A Snapshot Of Our Tour

 A Snapshot Of Our Tour

We are now on the tour portion of our trip, and I'm feeling like I barely have time enough to shower, much less blog. But, I thought it might be fun to post over from the private blog I keep of our travels, in order to provide a glimpse of what just two days of our current tour of the British Isles is like. We're having a fantastic time, even if we're currently exhausted . . . but it's a good exhaustion! 😃

Snapshot Of Our Tour:

Day 1 - We got going right after breakfast for a full day of scenic driving around the Isle of Skye, said to be the most scenic of the Scottish Highland isles.

From our tour itinerary for the day:

Enter onto Isle of Skye via the Skye Bridge, and onto a 50-mile long fusion of velvety moors, angular mountains, quaint villages, and historic castles.

Later in the drive visit Loch Ness, one of the most storied sites in all of Scotland, home of the fabled Loch Ness monster. 

Our first stop was the town of Partee, where we enjoyed both lunch and the town's scenic seaside pastel houses:

Some of Partee's vintage British phone booths, now repurposed into anything but!

Eilean Donan Castle, the most photographed castle in Scotland:

At Loch Ness, searching for the elusive ‘Nessie’:

Day 2- We departed for Glasgow, largest city in Scotland. Enroute was really fun, however. We drove through the beautiful Glencoe Valley, enjoyed a scenic boat ride on the largest loch in Scotland, Loch Lomond, and stopped by almost 200 year old Glengoyne Whiskey Distillery to sample and learn how Scottish whiskey is made.

From our tour itinerary for the day:

Today's journey travels past Ben Nevis, Scotland's mighty mountains, and the Glencoe Valley with its glimmering lakes and dense forests. Arrive on the 'bonnie banks' of Loch Lomand, the largest freshwater lake in the UK, located within Trossachs, Scotland's first national park. Tour a whiskey distillery to learn about the art of Scotch Whiskey making and enjoy tastings of several varieties. In the late afternoon,  arrive in Glasgow, Scotland.

At the Three Sisters Mountain view spot in Trossachs National Park:

One of the hotels we sailed past during our cruise along Loch Lomond is used by hikers traversing Scotlands famed 96 mile West Highland Way, one of the hikes on my lengthy bucket list. And which explained why we saw so many hikers along the loch's scenic shoreline.

Our stop at Glengoyne Distillery was as fun as it was interesting. And where we learned that the first sip of whiskey is really just the beginning of one's whiskey journey. I.e., don't judge a whiskey by the first sip. The first sip generally burns, so the second sip is the real 'tell':

We really are having a fabulous time, and could never do or see as much as we are if doing this on our own, which is what we most appreciate about doing tours. We're in Glasgow, Scotland today, then tomorrow we set sail for Belfast, Northern Ireland, via ferry boat and the Irish Sea. 

Hope all is well for you all wherever you may be, and whatever you may be up to!