Posts tagged 'The Real Food Cafe'

Skye 2012 – a final fling

Posted by on September 23rd 2012 in Great Escapes, Summer Holidays

After packing the car and saying our farewells to the cottage we headed south on a mission to find the fabled otters of Kylerhea. It was another fine day so we had a few photo-stops on the way:

Clouds over the Red Cuillin and Broadford Bay

The same view in a temperamental scrolly-thing

Looking down Kylerhea Glen

There were good views from the track between the car-park and the otter-hide:

Kyle Rhea meets Loch Alsh

The Far Side

Down at the hide there was much to see. For starters there was this elaborate seagull-perch:

Minor Light

There were seals and birds in abundance but the otters were nowhere to be seen:

 

 

 After an hour or so we gave up on the otters and went back up the track to the car. We got more pics:

Speckled Wood

Berries

How wind-power used to be

Another Speckled Wood

Glenelg Bay

As above but wider

Down at the ferry slipway:

This one's for Mr. Sloman

Slipway

Intertidal

A tad nippy

The ferry

Jellyfish

After the crossing we headed up the Old Military Road along Glen More towards Shiel Bridge, stopping at Bealach Ràtagain to admire the view around the head of Loch Duich:

The view from Bealach Ràtagain

The view of the view from Bealach Ràtagain

The rest of the journey was picture-worthy but we were pressed for time, needing to get to The Real Food Cafe for some sustin. We managed a couple of photo-stops:

The head of Loch Garry - a bit of Scotland that's shaped like Scotland

Anna at the Loch Garry viewpoint

You'll know where this is

 

After raiding The Real Food Cafe it was a non-stop drag to our overnight stop at the less-than-luxurious Dumbarton Travelodge, but we did appreciate the fine scenery around Loch Lomond.

The next day was a drudge day as expected... motorway > Penrith Little Chef > home.

It had been a great week, it's a shame there was so much time spent in the car.

Skye 2012 – getting there

Posted by on August 28th 2012 in Great Escapes, Summer Holidays

There's not a lot to tell about the journey out. Because of the distance we'd decided to break the driving into sections, the first stop on Friday was at the Little Chef at Penrith for a decent meal, then we made our way towards Glasgow.

The overnight stay at Cumbernauld Travelodge wasn't as dull as we'd expected, as within 10 minutes of arrival we were all evacuated to the car-park because somebody had triggered the smoke alarms and we had to wait for the Fire Service to attend and deal with the situation. The kids enjoyed the free light-and-sound show provided by the fire appliances.

Next morning we were back on the road, heading for a superb breakfast at The Real Food Cafe in Tyndrum. From there it was a mad dash to Fort William to stock up on basic supplies and then onwards through magnificent but cloudy scenery to Dornie Bridge where we stopped for snacks and the obligatory photo of Eilean Donan Castle:

 

Eilean Donan Castle

 

After crossing Skye Bridge the last leg of the trip was the slow scenic drive up the eastern edge of Skye to Kilmaluag and our home for the week:

Home

 

Three allegedly-wise monkeys

 

The view from the cottage

 

The same view in a scrolly-thing

 

After settling in and getting the wood-burner stoked we spent the evening watching buzzards quartering the fields and generally chilling-out before turning in for a well-deserved early night.

To be continued...