Eilean Castle and Skye

 Our bus driver once called this tour ABC - Another Bloody Castle. And yesterday we saw two more.

First Eilean Donan which was lived in until 1977.

Next we crossed the bridge to Skye and drove to Armadale Castle.

“Armadale Castle was once the seat of the Macdonalds of Sleat, part of the mighty Clan Donald. Now a ruin, it sits in a dramatic position overlooking the Sound of Sleat and surrounded by 40 acres of magnificent woodland gardens.”

The ruins are interesting enough but it’s the gardens and museum that make the place worth visiting.

I liked both places but we spent an awful lot of time on the bus to get to and from them and did’t have as much time as I’d have liked in either. The bus time was partially redeemed by the fact that it was through the most spectacular countryside the whole time. But still too long.

So, independent travel, or group tour? When Victoria and I traveled independently, we always saw these group tour buses, but never thought of ourselves as tour people. But in planning a trip to Scotland, this spring, we decided to look into it and this Highlands tour by Road Scholars seemed like a good way to go. The pros and cons pretty much turned out the way I had anticipated. With the tour everything else is someone else’s problem. We have guides who can tell us about the history and context of what we are seeing. And we see places that we might not have found on our own. The downsides include not being able to be spontaneous and having not enough time or too much time in some of the places. Also, like yesterday, there can be too much bus time. The one upside that I hadn’t considered enough was the social aspect. It’s been really fun having other people around to share meals, tour the sites, and get to know a little bit. It turns out that one of the couples on this trip lives in Madison halftime, and we hope to see them there.

I guess my conclusion is that for us a group tour is not necessarily better or worse than independent travel, rather it’s another way to go. For a later trip, I can imagine a shorter tour with more independent time tacked on before or after the tour.