From Loch Ness to the Isle of Skye

In the morning Keith & Mary are taking us to the South end of Loch Ness which is about 7 miles from their house in Inverness. The drive leads us along the Ness river through pastures and small forests. It’s a gorgeous day, well it doesn’t rain and there are some blue spots all over the grey sky but the light is spectacular. All over sudden I can see the Loch from afar through some hedges along the street. It’s a majestic view once we’re there and it reminds me a bit of the Fjords in Norway. In the distance you can see the mountains through the mist steeply fall into the Loch.

Here is a nice view of the Loch

A perfect place for a girl monster. My question “why female?” was simply answered “because to survive such a long time it had to be intelligent.” I decide not to investigate further and just enjoy the view. We walk down the beach and skip some rocks. I could just stay here and camp out for the night but we have to get back and start driving towards the Isle of Skye.
Tonight we play at Skye College, a college for Gaelic language which is at the south end of the Island. The drive is again wonderful and I’m glad to get out of the city into the highlands again. We drive all along Loch Ness and pass a couple of other smaller Lochs before we get deeper into the mountains. It’s the same road that we drove a week earlier late at night to get to our show in Plockton. This time it’s light and we see everything. I could drive there all day long and not getting tired of the view. Some time later we reach the Skye bridge which used to be the most expensive toll in the whole UK before they stopped taking money. The angle of the bridge is kind of funny and instead of going straight it is a big bow and you drive up to the top and than down. About an hour later we arrive at the College which is located in what seems to have been an old estate, quite charming like so many other places we’re seen here. We stay in a tower on the campus, a fairly modern building which does not quite fit into the landscape. At the 6th floor there is a penthouse which overlooks the atlantic and mainland Scotland. The view is again unbelievable.


The concert is in a remodeled barn which is now the cultural center of the southern part of Skye. After the first half of the concert a lot of people come up and talk to us. This is the most gratifying moment when I can actually make contact and get to know some of the folks on the island. The second half of the concert passes in a blink of an eye. We have a guest dancer which turns out to be really good. Most of the times I’m not a fan of irish or scottish dancing because I miss the rhythm and groove but this time it’s great and I have a blast. Later after the show we’re invited to the organizers house for dinner. At about two we go back to our penthouse on top of the tower.