Talisker Whisky und Dunvegan Castle
In contrary to all of our concerns the night was peaceful and silent.
In the morning we were woken up by the mumbling of the heavy
motorbikes. The biker meeting was finished and the camp site was
emptying. Looking around we got back our elan we had lost
yesterday. The view to the high peaks of the Red Cullin Hills and the
Black Cullin Hills was very impressive. They are including a collection
of mountains higher than 3000 feet, so called "Munroes". And
the day redeemed the promise of the morning.
On the tour to Dunvegan Castle we stopped at the broch "Dun
Breag". Brochs are the ruins of round buildings of the mysteriously
Scythians a tribe living at Skye at the same time as the Vikings invaded
Scotland. The brochs had been built for living and defensive purposes. They
have stairways of stone between the inner and outer walls, the height was
2 to 4 floors and archeologists found remains from wooden constructions in
the court yard. Apart from this the lookout from Dun Reag is amazing.
After that we visited the Talisker Whisky Distillery. There we
made a tour through the distillery and learned a lot about the Single Malt Scotch
Whisky.
Of course we also tasted this original Scottish drink. For me it was
very interesting to compare the manufacturing and blending process of
Scotch and Kentucky Burdon (I had visited the Jack Daniels Distillery in
America two years ago). Also the Aging and Blending process has completely
different aims. It is a pity that Scottish Whisky is in Scotland much more
expensive than in Germany so that we did not bought a souvenir.
The main destination of our daytrip was Dunvegan Castle, the home of
the Dunvegan Clan, for a long time the "Lords of the Isles".
Mainly the Castle is a very interesting place because of its rich interior. In
difference to Duart Castle it has a long and continuous history up
to the present. The building by itself and the views from the castle were
not so impressive but the park with its miscellaneous trees and very nice
gardens is worth to see.
This day we finished with a sightseeing tour round the island. Of
course we stopped at the "Kilt Rock Waterfall". This was
recommended by the White family but unfortunately there was not enough water
in it. We were astonished about the famous basalt cliffs, one of the
most popular landmarks of the Isle of Skye. We met with a spectacular
sunset at the ruins of Duntulm Castle. We used the last daylight for a
visit at the grave of Flora MacDonald, the legendary woman who rescued
Bonnie Prince Charlie.