Jacuzzi and Whisky

It was a long drive to Skye on Monday morning, especially because James had forgotten to pack his trail shoes so we had to go back to Cambuslang to fetch them. This added 45 minutes onto the journey, which took us up Loch Lomond-side and via Fort William towards Skye. We both felt a bit tired and out of sorts, and all credit to James for doing the majority of the driving. We had a couple of stops and the journey took us about six and a half hours - we realised that it took about the same amount of time as it took us to get to High Wycombe a couple of weeks ago! 

It was good to arrive at the excellent house in Portree which Jamie had booked for us, and the young ones had given us the best room with the en-suite which was very heart-warming. Portree was very busy so we didn’t manage to get into any of the pubs for a meal, however a delegation of us went to Tesco’s and got us a tasty meal. Then we jumped into the hot tub in the conservatory and chatted - it was great to be cosy in there while it was all dark outside. 

The next day we went to the Fairy Pools, which I first visited with Chanel last year. We found a good-sized couple of linked pools with a deep channel leading to a waterfall and plunged in. This was bravely led by me (if I say so myself!) and I’m not sure if the others would have gone in if I hadn’t, because there were not many other people in the somewhat chilly water on quite a cloudy morning. Most people were just walking up the hill path past the pools, and as a result the hardy Andersons got a great deal of attention from the passing tourists; whether admiring or just appalled I’m not sure! 

From there we drove (in our two cars) to the ferry for Raasay, and crossed to the island to see the boys’ barrel of whisky. We made the same trip last year but a) the whisky barrel had not been brought down for sampling and b) Jamie wasn’t there, so we were looking forward to the return trip. This time the boys were able to sample their whisky, after a rather frantic search for it by our tour guide, who hadn’t been informed that we wanted to taste it. But he found the barrel right at the front of the warehouse so someone must have known the purpose of our trip. Jamie, Ally and Davie were all very happy and signed their barrel as well as tasting their whisky. 

Back on Skye, we all set off on the two-and-a-half hour trip to Ullapool, arriving just in time for the Tesco delivery which I had organised. Jamie and Kerry loved the cottage and after dinner they went for a walk into the village.