![\"\"](\"https:\/\/hollenbeck.ws\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/glenfinnan-monument.jpg\" "\\"glenfinnan")
<\/a><\/p>\nWe drove into Mallaig to take the ferry over to the Isle of Skye.<\/p>\n <\/a>Yes, that is our motor coach pulling onto the ferry.<\/p>\n We then visited the Clan Donald center and the castle ruins.\u00a0 You wouldn’t be able to tell that there is no room on the ruins until you get up close to them.\u00a0 The castle is really just a shell now.\u00a0 There are no floors separating the levels any longer.\u00a0 The outside looks really good though.\u00a0 We were able to take pictures through the windows but couldn’t go in because of the rubble inside.\u00a0 Got some really good pictures of the grounds.<\/p>\n We didn’t get to see any more of the island.\u00a0 We left and got back on the mainland and stopped at Eilean Donan castle for some pictures as well as Urquhart castle.\u00a0 Ok, this one was different.\u00a0 We were all told to get on the wall for our picture instead of going down to the castle.\u00a0 We then drove by Loch Ness.\u00a0 No, no sitings of nessie.\u00a0\u00a0 Then on to Inverness and our hotel.<\/p>\n Day 5 – Culloden battlefield<\/p>\n So on our way out to the Sheepdog trials we learned that they burn the heather in the hills in different stages.\u00a0 They do this because the young grouse rely on the new heather for food.\u00a0 So by burning it, the heather is always having to grow back and there is always new growth.<\/p>\n The sheepdog trials was very interesting.\u00a0 They train the dogs to respond by voice commands, sounds (they each have their own sounds) and body language.<\/p>\n Culloden battlefield was our next stop.\u00a0 The vistor center was really neat because at the end they have three projectors set up for a display that shows how the battle went along with commentary.\u00a0 You can see the men moving and falling as they were killed.\u00a0 It really was very interesting.\u00a0 We then got our headphones for our guided audio tour and went outside.\u00a0\u00a0 The wind was blowing so hard you couldn’t hear anything on the headset and it would stop you in your tracks even if you were still trying to move.\u00a0\u00a0 Because of the wind we didn’t go through the entire battlefield.\u00a0 We did make it out to the memorial cairn in the middle.\u00a0\u00a0 Those rotten British soldiers make the townspeople come out to the moor and bury the dead highlanders in mass graves after the battle was over.\u00a0 So there are mounds were the bodies were buried and stone markers indicating which clan was buried there.<\/p>\n You can’t see it very well but the marker is sitting on a mound.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n