We were awake and up by 7:30 and went down for breakfast at 8:25. We finished packing and left at 9:20, continuing on the North and West Highlands Tourist Route. This is mostly a single track road! At Durness we walked down to Smoo Cave which has the most exquisite waterfall and has been in use since the Vikings lived here.
Our next stop was Cocoa Mountain in the Bakoniel Craft Village for hot chocolate.
Our drive took us over a modern bridge, Caolas Cumhahn crossing loch a Chaim Bhain. We detoured to Lochinver and put in fuel. £46.60 for 37.89L after travelling 411 miles. We stopped to look at the ruins of Calda House and Ardvreck Castle. It’s amazing to observe no toilets in either, 1700 years after the Romans had water borne sewerage.
Our picnic lunch was at Ardmair where we watched sheep dogs at work. It’s truly amazing to observe sheep being herded. Ullapool marks the start of the Wester Ross Coastal Trail. We found a house called Kyalami – they must be south Africans! We had a half pint each of the local ale, An Teallach at a cost of £4, the same as espresso.
There is a naval presence in Loch Ewe with two boats in the water. At Gairloch we decided to stop for the night and found suitable accommodation at The Old Inn. Dinner for us was at 16:45 so before that we took a walk to the harbour and onto The Estate of Gairloch. We went back to the room for coffee and to catch up on work before going to eat. It was another early night for us.
England And Scotland 