Day 13 - 19 Nov 14 - Inverness

Our breakfast was at 715am at the cosy home of Ardmeanach. It was a full meal western breakfast with bacon, sausages, sunny-side up eggs and mushroom to which I was getting a little bored of. Coffee was, however, still a definite must-have for me as we started our day.

When breakfast was over, we set off at around 815am and drove towards Isle of Skye. Along the way, we stopped along Loch Ness for a quick phototaking of the glorious sun and its reflections upon the tranquil lake (The sky only brightened around 8 in the morning during winter). The temperature was between 2 to 4 degrees celsius. Everything that surrounded us was misty but the occasional fog that hovered around the mountains and the trees evoked feelings as if you were being teleported to some dreamlike fairy tales.

As we drove along, we spotted Eilean Donan castle and stopped over. It was a rare find from the usual mountains and lakes around this vast Highlands. Certainly, the sight of this iconic castle would not be complete without taking lots of pictures of it from varying angles and that was exactly what we did.

We crossed the Skye bridge to the Isle of Skye and drove towards Talisker Distillery. We thought that we would make it in time for the distillery tour at 12pm. However, we were late. Well, the opportunity wasn't all lost as there was another tour which they conducted at 2pm.

Just about the right time for a lunch break. We drove about a minute up the hill and had our lunch at The Oyster Shed. As the name suggests, it was literally a shed but it wasn't all oysters. They had other kinds of seafood as well. I tried their prawns (unfortunately they were cold) and scallops. They were extremely fresh. The fish soup tasted very yummy too.

At 2pm, Peiks and I joined the Talisker distillery tour. The tour was very educational and enlightening to me. I'm not really a very fan of whisky but somehow, it interests me a little as to how whisky is made. The processes sounded very scientific to me, from the malting, fermentation to the distillation but I must comment that the processes are not easy; they need to be meticulously executed to ensure the best quality. We ended off the tour with a tiny glass of Talisker Storm Scotch Whisky.

We left at about 3pm and proceeded to Portree. It was about half an hour drive from Talisker Distillery. When we arrived, phototaking was the number one priority, followed by shopping along the small streets of the town.

We had early dinner at the restaurant in Bosville hotel. Emma had her 2-course set meal (starters and mains) while I had my 3-course set meal (starters, mains and desserts). The food was not bad and they were very reasonably priced.

We left Bosville at 730pm and drove for about 3 hours back to our B&B. Emma experienced motion sickness while Denise was driving and she had to take over and drive instead so that she'd feel better. Halfway, she got tired and switched back to Denise who drove the remaining journey. Thank God for travelling in groups so that we can always look out for and help one another.

As usual, when we got back to the B&B, we settled the kids and went to bed.