Nessie, another castle, the Isle of Skye and more scenery

Eilean Donan castle

We kicked off the day with a morning cruise on Loch Ness. Once again, it was hardly a party cruise, and we were treated to a commentary about the history and native plants in the area. The only point of interest was seeing some more castle ruins - this time belonging to Urquhart Castle, from where there are a lot of reported sightings of the famous monster. And no, we didn't see Nessie. I wasn't exactly devastated or surprised.

As we drove along towards the Isle of Skye, we stopped off at the Eilean Donan castle. By this stage, my UK journey was beginning to veer into 'castle overload' territory, but this one takes the prize for the 'Prettiest Castle' category. Even the most amateur of photographers were able to capture some stunning shots, aided by the weather and picturesque surrounds.

The Isle of Skye is apparently the second biggest of 790 Scottish islands, and a third of the population there speaks traditional Scottish Gaelic. The drive there was loaded with great scenery: fog hanging eerily just above the surface of the lake near Eilean Donan, followed by rocky streams which zigzagged haphazardly across an endless parade of green, treeless hills. Portree was the name of the town where we stopped for lunch and a short wander through the shops (most of the group headed straight for the pharmacy in an attempt to cure their coughs and colds. Once again it felt incredibly strange being the only healthy person present.)

Since there was only one way to get to and from Skye, we drove back along the same route - except this time, as we passed good old Eilean Donan again, it was absolutely pouring with rain. Thunder was booming, lightning flashing, and it was all very spectacularly stormy. We all had to check our cameras to make sure this was the same location where we'd experienced beautiful sunny weather only hours before.

The evening was spent having dinner at a pub in Fort William and spending ages searching for a taxi back to the hotel. I was left feeling a little more hopeful: since today had been much better than yesterday, perhaps tomorrow would be better.