Part one is here, and part deux is there. You know what to do.
Driving to the Caslte
Around 5:15am we made our way down the stairs and were met outside by our host Gibson. He got up at the crack of dawn just to say goodbye to us. We had to get up really early to be on the 6:00 am ferry, because even though our place was booked on the ferry, the bad weather of the previous days possibly meant that there was going to be a lot of people hoping to get on the ferry. We got there with plenty of time to spare, and settled in for the two hour tour.
Still feeling the aftermath of last night’s party.
On the way to the Castle, we stopped at Kilmartin Glen to visit the Kilmartin Stones, the Cairns and the standing stones.
750 year-old stones.
Inside a Cairn. This stone has a map of the other Cairns engraved on it.
Visiting Kilmartin was a great way to finally cement that the notion of safety in Scotland is completely different than the North American one. We already were exposed to “potential danger” while near Tarbert when we stopped for dinner one night – the parking lot was right on the edge of the river, and I mean right on the edge as in no railings, not cement curb, nothing. You move one more foot and you’re in the river after a 10′ drop. The staircases in the Castles we visited would never be considered “tourist-friendly” in America. Kilmartin was just the icing on the cake, because the Cairns and the standing stones are located in a field with live animals.
Cow in the field. I am not zooming.
You only get one small sign at the first gate that says: “This is a field with live animals. Leave all gates as you found them”. We didn’t go to Starbucks in Scotland, but I have a suspicion that they’re not writing “Caution: Content may be hot” on their cups. They probably write: “If you burn yourself, you’re an idiot”.
After that, we drove to Oban, where we were completely underwhelmed by the distillery visit. We bought chocolates and made our way to our B&B for the night – an actual castle.
Staying at the Castle
Barcaldine Castle
When we got the the Castle – under pouring rain – we were surprised by the size of the door. Barcaldine Castle is a defensive residence, and there’s only one door, it’s small and located just at the bottom of the spiraling staircase.
Using Facetime in the Great Hall. Castle + WiFi = Win.
After a slight issue with our booking, we spent the evening relaxing in the Great Hall with a nice dram in front of a warm fire. It’s good to be the King!
There’s a secret door in this picture. Also, the ghost of the “Blue Lady” sometimes appears in that chair.
Driving to Skye
The drive from Barcaldine Castle to Portree, Skye was beautiful.
Look at those mountains!
As we were approaching Skye, the landscape started to change and the mountains were getting bigger and bigger.
Me, silently laughing at another tourist. We’re really just stretching our legs, there’s nothing to capture here – I think Martin is taking a picture of the car.
One fun thing that happened quite a lot is that we would attract other tourists where ever we went. For example, we would stop fairly often to stretch, walk a little, pee in the bushes or take some pictures. Every time we would pull over, it would take less than a minute for another car to park behind ours and we’d then have another tourist taking pictures of whatever we were taking pictures of. 
There can be only one!
Of course we had to stop at Eilean Donan Castle. If you don’t get the caption below the picture, Eilean Donan is the castle seen at the beginning of the movie Higlander (the first movie). Well, it’s seen in pretty much every movie that needs a Scottish Castle scene.
After a pit-stop at Talisker Distillery, we arrived in Portree for a two nights stay.
Staying on Skye, day one
First of all, and forgive me but there is no delicate way of saying this, our hotel in Portree was a dump. On top of that, they messed-up our booking and had to put us in two different hotels. This was quite a shock after spending a night in a Castle. Our friends room was dirty, ours was above a discotheque, right across the bus terminal. These were by far the worst accommodations of the trip.
We had average food in an average restaurant, and quickly turned in and tried to sleep. I think our spirits were crushed.
Skye, day two
On the morning of day two, thanks to the weather cooperating, everyone was in a better mood despite the ridiculously small amount of sleep we had. We left the hotels really early and hunted for breakfast. We discovered that Scots are not a nation of breakfast eater – at least not in the sense where they woulds go out and have breakfast in a restaurant. After a while, we managed to find a hotel where they would serve us breakfast.
After that, we visited Dunvegan Castle, home of the MacLeod Chiefs for the past 800 years. The castle visit was fairly interesting but the gardens were fantastic. I took an insane amount of close-ups there.
These will end-up in one of our bathrooms.
Neist Point, the windswept lighthouse
The highlight of the trip for LovelyWife is most probably the visit to the Neist Point windswept lighthouse. And when they say “Windswept”, they are not kidding. We’re talking 60mph winds here.
Trust me, the pictures don’t do justice to the landscape.
My brave LovelyWife in front of the punk sheep.
That’s a 150′ drop. Luckily, the wind comes from the sea. 
We ended the day with a brilliant meal at Marmelade, before sleeping one last time at our rubbish hotels.
And thus concludes part three of the massive Scotland recap. Stay tuned for parts four (and possibly five – I’m turning into Robert Jordan here! of this magnificent adventure.
You can read all the recaps by following these links:
Awesome!
Is the secret door to the left of the gothic chair in the picture? Now I have to know.
LOVE the pictures and recaps.
Yes it is! It’s not really concealed well anymore, but I was told that it would’ve been really invisible way back when it was first built.
As I continue to read through your recaps, I’m a little depressed that I’ve not been to these amazing places in my trips to Scotland. I usually arrive in Edinburgh, get enchanted by the city all over again, then never leave! I’ve been to the highlands twice, but only as day trips. Now, more than ever, I want to explore the countryside.
Let me know when you go, because I’d return in a heartbeat.
You’re making me really wanna go on an adventure to Scotland.
You should! It’s fun for the whole family. If you like sheep.
Awesome pics. I love that first “still getting over the hangover” pic
Hehehe.
I took 1,737 pictures. A few of them are bound to be good. 
what was the secret door used for? could you open it? do you have another photo of it open? I WANT A SECRET DOOR!
ahem.
where was i? oh yes. I WANT A PUNK SHEEP!
Secret door was used to get to a different floor in case of a breach during an attack. Yes, we could use the staircase to get to the lower level (the one to the top level was blocked, as they built a bathroom at the other end.
So you got a duff hotel in Portree… well that’s what happens when you deviate from the Secret Scotland guide. Were all our recommendations fully booked or did you just decide that you wanted to be in Portree?
A little bit of both. The guide recommended places that were either fully booked or not willing to have us for just one night. Our friends also insisted that we’d stay in Portree, the “biggest town” on Skye, so that limited our options.
I thought the plan was for 2 nights on Skye? It is one of those places that is always a problem if you are only doing a 1 nighter. There’s just so many tourists on the island that the B&B owners can afford to be picky. A pity that you didn’t give us a call, we could have warned you about this and given you some better steers for where to stay in Portree.
Well, couple that with the fact that we were there at the same time that the “Accordion and Fiddle Festival”, and everything was booked solid. We made the best of it, and it became an adventure in itself, so it’s all good.