From Glasgow To Portree

Full version with pictures: http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Inverness-shire/Isle-of-Skye/blog-515812.html

I woke up an hour early, but only realised it once I was all dressed. I forgot to set the time back on my phone. I remedied that and went down to breakfast when I could. Apparently you have to pay for cooked breakfast, but coffee and toast with jam was included. I got back to the room, and soon I was off. I had over an hour for getting to Buchanan station, so I took some pictures on the way. Got a bowl of salad at Subway for food. I took a lot of pictures on George square. I had to go up a really step street to the station. I was early there and bought some mags and drank a coffee.

At the coffee place I still didn’t know the English coins, but the coffee wasn’t all that much, and I had several, so I wanted to pay with them. I was trying to work out what combination I could do with them and which coin was worth what, when I just got confused and showed the coins to the cashier to have her pick them out. She smiled, it may have not been a rare occurrence. They really have a lot of different coins.

Another interesting thing that happened at the cafe was that I saw a child about a year old with hearing aids on both of his ears. They went to the back of his head and connected to his head there. Probably straight into his brain. I felt sorry for the child, though I may have stared a bit. I’ve heard of such things, but never actually saw one.

I got on the bus and recorded a vlog. The guy behind me noticed that I was speaking in Hungarian and he said hi. In Hungarian. It turned out that he was a Hungarian working in Scotland at a hotel. He had been doing odd jobs around Europe and had also been in the army. He loved Scotland, mountains, Japan, anything Japanese and is a lot like me. So we had fun talking and he knew the area well, so he pointed out all the photo opportunities to me.

He got off at Fort William, where we had a longer stop. I also got some food there at a food store chain called Morrison’s. So on we went. The scenery was beautiful before that, but then all the lochs and mountains were in open spaces. A lot fewer trees. I was clicking away like mad and making movies. It was a lot of fun. I even managed to get some shots of the Skye bridge as we stopped for a few minutes there.

We got to Skye and then to Portree. I asked my bus driver about which way my B&B would be and showed him my map. He said he was going just that way and would take me. So I hopped back on with my suitcase and soon we were there. I couldn’t see the B&B from the road, so I had to look for it. No good road signs either. I wondered about with my stuff for half an hour, when a guy came out to walk his border collie. I asked him and he knew the road I was talking about, so he pointed it out to me. I finally found it!

John greeted me and he knew right away that it was me. He showed me my room and the bathroom next to it. It was on the top of some really steep steps, but he carried my luggage up.

I can’t believe how nice the place is! Granted, it’s not in the town, but a short walk and I’m there. My window overlooks a hill. The bed is comfortable. There is a water boiler, tea, coffee, a cup, a bottle of water, glass, soap and towels. Plenty of spaces to put away my things too. Plus a TV with BBC1, 2 Scotland, STV - which is I suppose Scottish TV - and Channel4. The bathroom is equally nice, even if it’s a communal one. Hot water. Also, a list of foods I can get for breakfast, including porridge. Another thing is the Co-Op near. That stands for Co-Operative Food Store. Why it is called that, no one really knows.

So after a bit of settling in I was off to the town center. I found it without a hitch and I made my way to the harbour. I took some pictures and made a video. I asked a nice woman playing with her son to take a pic of me and I took one of them. We got talking and I found out that she was from Toronto, Canada. Her grandma, however, was originally Scottish. The granny’s brother got sick, so she went to help and the woman tagged along with Ethan the boy. She’s never been. Once in Scotland, they decided to go on a bus tour around the place. They were nice and Ethan hugged me goodbye.

On my way back to the B&B I decided to go into the Co-Op. It’s really nice. Good looking fruits. I also got some apple cider. I’ve never had that, so I wanted to try it. I also bought cup noddles. They were on sale, 4 for Ł2. With the water boiler, I could use them for food.

After that I was again in my room and watched the telly. I put out my breakfast card. That has on it the cooked breakfast I picked. I thought it was still early, but later found that the sun doesn’t really go down around here, maybe really late, but definitely not until 11pm.