Bittersweet departure from Edinburgh this morning. Now the long road home -Edinburgh to London to Newark to LBI.  Successful first trip following in the “Footsteps of the Lords of the Isles”.  Upon looking at the map of where I went these past 18 days I was amazed at how much territory I covered and yet how much there is left to do. There are a lot of blanks to fill in as I reconstruct the trip, the many sites visited and their part in the story of the Kingdom of the Isles.  These medieval warriors and guardians of western Scotland and the Isles became more and more fascinating as I learned more and saw more. They also became more familiar and the trick will be to make the narrative a good story to go with the photos. Can I make them as fascinating to all of you as they are to me?  In their time they were the greatest landowners and most powerful lords in Britain after the Kings of England and Scotland. The names of their territory represent a sense of place that even today defines their kingdom – Ardnamurchan, Moidart, Lochaber, Arran, Knoydart, Kintyre, Islay, Oronsay, Uist, Iona, and Skye.   Much more has been written about the 1700’s and later leaving the Lords of the Isles of the 12th-15 century a puzzle whose pieces are still being put together. If only there was a time machine! Hugging the standing stones failed to send me back in time!