there, we were the only boat that went to the island that day.

So, I got off the boat first, stepped on the island and soaked in the fact that out of 7.3 billion people on earth, I was literally the only person in the whole world on Staffa.

We had the entire island to ourselves for a couple of hours while our boat anchored out at sea.  So, we made our way to Finnegal's Cave.

That's me venturing inside.

Inside Finnegal's Cave selfie

The view from inside looking out.

Felix Mendelssohn came here and was inspired by all the sounds and sensory experience of being in side this cave, that he was inspired to write the Overature of the Hebrides. 

After coming out of the cave, we spent the rest of our time exploring the island, which was so much fun since we had the whole place to ourselves. That's our boat in the background on the water.

We went searching for the puffin colony and finally found it!  But they were all in the water.

So, we got back on our boat so we could get closer.

And then we made our way back to Mull.

Verdict: Yes!  This was absolutely one of the highlights of our trip to Scotland!  It was so unique in so many ways.  It combined adventure with nature with animals, with exploring with isolation and excitement.  There was so much to see and touch and hear and smell.  I  absolutely loved it!

Cost: Boat to Staffa 35 pounds/person