I had an amazing rest in my luxurious B&B and woke up rested to a hot Scottish breakfast, including blood pudding. Yep, you read right, blood. pudding. I can’t say that I took a huge bite but I did take three rather small bites. It looks a bit like olive tapenade shaped into a large round soap like shape, it is made of oats, herbs, and some other things that sounded lovely when described to me, oh and it also has blood. I survived the tasting and am here to tell you that while I will never order blood pudding it wasn’t that bad. If I didn’t know what was in it I think I would have been able to eat more though as it was I had plenty to eat. I was given cereal, a warm buttery croissant, two fried eggs, and some bacon. It’s a good thing I am doing a lot of walking, but I am scared it will not be enough. The healthy lifestyle comes back into play upon my return to the States. It must, there is no other option.
I took a look at the ferry schedule this morning and the only one that I would be able to catch today would be at 4:00pm, allowing me no time to explore the Isles. I opted to stay another night at this amazing B&B with it’s wonderful hosts and will catch a ferry tomorrow at 11:50am with reservations in hand to the Isle of Skye.
I headed out late morning and headed to the Isle of Harris. This is where my ancestors hailed from. I didn’t see anyone who looked familiar though so I doubt there is anyone left in the area. : ) I drove past so much amazing scenery today, one that I am afraid my little iPhone camera couldn’t properly capture. This is the first day I have been upset that my real camera is broken. Regardless, I will still show you what I was able to capture.
I found the location of my ferry loading tomorrow so that I was prepared and then after lunch I headed on a road my host called “The Golden Mile”. I am not sure if this is actually a mile, it felt more like 100 miles. The majority of the drive was on a single lane road with pull outs that enabled you to let on coming traffic pass. If I wasn’t dodging oncoming traffic I was dodging sheep. When I first saw sheep on the road my initial reaction was to stop and let someone know that their sheep escaped, but luckily I kept on driving, having to slow down approximately every two minutes for rogue sheep in the road. Often times these sheep were hanging out at the parking spots on the side of the road meant for resting and picture taking. I know this seems silly and I have now been informed that sheep are quite dumb and not an ounce mean, but I was too scared to get out of the car when surrounded by sheep, you will see a lot of pictures out of my car window. I think I was confusing sheep with goats who have been known to attack people.
I spent about three hours driving around the Isle of Harris before heading back to the Isle of Lewis to see the sites there. Here I saw the Callanish Stones, which are over 4,000 years old, supposedly older than Stonehenge. It is amazing what people were able to accomplish without modern technologies.
I ended my drive by heading to the Butt of Lewis where I was able to snap a few pictures as the sun was setting. There were three guys there fishing and hanging out in a van. I had a leftover pizza in my car, missing only two slices from my lunch (it was MUCH larger than I had anticipated) so as I was leaving I rolled down my window and asked one of the guys if he wanted an almost full pizza. His face lit up and he said they were just getting ready to eat dinner. I handed the box over to a very cute, happy guy. I could see in my rearview window that he was indeed excited as he shouted to his friends still down by the water and started pumping the pizza box into the sky!
Throughout the day I have been listening to the radio, typically one of the BBC radio stations. When I first got the car every once in awhile the radio would change channels and a lady would start speaking, it was only until my friend Yvonne told me that I understood that the radio stations turn to the traffic report, I had no idea what was happening, I thought my car was possessed. It happened about every half hour today, so I was quite aware of all the weather issues in Scotland, thankfully none of which were in my area. I was listening to the BBC Gaelic station which plays great music but the DJ speaks fully in Gaelic except when saying the singer’s name and song title, every once in awhile I would hear…”Johnny Cash”…”Lady Gaga”…and imagine my delight when I heard… “Robert Earl Keen”!! I always enjoy hearing his music as it brings back memories of going to his shows.
The other funny thing that happened with the radio a while back, the reporter mentioned delays at the Glasgow airport due to chicken problems. I couldn’t figure out why they would be having chicken problems, I heard this report several times before I finally figured out they were saying “Check In problems” not “Chicken”.
Also, I wanted to say a big happy birthday to my sister Tina and her twin daughters Megan & Madeline who turn six today! I love you all so very much and can’t wait to see you and properly celebrate!
XOXO –
Sarah Jane
Jane Travels Again 