It's a tough life...

...but someone's got to live it.

Our day started with a trip down the road, literally, to Dunvegan Castle. It's not really my kind of castle - to many walls still standing - but it has gardens and I know that Gitama loves her bright, colourful smelly blooms so off we went. Before we left our B&B in the morning we were told that we didn't really need to take the boat trips offered at the castle to see the seals that Gitama had on her bucket list too. Following the directions we were given we saw... nada! Heh, I started to sweat as I began thinking we were heading down another "puffin hunt" type affair. As we wandered round the jetty it came as no surprise when she called me back and asked if we should go. So ten minutes later we donned our life vests and headed out on Adam's Boat. Captain Adam soon had us out among the islands of rocks and floating just feet away from several colonies of common seals. It was a sunny day and anyone with any sense was having a wee snooze and catching some rays. Used to the boats passing by we barely got a pair of opening eyes. Way too early to get excited I guess.

The rest of the day was devoted to a tour up round the north of Skye and down the east coast. The landscape was gorgeous basking as it was in the glowing sun. The clouds though weren't to be outdone as the skies blossomed through the day. From the Quiraing in the north to The Old Man of Storr down the east coast, the blue skies competed for space with those formations. I was a little shocked at how bare Storr was since I last visited. A lot of deforestation appears to have taken place. You can look up from the main road with no obstruction. A little sad. I rather liked all that woodland skirting the base.

As we crossed over the bridge to the mainland we stopped off once more to shoot Eilean Donan Castle. The light was a lot softer as the sun dipped tonight and it made a big difference to how the castle looked from our visit at the start of the tour. By this time the cloud was winning the fight and not only in volume. They were darkening a little too. And so it was not long before we arrived at the Letterfinlay Lodge Hotel for our final road trip night on the banks of Loch Lochy that the heavens opened. We arrived with 15 mins to spare for getting dinner and it was, it has to be said a delicious end to the day. Well worth the wait we decided upon as we pushed on down without stopping for naught but a bag of chips in Portree, and the less said about that seagull infested snack the better!

Gitama's take on the day can be found here.