Manchester/Scotland 2025 - Isle of Skye Tour Fort Augustus (2/2)

 

Since we got a lot of time on our own, we decided to explore Fort Augustus by visiting all their shops and sights in the town. One of the feature was a canal right in the middle of the town. And you could actually walk across it. They have made it like a park or riverside walk. 

Here is the front view of the canal. It is elevated connected two water way together (I think).

To learn more in details, you can read the info above. I am not too interested in civil engineering or building of bridges.....zzzzzz

I did spotted a nice cafe, and for some reason, I wanted to have proper tea in a proper cafe in UK! So after my husband finished his Fish & Chips by the side of the canal, we went into this cafe called Ripples. 

It was such a sweet looking cafe. Quite small, and the prices was not too bad. I just wanted to sip tea by the window looking out from this pretty little cafe that is almost minty green in colour! Exactly my vibe!

Look at the deco! So pretty and cosy!

This the counter where you order and pay. They have homemade cakes and cookies, but all I ordered was tea.

My husband ordered a hot chocolate, and they serve it with a side of marshmallow! How sweet!

This is what it looked like after you pour all the marshmallow in. Lol. Looked like something from a Disney themed park. 

And this is my tea. The little pot only has hot water in it. I am not sure if you can refill it for free, but it's good for two cups. And I pick a very English kind of tea instead of my usual easter style tea. So happy even though it came in a tea bag. Once I pour in the hot water and sip it, my nerves were totally calmed as if time had stood still. I love that feeling when I'm drinking tea and time just suddenly slows down to a halt. Tea i magical! 

Manchester/Scotland 2025 - Isle of Skye Tour Fort Augustus (1/2)

We drove to Fort Augustus next, and this was where we could go try our luck to see the Loch Ness Monster. There was a cruise you could take to go out into the loch to search for her, but we had to pay extra to take the cruise. I knew we weren't going to see anything, so I decided that I didn't want to go. Actually, when the tour said Loch Ness, I thought we would get to visit the Loch Ness Centre, but apparently not so :(  I was more interested in that then going out on a cruise to see nothing :P  So I've actually included this in my 2nd trip to Scotland since the center was within reach of where we were going to be staying at on our last leg of the trip :P 

Here is a map of Fort Augustus. 

And one of the many companies that provided cruise to Loch Ness. They also provide exploration cruise at the Loch Ness Centre, but it's again, extra charges. 

Since most people went on the cruise, we got around 1hour or more to explore on our own. So we decided to first go down to the loch to see the site of Loch Ness Monster. We found an old sailing club there that was locked up.

And then we saw the loch, with the sign Loch Ness on it. 

Here is my husband trying to look to see if he can find Nessie. The water was indeed very dark! And very cold! I read before that it was hard to see inside the water as there is some plant to some mineral that made the water dark in colour. Hence that's why all exploration to locate Nessie has failed, with only a few sighting. 

And the loch was also very huge! By the time this post comes out, I would have been back from my 2nd trip, and I would have walked the River Ness, and visited the Loch Ness Centre. I am excited about that! For I know that I'll for sure get to learn more about Nessie as  the Loch Ness Centre entrance includes a one hour guided tour.

Souvenir shot of my husband. I think I didn't get a nice one of myself :(

The view from the left side of the loch.

And the right side.....No sight of Nessie .....

But we did see a lot of Nessie at the souvenir shop! I didn't get anything Nessie related.

But I thought this print on a t-shirt was so cool! It's so X-File and has everything on it! Hahahahaha. 

Manchester/Scotland 2025 - Isle of Skye Tour Eileen Donan Castle Again

Driving back to the mainland, our first stop was to visit The Eileen Donan Castle. The view of this iconic castle was dark and gloomy on this day, as compared to when we visited just two days back. But even in it's gloom, it held a different beauty to it. 

You could just stand outside and take in the view, or you could pay like 12pounds to walk across the bridge and to visit the inside of the castle. Since we were already here, I decided that we should go inside.  

Some info of the castle.

And in we went inside the castle. This was the 2nd castle we visit on this trip. 

The first hall inside had some interesting items on displayed, like this nordic looking cane?

There was a corner that looked like a jail, but it was actually storage for gunpowder.....

And then there was this monk there with two stained glass.And well, basically that was it for the first hall.

I did like the monk and the stained glass, so of course I took dedicated photos of the stained glass. I think this art form is just so cool and beautiful. I once saw on Facebook someone did a stained glass of SouthPark, and even that looked so lovely and divine! Lol.

Why doesn't eastern people take up stained glass art? I bet the Chinese would have been very good at it! 

I found a cute window inside the castle, and I thought this would make a nice photo.

The view looking out of the window. It gives you the vibe of olden days, imagine you were seated here by the window reading a book and casually just looking out as you looked up from your pages. This would be the view you would have seen, if you had somehow stayed in this castle :P The view is so serene and relaxing. I think there's just something about the view of water and it's glitter that just relaxes the soul. Even the sound of water, is so relaxing,....I love staying in a hotel by the sea and just listening to the waves as you fall asleep. 

There really wasn't much to see inside the castle. Perhaps there was a banquet hall where photos were not allowed. I could barely remember it if there was. But outside, we were allowed to take photos. I though this stone stairs were pretty cool. 

It was a small castle, but it did have those viewing platform and surrounded by water. 

The view looking out. I am not sure, is this Loch Ness? I guess now, since Loch Ness is more towards the east of Scotland whereas Isle of Skye is more towards the west. Wow, my geography of Scotland has improved too!

My husband and his shot inside the grounds of the castle.

And him at one of the platform looking out towards the lochs. I guess it wouldn't be too bad to be kept prisoner here? At least you have a nice view? Unless the prison is in the dungeons, then..... hehe.

The loch here is so wide! Lovely view.

Outside the castle walls.

And at the back area of the castle, there was a memorial site.

There is even a castle ghost called Carlos the Ghost. A google search resulted in not only Carlos, but there are other ghost reported to be haunting the castle too! There is Lady Mary, as well as an Otter King...... I can't find a reliable reference site for the Lady Mary and Otter King, so not gonna link anything here.

We got around 1 hour to visit Eileen Donan Castle, and soon we had to leave. 

But not before we took some selfie with it!

Bye bye Eileen Donan Castle. The name sounds almost similar to my Chinese name :P

Manchester/Scotland 2025 - Isle of Skye Tour Checking-Out

 

Last day in Isle of Skye. We're checking out on this day, and we had our usual Scottish breakfast. After that we went to the bus terminal area to wait for our mini bus to bring us back to Edinburgh. There were still a few stops along the way, but somehow, it felt sad to be leaving the beautiful Isle of Skye. Poppy flowers at the memorial at the bus terminal at Portree. 

Here are some shots of the Tongadale Hotel we were staying at.. The MacKenzie family were also staying at the same hotel and we would see them every morning at breakfast and chatted with them a bit. The older Mr MacKenzie was a super tall old man that loves to talk! Anyway, above is the pub area of the hotel.

It looked pretty cool, but we were so dead tired both nights that once you've bath and on the bed, you don't really want to leave the room anymore! Especially when the air was so fresh and cooling to just be cosy inside the blanket. We slept with the windows opened every night so that it would be cool enough and to have some ventilation as there were no fans of aircon inside the room.

Soon we were on our tiny bus again driving out of Portree. I saw The Cuillin again. A final view.

But soon it got further and further away from view.....

We past by what looked like a caravan site, and it looked so cool with people still on their holiday adventure in this beautiful island. I've never traveled on a caravan before. I wonder if I would get a chance one day. 

All too soon, we were on the bridge leading us back to the mainland..... Bye Bye Isle of Skye. I will miss you! You are one of the most beautiful places I've ever visited and you'll stayed in my memories forever.