Portree Day 1 - May 10 2019

Portree Day 1 - May 10, 2019

Today is Peter’s birthday. I wished him “happy birthday” at breakfast and told our host that it was his birthday. She disappeared and reappeared a few moments later with a card, and a lovely box of chocolates for him! How kind!! The Scots that we have met have been very friendly,  and welcoming, and truly lovely people.

After breakfast we headed to the tiny village of Carbost and the Talisker Distillery! This was a busy place, but we managed to get on a tour shortly after 10:00 a.m. We were shown through all of the various processes to produce a single malt of the quality of Talisker. All very interesting and similar to the distilleries I visited on Islay. The Islay single malts tend to be quite peaty and therefore maybe more smoky flavoured. Talisker from Skye is also one of my favourites so I was really happy to see over this distillery too. 

The distillery is set, as with the Islay distilleries, right on the coast. The views are idyllic, so beautiful, but as much as we had beautiful blue skies and sunshine, the distillery can be battered for weeks by raging winds, heavy seas, and blowing rains.

After our distillery tour, we took a short drive to Glen Brittle and the Fairy Pools. It wasn’t  a long walk, about 4-5 k, meandering up the mountain beside the Fairy Pools. The Fairy Pools are magic pools of pale aqua water that lie on the River Brittle at the foot of the Black Cuillins near Glen Brittle. Some people like to swim in them! For us, swimming was way too cold!!!  The pools were pretty, but it was the surrounding mountainous scenery that was far more impressive.

At the beginning of the visit Robin mislaid her purse (handbag) and we all felt sure she had left it in the B & B. After the tour we headed back to Portree and there it was. As it was getting late and we were getting hungry, we thought that Skeabost House Hotel would be a nice place for lunch. Unfortunately, we arrived around 3…..too late! Lunch finished at 2:00 pm! After a few moments of debate we headed towards Dunvegan and found a nice little restaurant there where we had some soup and a sandwich.

My surprise was spotting a sign "Giant Angus MacAskill Museum"! The Giant is one of Ray's ancestors....and he was born on Berneray in the Outer Hebrides. He went to Nova Scotia when he was about 5 or 6. Here is what one site has to say about "why" there is a museum on Skye:
"So why is there a museum dedicated to him in Dunvegan? It was established in 1989 by local man Peter MacAskill (who also established the Colbost Croft Museum) to provide a lasting memorial to a notable member of the clan who, though he may never have come to Skye, spent his first few years on an island less than 30 miles away: before, like so many other MacAskills and so many other highlanders, having to leave for a new future in a new world." (https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/skye/angusmacaskill/index.html

We arrived at Dunvegan castle about 4:45 and were just in time to purchase a ticket to see around the gardens. Peter and Robin had visited around this time last year, and Peter was able to show me some neat views of the castle from the gardens.

We returned to the B & B with time to reorganize our packing for tomorrow, before we headed out to Peter’s celebratory dinner at Scorrybreac Restaurant in Portree. A beautiful meal and a beautiful evening.