We travelled from Edinburgh toward Skye in our little house on wheels. We crossed over the bridge onto Skye and toured around for two days. We did stop to meet a blogging friend on Skye (here is a link to her blog) and loved the visit (such beautiful people!).

The most awe inspiring thing happened on the road just before the bridge over to Skye; we were driving along, remarking that we had only seen a few deer and it would be lovely to see some in their natural habitat (deer are feral in Australia and we do not have a population around us here), when a gorgeous stag leaped from the right side of the road into the middle, he stood for a second before bolting off away from us down the road and leaping off the road on the left. We didn’t get a photo, unfortunately, so now I have only a memory to hold that moment. He was a mature buck, with at least 4 times on each antler, his neck was heavily muscled and his coat was slick and glowing (unusual in Autumn I would have thought). It is an image that sits in my mind half way between memory and imagination.

We toured around the island a bit, before stopping in a caravan park for the night.

At the Fairy Glen (a geological feature rather than an actual fairy abode, despite the perfect little caves with rowan growing over them), I was sitting on a rock, admiring the scenery, when a bumblebee landed on my hand. This time I did get a photo.

She buzzed politely near my ear as I sat, then gently lowered herself onto my offered hand, like a rescue helicopter coming in with a patient. I felt so protective of the little girl and so happy to have made a new friend (no matter how briefly). She took off again after a few moments and flew away to her home. Leaving me wondering if there are really fair folk in the glen (the Fae can take other forms apparently, and a bee is supposed to be a favourite).

We met my blogger friend the next morning at a local cafe, she brought along a lovely present of some locally spun and dyed yarn (which found it’s way to my needles before the day was out). The cafe was warm and welcoming, the local people are lovely and my friend is a lively and interesting person (but I knew that). We ended up going back to her house for the night in our motor home. I was very excited to see the property I had seen being built online. It did not disappoint, the house is gorgeous and very welcoming, and the land is fertile and has an alien beauty (alien to me).

We left (reluctantly) the next day and continued our tour of Skye.

The Clach Ard Pictish Symbol Stone (above), it is a bit of a mystery what these symbol stones mean, but to stand there and see a stone carved by someone centuries ago ignited an interest in British history.

I took photos of the highlands as we travelled, but I will make a post to show those at a later date. After Skye we travelled up the coast towards Orkney. Look out for photos of Orkney and more adventures.

Yes… I know I have a lot of photos of sheep… I like sheep OK.

I went to the UK with a friend.. why? Well, I have never considered myself a traveler, I don’t like to leave home at all really, but I have never travelled at all so I decided that I had to test that attitude. After a lot of saving (and scraping and borrowing), we eventually had enough for a budget trip around the UK.

We flew out of Brisbane to Doha and raced across the airport to make our next flight to Edinburgh. The less said about the flight the better. Sitting still for about 24 hours, in a single seat with no knitting available is torturous.

We landed in Edinburgh in the afternoon (there) and went to a hotel for a couple of days. In those days we went on a ghost tour and rode the buses around the city. We stopped and looked at anything vaguely interesting. The tour buses have a stop and ride system, you buy a ticket for a day or two days and you can get on and off as you please. Following are some of my photos from those days.

The ghost tour on the first night was so much fun! We toured Greyfriar’s Kirkyard and the statue of Greyfriar’s Bobby (The goodest dog in all the world). Edinburgh at night is very old and stately. Of course we mostly stuck to the Royal Mile.

The tour buses ticket also included a trip on a small boat around the Firth of Forth. We looked at the bridges over the firth and bobbed around a few of the islands. Excitingly, we found some seals or sea lions on one of the islands!

Edinburgh Castle was really a monument to war. Wandering around inside the castle and grounds included little historical stories on boards and tour guides. I found it interesting, but the most interesting part was St Margaret’s Chapel, a tiny building with lovely stained glass windows and a little bench or two to sit on.

We travelled around on the buses, from Holyrood House to Edinburgh Castle, including the Witches Well. The Well was a tiny, hidden and unsigned (largely) monument to all the women (mostly) hanged and buried in the area of Edinburgh Castle. That visit made me feel sad and angry at the attitudes that lead to these actions (which are still going on today).

At the end of the second day, we went and picked up our mobile home for the next three and a bit weeks. Next post I will cover some of our travels around Scotland.