Over the sea to.....

Skye.

We left a little later than planned, right on midday but made good time and were in Inverness at 2pm.

We didn't take the main route from Inverness to Skye as that involves driving through Inverness then down the side of Loch Ness and it can be very busy, especially at this time of year.  Instead we carried on the A835 to Garve then turned left and arrived at Kyle of Lochalsh via Strathcarron and Loch Carron.  A beautiful, scenic route (to be fair every route is scenic up here! :-)

I messaged S as we drove over the Skye bridge to let her know we wouldn't be long.  It's been so difficult for her to keep our arrival a secret from the girls as they've been constantly asking if they would see us over the school holidays.  Half an hour before I texted S, Anna had been in a terrible mood.  When S asked her why she was so grumpy she said it was because she wouldn't see us over the summer.  

When we pulled up outside their house both girls were in the garden on the trampoline and spotted us at exactly the same time.  Anna's jaw dropped and she promptly burst into tears!  Foghorn Faith just screamed David and Diane are here over and over again as she jumped manically on the trampoline :-)

By the time we got out the car Anna had composed herself and they both ran to us for cuddles.  I had a huge lump in my throat at their excitement at seeing us.  They were hyper!  

We managed to get into the garden and get seated and L brought us a welcome cup of tea.  The girls were full of questions...how long are we here for? Where are we staying?  Will they see us every day?  Can they show us where there new house will be?  And on and on it went :-)  

They were also keen to show us some of their homegrown produce.  In my blip they have their runner beans and strawberries.  They've also grown potatoes, carrots and lettuce, which is a miracle as the temperatures up here have been a cool 15 degrees almost all summer.  They are fed up hearing about the heatwave!  It was a very pleasant 20 degrees today though and think similar is forecast for our time here.

Once indoors we gave the girls their birthday pressies, part of which were unicorn party dresses, which they loved and insisted on wearing there and then!  L & S made a lovely dinner of slow cooked beef in wine followed by homemade cheesecake with homegrown strawberries.  Absolutely delicious.

We left just after 9.30pm to head to our holiday house, which is about 30 minutes away.  Oh my, it is beautiful!  Small but perfectly formed with stunning views over Staffin Bay.  Looking forward to waking up to that view.