Wednesday 6th July, 2011

hello to all
We left Oban this morning after a lovely brekky at our B&B lovely place and hosts very much enjoyed this place could have stayed a few more days, but one has to move on.
We were heading to Skye, a couple of ways we could have gone but Sam wanted to go and see Glencoe on our way as he only remembers it as a young person and he said it frightened the hell out of him. There is a visitor centre there now and we were able to get the entire story right from 300AD.
The massacre which everyone knows of but not the entire history of why etc Sam did not know the whole story I did not either, but there was a planned massacre on 12th Feb 1692, this was planned by the King (King William) of King William and Mary, he had deposed James 2nd. William wanted to get rid of the McDonalds in Glencoe because they supported the Jacobites who were James supporters. Anyway long story short he ordered his troops to go and stay with the McDonalds which they did for 12 days lived with them were looked after by them and then on the morning of the 12th Feb the troops just massacred these poor people who had entertained these troops and taken care of them. They killed 38 of them, burned their homes etc.etc. It is an amazingly beautiful place so we drove the length of the valley before we headed towards Skye. Sam said he was glad he went back to see it
We then continued on seeing lovely scenery and went to see Eilean Donan Castle sitting on the Island of Donan, they say it is most probably called after the 6th century Irish Saint,Bishop Donan.
The first fortified structure not built until the 13th century as a defence measure protecting the lands of Kintail against the Vikings. (Those Vikings were everywhere, killing, plundering etc.)
Many changes occurred over the centuries, the castle expanded and contracted in size. It played a role in the Jacobite risings of the 17th and 18th centuries which ultimately caused its destruction.
There was an uprising and ultimately the castle was destroyed.
For 200 years the ruins lay neglected and abandoned until Lt Colonel John Macrae-Gilstrap bought the island in 1911, so along with his clerk of works Farquar Macrae he dedicated the next 20 years of his life to the reconstruction and restoration of the castle to its former glory. It was rebuilt according to the surviving ground plan of earlier phases and completed in 1932.
It is an amazing job really,it was late in the afternoon and there were hundreds of people there, about 10 buses, a huge attraction.
We then continued on to Skye which was about half hour away, booked into our B&B lovely couple, made us a cup of tea and then we looked at our emails and went to the Broadford Hotel which has been there since 1611, a few renovations along the way of course.
It is a bit damp but we have had lovely weather so we don't mind. We have tomorrow and tomorrow night here and then on to Inverness where the Scottish Open is being played, we did have trouble getting accommodation there this was months and months ago of course but we did know about the Open. One thing you do really need to have your accommodation booked, because even all these B&Bs are all booked out. Anyway I will sign off, I am sure you will all be very pleased Sam and Sabine