Eilean Donan Castle, Dornie, Scotland
Our plans for our last morning on Skye had to be curtailed on account of storm Callum. Speaking with Dave Evans and his fellow togs earlier in the week, they had cut short their own plans and opted for an earlier ferry Thursday afternoon.
High winds and torrential rain had been forecast for Friday and all ferry sailings had been cancelled throughout the Hebrides. With the possibility of the main bridge being closed due to the high winds and not wanting to get marooned on Skye we set off early. We thanked the owners of our holiday home (a wonderful stay and highly recommended) and set off at 8am.
The journey down was uneventful without a hint of what was to come and we safely crossed the Skye bridge roundabout 9am. The wind was noticeably more blustery as we crossed, but the threatened 60mph winds were not scheduled until about 10am and so we congratulated ourselves on a good call. Our last overnight stop was down at the southern end of Loch Lomond and so we had plenty of time to drive there, but I had unfinished business at Eilean and a certain hut now only referred to as "Clutchgate" in our household.
I wanted a few shots of the castle from the side and the "All The Goodness Coffee & Bakeshop" on the peninsular before the bridge offers Mrs R the opportunity of a sit down and coffee and me - all the photos I could take. But like most things on this holiday, nothing was going to plan and the shop being shut didn't help. For me the wind was now blowing so hard I couldn't get a sharp image and was forced to setup low behind the front wing of the car. With periodic rain and spray from the loch keeping the filters clear was proving a bit of a nightmare. But every storm cloud has a silver lining and the now coffeeless Mrs R came to the rescue as a makeshift windbreak and filter cleaner while I faffed in between shots.
The weather was now very much evidently on the change and storm Callum was about to catch up with us. We spent a good hour watching and snapping the ever changing conditions, hoping to catch the fleeting sunrays cross over the castle. They never did and so I cut my losses and packed up. It turned out to be the right call for no sooner had we crossed the bridge and drove pass the castle did the full force of storm Callum empty the heavens. The rain was torrential all the way to Loch Lomond but I still had another stop-off to exercise a ghost from day one...
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