Aug 3

Early morning as we had a lot of driving to do today. We were heading to the ferry to get to Skye Island (one of the Inner Hebrides) and stopped in Glenfinnan to see a statue of Bonnie Prince Charlie. This was part of the troubles or Glorious Revolution after the death of the last Stuart King and the Interregnum of Charles Cromwell. Eventually Prince Charles, son of King James, mounted a revolution in 1745 to try to regain the throne for the Catholics. PrinceCharlie landed at this spot. By the next year, they were utterly defeated at Culloden, and he retreated to France. More on Culloden tomorrow.
The clans who supported Charlie were outlawed, and were never strong again.
The Clans were strongest before this time, and the MacDonald Clan may have been the strongest. We visited Armadele Castle (and Museum) going over the history of this person and the intertwining of the clans.
The Clan began in the 1300s by Somerled, who had a son Donald who in turn had a son Donald. The "Mac" means "Son of", similar to Russian -ovitch or Irish O' or English -son or even Farsi -zadeh. Thus, MacDonald. But also, MacDougal, McCloud, MacArthur, etc. The old original castle is now in disrepair.

We then took the ferry to Skye Island, the largest of the Inner Heberdes islands. We stopped for lunch at Sligachan Hotel. The food has been "OK", but nothing spectacular. I really didn't expect too much from Scotland, so I am not disappointed.

We drove through the moors and between volcanic and glacial mountains. The weather has not been cooperative for pretty sunshine photos, but I'll post a few of the pretty misty ones n another post.

We stopped in the largest town in Skye, Portee. Two or three streets with tourists, and shops selling tartans, sweaters, and jewelry.

On the way back, we stopped at a memorial for the British Commando Units. There were sheep nearby, and Ann was distracted!