Going to the original home of our cairns

[Kathryn]

Next month DH and I are going to Scotland for the first time on a two-week driving vacation. Our current plans are to visit the inner Hebrides islands in the southwest, including Islay, Mull, and Skye -- home of our terrier breed. Has anyone on this forum who has been to Scotland willing to make recommendations on where to go? Any any suggestions, not just the great "dog" sites, would be welcome!

Our cairns will not be joining us, unfortunately. They are staying at home with a live-in dogsitter, and they will work hard to convince her they should be spoiled rotten. I think she might be a soft touch, and it is likely they will have a good time.

[josie&holly]

I do not think 2 weeks is long enough to cover the Hebrides and Skye etc! You will be very reliant on Ferries to get you between islands. But Skye is certainly worth visiting for the scenery. I will ask a friend who has done that sort of trip for you and hopefully get a reply soon!

By the way you may not find many Cairns up there as this friend said all she saw were Westies!

[Kathryn]

I should have been more specific: our plans are to visit only Islay, Mull and Skye -- and perhaps not Islay, which clearly requires the longest ferry rides. We plan to use the ferries extensively, which is expensive but much quicker than driving around all the peninsulas on tiny Scottish roads.

So recommendations would still be appreciated!

[hheldorfer]

One of our forum members - I believe Stargemmer is the name - has traveled all over Scotland. Somewhere there are pics of her and her Cairn on this website. I bet she'd be a fantastic resource.

[mbennettbrown]

My wife and I (New Yorkers) took the ferry to Dunoon a few months ago. Despite all of the research I did ahead of time, the most comprehensive documentation on the ferries was at the ferry terminal. We did see a BEAUTIFUL skye terrier in a shop on the main shopping street, owned by an Italian man.

[josie&holly]

Useful websites which may already have looked at - http://www.calmac.co.uk/

and http://www.visitscotland.com/guide/travel/travel-around-scotland/travel-by-ferry

The area round Dunoon is lovely too but that is mainland.

However on Skye, Dunvegan is where many of the modern Cairns ancestors are from, as the Macleods of Dunvegan bred them and used them, and also the Macdonalds on Skye. Mrs Campbell's dogs were from their stock.

As someone else as mentioned Stargemmer has posted photos of the places she has visited in Skye somewhere on this Forum.

[hheldorfer]

Found it! Go to the Member Gallery section of the forum and look for a post entitled "Stargemmer". Great pics.

[Stargemmer]

Hello! "Holly&me" (Josie, who also like me has a dog called Holly) told me you were looking for places to go on Skye and thereabouts, and kindly she has put the links there that I found good.

You won't have to worry about Ferries to Skye as there is now a land bridge so you can drive across.

Are you planning to use hotels and B&Bs or are you camping? I have been camping, sometimes very wild camping, but that isn't always everyone's cup of tea. I'd probably recommend hotels or a B&B if coming from overseas as we usually take a full car of stuff otherwise.

If you are going to Skye, visit Dunvegan, as that is where many of the Cairns came from. Take a visit to Dunvegan Castle where the Macleods still reside, and they are nuts about Cairns there, although sadly there aren't many now.

I would recommend going up to the top of Skye, there are some spectacular views there, and waterfalls. If you are walking types then a walk to the "Old Man of Storr" is a must, these are two rock features that are just beautiful & magical. And if you also fancy a good walk in bare mountains go to Glenbrittle for a wilder walk up the Black Cuillin mountains (one famous mountain called Sgurr nan Gillian).

As you are so close, you MUST visit Eilean Donan castle, it's just on the mainland. It is just one of the most iconic Scottish castles and is well worth a walk around.

You can take trips to the other Hebrides as Josie said, and the links will tell you about that. If you want to drive there and take a vehicle on the ferry, you will need to book in advance.

Yes, here are some pics that I put elsewhere but I can't remember where they are now on here, probably some other new ones here too of some of my trips to Scotland. These can whet your appetite :

This is me and my Cairn Holly at Dunvegan Loch, the old stamping patch of the Macleods and their Cairns. There's a good campsite there and several B&Bs:

Me and Holly again, take a trip to the loch side at Eilean Donan Castle ( a must for all tourists):

Dunvegan Loch at sunset, view from our tent:

Holly at the foot of Sgurr Nan Gillian mountain, to the south side of Skye in the Black Cuillins. There is a really nice walk up there, but be prepared! Good walking boots and wet weather gear is a must!

Holly on Skye again:

View from our tent at dawn benieth Sgurr Nan Gillian mountain on Skye (this is a pretty wild campsite, need a really strong and low lying tent as the winds are gale force through that glen!), but it was worth sleeping through a storm to see this view:

Holly standing on Skye, at Glen Brittle, with the Inner Hebrides on the horizon:

Tips for Scotland are: be prepared for ALL weather, especially rain, it can be really hot in the morning and then pouring with rain and gales in the afternoon! And be prepared for biting midgies, they are everywhere in summer, you can buy insect repellant when you are there so get some asap.

Hope you have a fantastic time! And that the wet weather is gone by the time you get there, it's been tipping with rain in Scotland so far in August. I'm envious of you as I am missing my trip this year as we are moving house!

[Newman]

WOW Those pics show how the cairn originated from! Awesome!

Loved it! thanks for sharing sir!

[Sam I Am]

What lovely pictures! Holly fits right into the scenery. My mothers side of the family were all Scottish and there were many trips up to the Dunoon area as my great uncle lived there. My mother always had border collies. I dont ever remember seeing a Cairn or a Scottie!

[Dempsy's Mom]

Hold up Kathryn and DH, I'll clear my schedule. When are we leaving?

[KerryJayne]

Hi just wanted to say where I live is pretty typical of Scottish weather and its very wet but warm so definitely will need wet weather gear wellies and walking boots are a must :-) but its so worth it :-) have a great time :-)

[KerryJayne]

Well warmish lol was 17 yesterday but 13 on Tuesday :-(

[Lynn in TN]

Well warmish lol was 17 yesterday but 13 on Tuesday :-(

I get confused when talking about Celsius to Fahrenheit you say this is warm I did a Celsius to Fahrenheit conversion and 17 to you would be 62 in the US. In my area we have temps up to 105 Mostly in the 90's in the summer. a temp of 92 converted to Celsius would be 33.333 . If any one could help me I would appreciate it greatly. What is the hottest temp and the lowest temps that it can be in Scotland? How does Scotland's weather compare to ours in the US.? I guess you can tell I don't get out much! LOL

[ScruffynMag]

As you can see, it's not too hot in Scotland any time of the year!

Average temperature in Scotland in Celsius

January

2

March

6

May

11

July

16

September

13

November

7

February

3

April

8

June

14

August

15

October

10

December

4

[Lynn in TN]

Thank you! If I was to ever go to Scotland i would need to take lots of pants and a coat,and jackets, lots of flannel. I would freeze! HA!HA!

[josie&holly]

Useful to look at weather on BBC website - this shows Skye

http://news.bbc.co.uk/weather/forecast/2796?area=Isle%20of%20Skye

you can change the area you want to check.............

[Liz in PA]

Kathryn,

We'll be in Scotland next month, too! we'll be on the Isle of Skye on the 13 and 14th, sorta in the middle of our trip. I had already put Dunvegan on my list, so I'm really excited to hear about the cairn connection. Happy to see the great pictures and info in this thread.

I wish we could bring Hogan with us, I'm sure he'd love it!

~Liz

[KerryJayne]

Lynn I wish I lived somewhere with those temperatures I'm already wearing boots here and its supposed to be summer :-( Scotland is really harsh sometimes you really need to wrap up well !! It's beautiful though :-)

[beccadiane374]

How fun for you! Hope you have a terrific trip!

[Kathryn]

Thanks for all the comments. I sure wish I could take the dogs with me -- they would love walking through that terrain. Loved those photos!

We've been to Ireland a few times, and we are used to the rain/sun/rain/heavy rain/cloudy and windy but no rain-type of weather. We're taking clothes prepared for all occasions. Also, after the heat wave here this summer (with highs in the 90 and lots of humidity), the Scotland temps look inviting. I'll be glad to be back in a sweater again.

We're going to be in Skye on the 13th and 14th too, Liz. Maybe we should plan a meet-up at the home of the cairns?

[Tami]

Islay is a great place to visit if you're at all interested in the whiskey distilleries. Ardbeg has a fantastic tour. Yes, it's a long ferry ride but we thought it was worth it. While waiting for the ferry on the mainland we were next to a field that must have had a 1000 bunnies. They kept hiding in their burrows whenever we tried to get close to the fence to take pictures.

Other than that, Skye is a great island to visit and is much more accessible than Islay since you'll need to give extra time for overnighting at Islay. We stayed at B&Bs for the most part and really enjoyed it.

Just remember that the roads are very narrow and slow going. So just be aware that your road speeds won't be that fast. Don't judge US road distances when planning your trip. I'd say cut your estimate in half and you'll be a bit more accurate.

Take a camera and enjoy the vistas while you're driving. We loved it ... fantastic country.

[Kathryn]

By the way, I am taking my new ipad 2, with the verizon network, to Scotland with me so I think you can expect occasional posts. I'm getting a new digital camera too, but will have to figure out how to use it, and then also how to upload to Cairn Talk. I DO wish I could take the dogs...

[bradl]

Tips on photos.

Resize them before you upload (reduces upload time; if you are not on an unlumited data plan, also reduces bandwidth liability).

• If you set the image width to 640 or thereabouts, the size (in file size) will usually be reasonable and the image will still be large enough to view comfortably for most typical monitors.
• However, if you are using a service like flickr and can afford the data usage to upload your original photos, upload in full resolution and you can embed a smaller version from the photo host site.
• Be absolutely certain your data plan will not bankrupt you if you do this while data roaming! You'll want a fast connections too if you're uploading full sized pics.

Use an image host (imageshack, photobucket, flickr, picasa, etc.) and embed/hotlink your photos instead of using attachments.

• This is my strong recommendation for everyone, traveling or not.
• Once you run out of attachment space (easy to do if you accidentally upload full-resolution images with large file sizes) you can only add another attachment by making room by deleting previous attachments. That breaks the link to the deleted image for previous posts.
• If you use a service like flickr, many phones and apps will automatically upload to them; they typically also provide automatic BBCode links to the image so you can just cut-n-paste. Many of these services are free and have paid "upgrade" versions. Often the free one is fine. Having your own personal domain and hosting images is easy and relatively inexpensive these days too.

Practice first, using the Test Forum.

• Figure out your workflow from camera to post in advance. Then you'll be confident you can do it easily when you're travelling.

[Liz in PA]

Kathyrn,

I sent you a PM...