Over the Bridge to Skye

Breakfast, while good enough, wasn't the all singing and dancing affair that we'd been used to until now. There was a choice of cooked or continential which included yoghurt. André, who had opted for cooked snaffled one of the yoghurts and  caused much consternation and a lot of laughs!
The weather wasn't promising for the afternoon so I reversed our itinerary heading first to Armadale Castle, one of the seats of the MacDonalds. On the way we made a short detour to the pretty little village of Isleornsay http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/skye/isleornsay/index.html where the
only place open so early was a lovely but expensive  shop selling beautiful woollens and tweeds. Nany bought a little broach but the rest of us kept our cash securely in our purses.
Only ruins are left of Armadale Castle but the gardens were a real delight with rhododendrons and azaleas in bloom; the Clan Donald centre was interesting too, especially for Michèle and Henri. http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/skye/armadalecastlegardens/index.html We spent quite a bit of time wandering around; well Christian didn't as he wasn't up to walking but we all met up in the old stables which have now become a very pleasant restaurant for a coffee.
By now it was starting to feel much cooler and by the time we arrived at the Old Carbost Inn for lunch heavy rain had settled in. http://www.theoldinnskye.co.uk/index.php?id=1
The bar was busy and it took quite a while to get served. Next came my least glorious moment as  instead of turning right to the Talisker Distillery, I sent our trusting driver to the left in direction of  Talisker. Visibility was poor and the single tract road made it impossible to turn around for several miles as the uninhabited scenery made it evident that it wasn't the right way. Eventually found the distillery, 200 yds away from the pub! What a good job we hadn't booked the tour. We contented ourselves with doing a tasting and buying. http://www.discovering-distilleries.com/talisker/tours.php
Our final stop on Skye was Portree where André bought himself a tweed cap and wax jacket at half price so he was well pleased with himself. The rain had become on and off  drizzle so weatherwise things were looking up. A cuppa was by now a priority and luckily there was a teashop still open and so ended what was for me a bit of a disappointing day. It was probably the weather but I found the scenery stark, Portree tired was half wishing that we'd gone to Mull instead. Still the others were happy so that's the main thing.
Back on the mainland, the weather was dull but at least it wasn't raining. Went down to the Balmacara Hotel for dinner as it wasn't far. Ate in the bar which was quiet where it was obvious that the barman- cum- waiter was new to the job and hadn't been given any training. I later learnt that he was there for two weeks only to earn a bit of cash and that his normal job was shepherding!