This morning we traveled back through Portree, Sligachan and Broadford
to cross the Skye Bridge (which, in retrospect, I should have taken a picture
of). We then headed inland to Eilean Donan. Both of us being
Connor fans, this was an extraordinary moment. My first thrill was
looking at the postcards as we were purchasing tickets -- there was on
of HL1 scenes, or should I say outtakes: things like the actor who played
the priest passing a cigarette to the actress who played Kate. But
standing at the end of, and then crossing, the bridge sent an indescribable
thrill through me. I had to touch the stone of the building as we
walked around -- as much of a "sacred" necessity as dipping my fingers
in the water of Loch Shiel. To anyone not a HL fanatic, I suppose
it seems really strange, but to us -- and especially since we each had
someone to share the experience with -- it was a surreal and magic visit.
(A Kind of Magic? *g*) We went back to the gift shop and purchased
not only some postcards (including the one mentioned above), but a couple
of 8 x 12 B&W photos they had for sale of the HL1 filming.
After Eilean Donan we drove up to Torridon, which was to be our stop for the night. It's lovely, very woodsy. We took a walk out to the loch, which had a beautiful sunset settling on it. (You have to realize the sun maybe starts to set around 9 this time of year. That really put off my internal clock.) I liked the feel of the place a lot. We had a nice big room (in their "lodges" -- not in the main hotel, which was beautiful but far too expensive) and nice samples of heather-scented bath gel (I won't go into my obsession with the scent of heather -- started when I bought that soap at the Highland Games here last November *g*).
