Ireland/Scotland, Day 8: Isle of Skye

On Skye, we stayed at the Homeleigh B&B; it was very comfortable, affordable, and had an absolutely delightful breakfast. Skye is definitely bigger than I thought, though, and it was pretty far away from a lot of the stuff we wanted to do. Oh well! 

We did take a nice walk in the morning and met yet more sheep...

Skye sheep

First stop (after breakfast and the sheep) was a whisky tour and tasting for Dave at Torabhaig ("Tor-Veg") Distillery, one of the newer distilleries in Scotland. It was a small shop, and he was happy he did a tour here rather than one of the bigger shops. We learned about Scotch making and also the Viking-related history of the area. 

Next up was Shilasdair yarn shop, a few minutes north of Portree. These completely gorgeous yarns are all of Scottish origin and from natural dyes. The photo doesn't do it justice, but you can see how they match each other with the natural colorways.

Natural dyed yarn at Shilasdair Shop

Next we hiked the Old Man of Storr, a trail that goes right up a mountain to some cool rock formations at the top. As usual, Dave was there for the view, but I was there for the little things along the way.

Violets

The views were nice though.

Old Man of Storr, Skye

The "old man" is at left, and you can see the scale by Dave standing to the right. He's tiny!

Before dinner (another reservation! word to the wise!), we zipped over to Talisker Distillery, which was Dave's second favorite whisky on the trip. It's not a brand I've seen a lot, but Dave knew it. 

Then back to Portree for dinner at Scorrybreac, a restaurant probably too nice for the way we were looking and smelling after our hike, but oh well. It was tasty and I recommend it.

Allegedly there is a hike to a seal island not far from the ferry pier, which was near the B&B, but we couldn't find it. Instead, we walked up the pier, where we found these fun signs. Might be something to put on the wall.

Sign on Skye pier