Faerie Pools and a Ferry Ride

As we left the Isle of Skye today we decided we needed to hike to the Faerie pools.  As you can see, it was pretty and sunny as we approached the trail head.  But as has been the case for the entire trip, the clouds were not far away.

This is looking toward the pools from the top of the trail head.  The trail drops down to the river, then climbs up alongside the river to the pools.

 Some of the small falls along the lower river.

Rain starts to move in as we are about half way to the falls.  We are hoping it sprinkles and moves on.

If you look closely in the still pool in the foreground, you can see the rock ledge underwater on the right side.  If you follow that to the darker water on the left, there is an underwater arch (this is what makes the pool so calm compared to the white water on the other side).  The raindrops made it hard to get a good picture.

 People apparently swim here in the warmest months.  No one was looking to do that today!

It was not just a sprinkle.  It was a full out rain storm.  By the time we returned to the car, we were all soaked, including our jeans.  We passed other more prepared hikers and wished that we had better weather gear...but no regrets, it was a good hike.

 As we drove on to catch our Ferry off the island, we noticed this convertible in front of us.  We are thinking he is probably as wet as we are after our hike.

 20 minute Ferry ride to Mallaig.  An lunch in a nice cafe.  Got to try 'tablet' a sugary sweet that is popular.

Stalker castle on the way to Inveraray (Scott is pointing to it - larger pic below)

It is apparently "habitable", but so is a tent, so we don't know what that qualification means.  There is no connection to the mainland (and no windows that we can see in the frames).

We saw this bridge, and the train separately.  Both are on the way to Inveraray and were used as models for the Hogwarts express in Harry Potter. (This is from a post card).