Days 7 and 8 of Scotland Trip

Nov 4, 20204 min read

Day 7 on the Isle of Skye was a relaxed one as we had booked a tour of Talisker distillery at 10am and didn’t need to head out until 9am to get there. Earlish B&B where we stayed in that day, was very good, with a large room containing a comfortable bed and a set of the Highland Soap Company shampoo and conditioner that were a nice touch. I rarely use the shampoo provided by hotels, as they are usually too heavy for my fine, oily hair, but the ones provided actually worked well. We were also provided with a good breakfast in our room, due to COVID meaning that the breakfast room was not in use. There was also a mini fridge in the room with fresh milk, a rarity in hotels that normally just provide little plastic pods of UHT milk.

The distillery tour took about an hour due to constraints placed by COVID restrictions, providing a quick look at the production of whisky and ending with small gift bags containing 3 small taster bottles of Talisker 10-Year-Old, Talisker Distillery Exclusive and Talisker Distiller’s Edition. The favourite whisky when we tried them at our hotel, was the Distillery Exclusive at 45% ABV as it was the least smoky one with more sweetness in the form of lemon, pineapple and caramel scent and flavours. Their tours normally last a lot longer and I would like to go back again after the pandemic is over. The guide also mentioned that there is a two-day distillery tour of Skye that sounds like it could be interesting once everything goes back to normal.

The next place we visited were the Fairy Pools near Carbost. This was a very popular walk, even in the very wet and rainy weather. There is a large car park catering to it with a cost of £5. You then cross the main road to get into the walk along a rocky path, crossing a shallow stream that did not have any set path across followed by another stream further along that had stepping boulders. As it was raining on the day, the first stream was overflowing and fast running, making it easy to lose your balance and fall. While the crossings are kept as such in an attempt to be more natural and eco-friendlier, given the expensive parking fees, a safer way to cross should have been provided in the form of a bridge. The boulders crossing the second stream were wet and slippery and not suitable for young children or those of shorter statures, like myself, as they required a jump every time. In the wet weather, it would have been far too easy to slip and fall, and we did see some tourists being intimidated by them and struggling to cross. The path itself is gravelled and starts off as fairly even, becoming steeper further up after the second stream crossing over the boulders. The walk was totally worth it to see the pools and waterfalls going into them. It is very easy to imagine fairies playing in them.

As we’d managed to get completely soaked again during this walk, out next stop was to find a pub for a late lunch before our ferry back to the mainland. A Google search brought up a place called Bar Am Praban near the place we were due to get our ferry from. As it was in the middle of nowhere down a narrow country lane, we were not expecting much, but it turned out to be a very good place. We were sat down immediately on a table right next to the working fireplace and given a menu. The menu provided a variety of options and we ended up ordering a black pudding and Cullen skink for starters and a venison stew for our main. All were tasty and hot, right what we needed to warm us up and fill up for the day. They also did an enormous hot chocolate with Maltesers and a tower of double cream on top. You can’t get better that that! One of the workers had his dog at work with him, who wandered between the tables checking on customers. Both the dog and fire gave the place a cosy feel and we managed to mostly dry our clothes over food.

We spent the night in Fort William, taking a walk down the high street the next day before heading to the Falls of Talloch. The high street was not large but they did have the Highland Soap Company store, where we did end up buying some Christmas gifts to take home. There is not much left of the fort the town was called after anymore having been purchased by the North Railway Company in the late 19th century subsequent gradual demolishment in the early to mid-20th century. The only remains are the enclosing seaward wall on site and its entrance archway.

The Falls of Falloch are located just off the main road near Loch Lomond down a short woodland path. It’s a very scenic spot to visit on the way to a longer walk around Loch Lomond and the surrounding national park, that also produces hydropower. Its beautiful and makes gorgeous photographs. The weather wasn’t with us by the time we got to Loch Lomond so we decided against a longer walk as it started raining just as we were starting on one. This is one we will definitely be going back to do sometime in the summer with a picnic at the ready. We had rented a flat in Dumbarton that night so we headed straight there afterwards to relax with a take away pizza, local beer and whisky.