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Day 4, Saturday, 16 OCT 2004:
After beginning the day in the Great Glen, we arrived in Portree on the Isle of Skye at 3pm. Although Skye is nice, what really impressed us was the drive over, especially through the Five Sisters area. The route from Inverness to Skye on the A87 is almost too scenic. Around every bend is another loch or mountain. Everything is so immense. The road runs right along the bottom of the huge mountains - not especially tall mountains; powerful or imposing seems a better description. They were mostly a rust-brown, except for the gray where the rock showed through. No other foliage, hardly any hint of human touch, except for the road, and occassionally some power lines. Justin wanted to stop and climb every one, since the path to the top of each was completely clear and visible. But Malachi was asleep, so we didn't even get a picture.
Portree wasn't anything remarkable; we did have a very nice dinner at a local inn, and it wasn't that expensive.

Day 5, Sunday, 17 OCT 2004:
Today ended up being a driving day, which it wasn't supposed to be. We started by heading north to Dunvegan and the castle there. The weather was quite nice, and the castle has an interesting history (the only one in Scotland still owned by its original clan). We ate lunch just outside.

The plan after that was to find a nice hike. Justin found one that he liked, so we started driving. Since it was Malachi's nap time, we took a very circuitous route. He woke up before we reached the place, very angry. The weather had turned nasty, and Erin didn't like the description of the hike, so we just headed back to our bed and breakfast. Justin went out to hike a local hill; it was great at first, climbing up for great views in the very soft heather. But after a while he was afraid the land owner would shoot him or tow his car, or that a hippie cow would chase him down. So after only a short while, he went back.

Day 6, Monday, 18 OCT 2004:
Our time in Scotland come to a close, we turned our prow south. Lots of driving, this time planned. The drive through the Five Sisters and Glen Coe, and Glen Nevis was rainy with poor visibility, but it seemed the appropriate atmosphere. The mountains seemed even more imposing shrouded in fog and hidden in rain.

Fort William was a good stop. We all enjoyed lunch and walking around the tourist shops, supporting the local economy. Malachi enjoyed meeting some dogs and chasing after pigeons.

After quite a bit of driving, we reached Lockerbie, Scotland. A casual friend of Justin's growing up had a dad who died in the Pan Am flight 103 bombing, so Justin has had the name of Lockerbie in his memory for 16 years. It had always seemed such a remote, inaccessable place, so when he saw that our route took us right by, he wanted to stop. The timing worked out fairly well, and we ended up being able to see the garden of remembrance. After seeing so many war and other memorials to the dead on our travels, it was odd seeing one with a name we know.

We finished our trip in the Lake District of England.