Going south...
We enjoyed our time at Castletown on the North Coast but it was time to move on so we breakfasted at 7.30am in the pub dining room. We were on our own on this Bank Holiday Monday morning.
Each morning Di had been raving about the nice fresh fruit and juice selection so it had to be photographed too!
We chatted for a while to our breakfast cook who we learned was a farmer and this was his part time job. Just a small farm, 30 acres but 20 cows and about 30 sheep on this much land as it is so fertile. In south western NSW 30 acres would perhaps sustain 3 cows and 10 sheep. What a difference - and the cows here are fat!
The next hour or two was spent blogging as yesterday was such a huge photo and text day but we were still packed and in the car by 10am. Easy to load as the car park is just out the back door of our hotel.
With advice from our breakfast cook, and no need to rush, we headed west on the alternative route to Skye, first going along the northern coast then down through mountains and valleys towards Inverness. Google estimated 5 hours to get there - we assumed 7 hours.
It was a beautiful drive. The scenery kept getting better (again it looked its best on such a good weather day). Near a little town called Betty Hill (no relation to Benny) we stopped to take some photos of the area. See below.
This horse had pretty good views...
We thought the horse contributed to the view...
We continued along the northern coast until we reached a place named after a body part...
Tunga is the Gaelic name but also the exact Swedish word for tongue. We often came across the Norse influence here. A Kyle is sort of a valley with water in the bottom of it.
This one definitely matched the name. The mountain in the background is called Ben Loyal and looked fabulous. Hans was looking pretty good too...
Tongue has a barrier bridge across the Kyle which looked great - and had to be checked out.
Three major mountains surround the area, and we later learned this one was called Ben Hope.
Di was enjoying the beautiful day and a break from driving.
Looking back across the barrier bridge.
We drove back into the town of Tongue and stopped at the Tongue Hotel for a cuppa.
What a lovely place - reminded us a little of the Carrington Hotel in the Blue Mountains NSW. Coffee and tea were brought to us in the lounge and we relaxed for a while. On the bookshelf there were lots of hiking and exploring books and we learned about a 5 day hike called the Sutherland Trail which goes through the lovely northwestern wilderness but can be organised so that each night you have accommodation. The trail goes over mountains and averages 24km a day and looked fantastic.
We were both inspired to stay and hike here - and seriously debated why we were "rushing" to the Isle of Skye.
Beautiful...again.
As Scotland has hardly any trees you can see for miles ahead...
We took a lunch break in Lairg. Not much was open in Lairg but there was a SPAR supermarket on the lake edge with adjacent picnic tables, which looked like an ideal picnic spot.
We went in and bought pasta salad and some cooked meatballs and sat at a table near the lake. As Hans said, we were not the first to think this... Germans are everywhere - including the next table.
The trick seems to be find a lead runner and stay close...one 4WD who had been in the lead for quite a distance pulled over to let someone else have a turn. We could understand why - there is much more pressure with no one in front of you.
A moment of quiet (and wide) road where we could safely stopped to ooh and aah some more...
This is what we saw as we drove onwards.
Then the got tight as we wound down through some mountains towards the coast and Isle of Skye. Single track down a steep mountain (14% grade) with passing places and this single track tunnel. Di was a nervous wreck...(no negative of Hans' driving which was top notch as usual).
Finally at sea level and the Isle of Skye bridge becomes visible in the distance.
Looking towards the island across the Kyle of Lochalsh.
The reviews of our hotel, the Kings Arms, were pretty grim but we chose it as it cost less than A$100 a night (where most places costs more than A$200). We already knew they did not have wifi but Di had also read some comments about dirty, dated rooms, a dodgy lift and terrible breakfast. For the price we would cope...
But first we had to get a room. They could not find our booking. The Russian manager at Kings Arms was looking a bit flustered but she eventually found our booking but told us that they had no more available double rooms. Hmmm...twin beds again! But at least she managed to find a room for us. Her 6 year old daughter was chatty and drew Di a picture while we waited. Very sweet.
OK, so we have a room on the 2nd floor. Let's try the lift first...Yep, it's small, it creaks and groans, the doors are hand painted with a some military dark green paint, it smelled and is carpeted in this lovely shade of green (to match Di's t-shirt...). We loved it.
The corridor on the way to our room changes levels up and down many times, and slants towards the road a little. Some floor boards go soft and squeaky when you walk on them. Again, we think this is fun.
In fact, we loved the place. Kings Arms hotel reminded us of our good ol' Blue Mountains favourite outside Sydney that we call "Faded Glory", but with the real name of "Cecil's Guesthouse".
But the door...
We won't be leaving anything of value in the room! Somebody had broken into the room at some stage.
Our room at Kings Arms turned out to be a pleasant surprise. Triple bed room on the top floor of the very corner of the building with views. And the furniture looked quite modern, well, some of it. Even the bathroom seemed renovated - including a heated towel rail. Perhaps one downside - it's short. It is from a different era. The original part of the Kings Arms hotel was built in the 1600's. Even Di hit her head on the ceiling light (that's short!) and Hans nudged the smoke alarm with his head and feels like the ceiling is closing in... You wouldn't like to stay here if you suffered from claustrophobia.
We dropped off our gear and headed out soon afterwards.
Big night tonight. Premier League football game between Manchester United and Chelsea. David Moyes' first premier league game at Old Trafford as United's new Manager. Broadcast on Sky Sport started at 7pm and game at 8pm.
We had done some earlier research and found out that this pub, with the great name of Saucy Mary's, was serving pub tucker as well as having two TV screens broadcasting Sky Sports (and the game) so that's our home for the evening.
Saucy Mary's fish and chips was a popular choice among the punters so we both joined them and it was very good indeed.
Waiting for the game to start...
We settled in for the evening, had a few beers (Hans) and gins and tonic (Di). One problem though, no sound. Hans asked the staff to turn on the sound, but they wouldn't do it as long as punters ate there which would be until 10pm. So instead we watched the game to the sound of Italian chatter, general pub chatter and crap music from a juke box (which apparently was fine, the fact that they would get revenue from that one we were sure had nothing to do with that).
Seating was at the premium so we were joined by 2 young Germans and Di chatted with them from time to time and also watched the game. Hans was more interested in what was happening on the screen, but unfortunately it was not a very good game. A scoreless draw in the end with not many chances. Wayne Rooney played the whole game and was very good in the defense (overall Man U defense was good) but otherwise a forgettable game.
We went back to our hotel as soon as the game finished, tired after a long day. Good night.
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