Author: clairestanton

2nd October 2021 – ? miles travelled

This morning was a quick pack up, we hadn’t needed much for the 1 night and moved the car from the cottage to the main car park and took an hour to have a look around Luss before we started the drive south.

We left Luss and headed south, not the best of days so we missed some of the planned potential stops and carried on to visit bowling harbour.

After a walk around bowling harbour we carried on south, we stopped for lunch at Cairn Lodge services not realising it was run by the same people that run Tebay Services. Good choice made and some good lunch and a little shopping before continuing down to Kendal for another night at Romney’s apartments.

Disappointed when we got to Romney’s there was no where to park and couldn’t fit us in for dinner until 8:30 – way to late. Tired and hungry we drove into Kendal, found a supermarket to get something to cook for dinner. When we got back to Romney’s again there was a parking space to quickly unloaded the car, I put dinner on while Gavin fetch stuff from the car. Not ideal but food and a bit of TV to relax, tomorrow we will be home.

1st October 2021 – 192 miles travelled

Woke up on our last morning in Ullapool to heavy rain 🙁 We had pastries we picked up for breakfast before packing up ready to start what will be a long first leg of our journey home.

As we drove south the weather started to improve, temporarily as it turned out.

I have been passed Rogie Falls many times but either not had time to stop or in awful weather, when we got there today the sun was out so finally I got to see them. Unfortunately the bridge across the falls was closed so we had to make do with the view from side on to the falls. Despite spending quite some time trying to spot salmon jumping up the falls we were out of luck, maybe it was too late in the year at this location?

After a walk to stretch our legs we continued on to our next stop, Beauly Priory which was a Valliscaulian monastic community.

After the priory we back tracked slight to Muir of Ord when we had seen a lovely bakery as we drove through, Bad Girls Bakery – highly recommend. We both had warmed sausage rolls (pork for me, veggie for Gavin), cake and drinks.

With full bellies we completed our journey south to our overnight stop at Luss on Loch Lomond, travelling through beautiful (but cold and wet) Glen Coe.

We stopped in Tyndham for some dinner at the Real Food Cafe, well set up for covid as all ordering done on-line and brought to your table. Also I have seen towns and villages being twinned with other throughout the world but this is the first time I have seen toilets being twinned, any one else seen this? Each of the toilets was twinned with a toilet in Malawi, the toilets were free to customers but you could give a donation which went towards installing a new toilet in Malawi or other places in need. What I thought to begin with as being a bit strange is really a great idea of supporting facilities needed in poorer countries.

We arrived at our cottage in Luss about 7pm, just before it got really dark and managed to find it without too many problems. Lovely little cottage, just a shame we only have the one night here.

30th September 2021 – 92 miles travelled

A bit of a miserable day today weather wise so rather than stay around Ullapool we went for a drive to visit some places we like this way.

We started off driving to Dingwall, which has a nice high street, was bit disappointed to find some of the shops are now shut down but the lovely bakery we remembered was there so got ourselves some cakes. In a little courtyard off the high street we found a lovely little cafe which we went to for some lunch. Gavin had a jacket potato, a bit smaller than what I cook for him! and I had some soup and a roll which was very tasty and perfect to warm us up as bit chilly today.

After some lunch in Dingwall we stopped by Strathpeffer, the pump rooms we visited last time here was closed but we did find the old victorian railway. The line is no longer there but the platform has been turned into shops and a cafe, Gavin was able to pick up a couple of different jams there.

On the way back to Ullapool we had to stop for a train at the crossing in Garve.

The drive back to Ullapool was very scenic and the sun even tried to pop it’s head out between all the clouds.

29th September 2021 = 45 miles travelled

We have the cottage for two more nights but have booked a hotel in Ullapool for the next two night instead. It means we can do a bit more sight seeing without spending best part of an hour on the little roads before we start and will take 1 1/2 hours of our journey home on Friday.

This morning we did most of the packing ready to move on, them went into Drumbeg to get/have lunch at the cafe there only to find it was closed, season already over! Instead we picked up some filled rolls from the local shop and took them back to the cottage to have while watching some TV.

Just after we got to the end of the twist loop road and back onto the main road, eager eyed Gavin spotted some dear (I was driving), so I pulled over to get a couple of photo’s of them.

It was a lovely sunny day making for a nice drive down to Ullapool, once again we had to pass Ardvreck Castle.

Found the hotel in Ullapool easily and parked around the back, not too impressed with the hotel, I know it was only a 2* but expected more for the money, it is very tired and run down with really tiny rooms, have to stay the staff are lovely though and very helpful. It could be a great hotel with a little work and money spent on it. We got fish and chips from the chip shop for dinner tonight, which we ate in the hotel lobby, I went down to the loch front for a look and a few photographs while Gavin waiting for our order.

After dinner we watch some TV in our hotel room, we had a view out over Loch Broom and I got to see the Calmac ferry leave on its way to Stornoway.

28th September 2021 – 13 miles travelled

I was woken this morning, well I was awake but made to get up, by Gavin saying their was deer in the cottage garden, come quick and see them.

Gavin had seen them earlier when he got up and had breakfast but now he was sure they were staying for long enough he come and got me up. There was a little baby deer one side of the fence and mummy deer the other side on the cottage drive eating some grass, after a while we saw another deer our side of the fence too. After a while she came up the side of the house and we saw her from the kitchen window easily hop back over the fence to her baby.

The deer stayed for half an hour or so before they went off to explore elsewhere. So late breakfast and lazy morning for me/us.

In the afternoon it cleared up a little, though still very windy and chilly but we wanted to get out for a while so another drive on the twistly little roads to find Flossies beach hut cafe/shop, where I had a cup of tea and we both had a piece of cake, ate in the car as it was far too cold to site outside with them.

It was only a temporary break from the rain which started again on our drive back, making it much more difficult drive.

27th September 2021 – 26 miles travelled

Today I drove us around the single track road once again, this time we went just a little bit south to visit LochInver. I have been here once before, well stopped here for a picnic on a day out.

It was quite overcast when we set out and bit drizzily, but the rain stopped and it brightened a little while we were there.

We had a walk around the loch a short way and then found the Lochinver Larder, a well know pie shop in the area, they do sweet as well as savoury pies. I went for the chocolate and pear pie, while Gavin opted for the peach and apricot version. We also popped into the local grocery store for a fresh loaf of bread, you can forget the essentials!

We went slightly up away from the centre of Lochinver to Highland Stoneware which had some great views down over the loch.

The sun came out as we started our drive back to the cottage. While I may not be a fan of this narrow single track road with all it’s blind bends etc, you have to admit the view is spectacular.

As the sun had made an unexpected appearance we decided to make a stop en route to visit Clactoll beach, a lovely sandy beach a short walk from a small car park by the caravan site. We have visited previously, about 6 years ago, but such a lovely beach always worth a stop. Unfortunately after we had been there about 10 minutes getting a few photographs the skies opened with little warning, we could see it coming over the sea but no gentle drops to warn you. A very fast walk/jog, not easy on sand if you are as unfit as me, back to the car we were completely soaked and dripping everywhere!

Now wet and sitting in a soggy car we continued the journey back to the cottage with just one quick stop when we spotted a rainbow over Clashnessie beach.

Tonight was a really beautiful evening with this stunning view from the cottage.

26th September 2021 – 3 miles travelled

Bit of an overcast day today, so we had a slow start and didn’t head out until after lunch or go very far.

The sheep were all about so we went down the drive to see them.

We decided to drive some of the way back towards Drumbeg to take a look at a loch we had seen on the way here. The wind had dropped today so we took the drone with us and Gavin gave it a good fly around as there were no major obstacles and walked a little way around the loch.

When we got back to the cottage the sheep were waiting by the gate for us trying to get in.

25th September 2021 – 94 miles travelled

Got a really bad weather forecast for this second week, but today is at least supposed to be dry so we decided to try the road out of here in the opposite way to which we arrived and head down to Ullapool for a few hours.

There were some beautiful scenery on the loop road but not many places to stop.

We made a stop at Clashnessie beach, which looked lovely in the sunshine, but it was very windy once we got down on the beach itself. The waves crashing in were huge!

After the beach we drove on through the Geo park and Knocken Crag which was spectacular.

When we got to Ullapool we had a walk along the loch front looking out over Loch Broom, we stopped at a cafe and sat outside for some lunch (sandwich and cake), though it was a bit chilly. Were able to get a phone signal in Ullapool and have decided to book us into a hotel here for the last couple of nights to help make the journey home easier, will take 1 1/5 hours off the first leg of journey home.

We made a stop at Tesco to top up our fresh supplies before heading on the journey back to the cottage.

24th September 2021 – 141 miles travelled

Our stay on the east coast of Scotland has come to and end and today we are moving on to a cottage on the west coast, further north than we have stayed before.

We had to leave Lochend cottage by 10am which wasn’t a problem as we had done most of the packing the night before. I had put a plan for the journey together with scenic stops en route but realising that we couldn’t get into our new cottage until 5pm we did some revising of this.

First stop, a new addition to the plan was The River Bothy, a cafe and shop in Berriesdale not too far south on the A9. The plan was to stop here to take a look at the shop to see if they had any different jams for Gavin, and he did pick one up and some marmalade. They have a lovely cafe, warm and cosy with great selection of home made cakes but was a bit early, however the lady recommended a visit to the beach across the road and short walk away, we were a couple of weeks late to see the Orca’s but there had been dolphins and seal about.

With time to fill it sounded a good option to us. We went across a lovely bridge and pass the Berriesdale memorial then a very wobbly cable suspension bridge that only held one person at a time to reach the beach.

The beach was a stunning stoney beach, looked stunning with a cloudy blue sky.

It was quite windy down on the beach, and we were the only one’s on it for most of the time we were down there. We didn’t see any dolphins but Gavin did spot a seal, in fact we are not sure if there was one seal morning around of if there were a couple of seals out there.

We were glad we took the advice to go and check out the beach, it was a good place to stop, and afterwards we were ready for some hot chocolate and cake to warm up in the cafe, perfect.

After our cake break it was back on the road and heading further south through Golspie to Dornoch, on route we had to drive past Dunrobin Castle again.

Dornoch is famous for it’s sandy beach (and cathedral) and we could see why. It was still a bit windy but not as cold here. The beach is a quite large horseshoe shape and with the cloudy blue sky was stunning, we spent a a little while here taking some photos.

From Dornoch we went onto Lairg to visit the Falls of Shin with a stop at the Wee Hoose.

The Wee Hoose sites on a tiny island in Loch Shin, also knows as the Broons House, there are tales about the house but it was build 20 years ago for a float for the Lairg gala. It has had to be rebuilt twice due to bad weather.

Falls of Shin are on the river Shin, where Salmon have to jump up the river to reach their breading grounds, between May and September is the best time to see then. There is a viewing platform just above the falls where you can watch for the jumping Salmon.

There is a visitors centre at the Falls of Shin where we had planned to have a late lunch but being out of season it was closed 🙁 We had to make do with a mini picnic from our food supply for the new cottage.

After our impromptu late lunch, we completed our journey west to our new cottage for the next week, 3 miles west of Drumbeg. The closer we got the more dramatic the scenery became, much higher, rockier and dotted with Lochs and Lochans.

We knew the cottage was remote, but the road to it was worse than we remembered, a single track road, only just wide enough for the car in places, with passing places, very steep up and down with blind hair pin bends, very scary to drive. When we located the cottage and unloaded etc, we realised as well as no wi-fi (which we were aware of and had expected) there was also no phone signal, we are completely off grid for the next week!

23rd September 2021 – 58 miles travelled

The plan for today had been to visit Castle Mey but all the slots for the house had already been sold, wish I had realised and could have booked one earlier in the week or even before we left home, maybe next time.

Instead we decided to head further up the road to Thurso, we have visited here before but hadn’t planned to go on this trip, however we had already fitted in everything else planned for our week on the east coast so this is an unplanned bonus.

Decided to try and see Thurso castle this time, previous visit we saw from the pier but didn’t get up close. Not easy or obvious way to get there, we parked out of the way on the end of a farm marked as private so not to block access to the house or outbuildings, then walked passed the house down a narrow and very very overgrown track and we were there.

There was a great view out to sea and the town of Thurso from the castle and lots of big breaking waves.

There was been a fortress in Thurso since the 12th century, the current Thurso castle was built in 1872 and visited by Ulysses S Grant in 1877 as part of his world tour, in 1952 a lot of the castle was demolished for safety reason.

We headed back to the car and drove round to Thurso pier. It was very cold wind and Gavin, probably wisely, decided to stay in the car but I ventured down to the end of the pier. The waves were huge and the pier cobbles were wet and slippery. I got wet from one particular large wave which also splashed the camera.

I headed back to the car to warm up and spent some time drying off and trying best I could to polish up the camera lens – well the polarizing filter that was on the lens, might need to invest in a professional clean of the camera when we get home.

By now we were more than ready to warm up and get some lunch, we remembered a nice bakery that had some inside seating, Johnson’s, from a previous visit, we found the car park from last time quite easily and grabbed some lunch, warmed sausage roll for me and some cake to take back to the cottage for later (I ended up eating the meringue while waiting for Gavin to finish his lunch !)

After lunch we had a nosey at the shops, Gavin picked up some local jams, and I got a book to read in a charity shop. We came across an old fashioned ice cream parlour, and well it’s never too cold for ice cream right? I had the most amazing blood orange sorbet, never seen it available before, but would certainly have it again.

On the way back home, via a coastal route, we popped into Wick Tesco to get a few things ready to take to the new cottage with us and Argos to pick up an adapter for the mircro SD card in the drone so we can get the footage off and view from Staxigoe harbour.

We went out again early afternoon to collect fish and chips for our dinner, which meant another drive to Wick which I am getting to know quite well now. The chip shop was down by the harbour so got to see the sun start to set while we were there.

After tea we completed out pack, leaving out just what we need for the morning, and stacked everything by the door ready to put in the car for tomorrow’s move to our cottage over on the west coast for the next week.