EVENTUALLY! A ROAD TRIP IS COMPLETED!! SOME AFTERTHOUGHTS

Well, that was quite an experience. Definitely more an experience than a holiday, but something I am so glad that we did!

Mileage for the entire trip was 1,169 over 11 days - there was only 1 day that I didn't drive.

Very tiring and staying at hotels / B&B's on a mostly one day basis, where we took the luggage from the car in the afternoon / evening and then back to the car in the morning did start to become a bit of a grind. But there were so many memories from the trip, most of them happy, I think. Nairn, Cape Wrath, Three Chimneys, Glenfinnan, Glen Coe etc.

And although the weather could never be considered "warm", I thought that overall we were very lucky with the weather we encountered. It was fair and even sunny when we were at Cape Wrath, one of the most inhospitable parts of the UK and although it may have rained, a couple of mornings quite heavily when we were in the car, it always seemed to have stopped by the time we arrived to visit somewhere. I think of Glenfinnan and Glen Coe in particular!

As we were to spend so much time in the car, I had made a "Road Trip CD" and I know you will be anxious (??) to find out what we listened to - so here are the 20 tracks in question:

Drivin' - Al Jardine

Hot Rod Heart - John Fogerty

I Drove All Night - Roy Orbison

Runnin' Down A Dream - Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers

Graceland - Paul Simon

The Boys Of Summer - Don Henley

Holiday Road - Lindsey Buckingham

Here I Go Again - Whitesnake

Start Me Up - The Rolling Stones

Echo Beach - Martha & The Muffins

2-4-6-8 Motorway - Tom Robinson Band

Mr Blue Sky - Electric Light Orchestra

Born To Run - Bruce Springsteen

Radar Love - Golden Earring

Silver Machine - Hawkwind

Take It Easy - Eagles

Highway Star - Deep Purple

Going Up The Country - Canned Heat

Born To Be Wild - Steppenwolf

Homeward Bound - Simon & Garfunkel

And finally here are a few photos taken with a proper camera (unlike my iPhone which I used for the ongoing blog) and I hope you enjoy. For the moment, goodbye and good luck.

Bettyhill, west of Thurso

Three from Cape Wrath

Assynt, Sutherland

On the road to Ullapool

This is Plockton

Our hotel in Portree

The Mealt Falls in north Skye

One of the few times we could see the Cuillins from our hotel

Glen Coe

6th JUNE - LOCHEARNHEAD TO PEEBLES

Left our B&B at 9.30am and headed for home, and for the second consecutive day, we drove south in very heavy rain.

The Perthshire countryside through the rain

Past Loch Earn and joined the M9, the rain easing the nearer we got to Edinburgh. By the time we got home to Peebles at 11.30, the rain had become a drizzle and by early afternoon had stopped completely.

A 93 mile drive to home and for the last time on this trip, all the cases and bags were removed from the car - no more driving for a while!

It's good to be home after 11 days away.

5th JUNE - PORTREE TO LOCHEARNHEAD

Left our hotel in Portree at 9.45am. Very heavy rain which followed us down the road for more than 2 hours. We travelled back over the Skye Bridge to Kyle of Lochalsh, down past Loch Duich, through Glen Shiel, past Loch Cluanie, Loch Garry and Loch Lochy to Spean Bridge and then Fort William.

The weather going through Glen Shiel

We turned west at Fort William and drove 15 miles to Glenfinnan, the home of (the Bonnie Prince Charlie) Glenfinnan Monument and the Glenfinnan Viaduct, the longest concrete railway bridge in Scotland and famous for its' appearance in the Harry Potter films. The weather by this time had improved and the rain had stopped. We'd arrived at Glenfinnan about 12.45, had had lunch and left at 2pm.

We then came back to Fort William and drove down the side of Loch Linnhe (a very busy road this, particularly going north to Inverness) to North Ballachulish and then through Glen Coe and Rannoch Moor. Glen Coe is particularly spectacular as per the undernoted photo.

We drove south east to Crianlarich and then to our B&B at Lochearnhead, arriving about 4.15. A very old house but very clean and comfortable - an old fashioned B&B. Later we walked a mile up to The Lochearnhead Hotel for dinner, then had too many drinks in the bar afterwards in the company of six anglers and two female golfers! Walked back to the B&B in what was the most warm and glorious weather of our holiday.

We'd left Skye in the morning with the worst weather of our holiday and by the end of the day we'd had the best! That's Scottish weather for you!!

210 miles driven today.

4th JUNE - ISLE OF SKYE - SOUTH WEST AND WEST OF PORTREE (and THREE CHIMNEYS RESTAURANT)

Rain today but brief dry spell before we left the hotel at 10.15am. We could actually see The Cuillen Hills this morning, to the south of our hotel and normally covered by clouds. Photo of this to be added at a later date.

Drove south to Sligachan and turned west alongside Loch Harport, and more single track roads, to Portnalong (the end of the road). Back to the main road and north west to Dunvegan, turning off there to travel to Colbost, where the Three Chimneys restaurant (our lunch venue) was located. This part of Skye I found quite featureless, similar to the North in that there are obviously small lochs, it's quite hilly and there are numerous small villages / hamlets. It had rained quite hard for the first hour or so of this trip but dried up and remained dry for the rest of the day.

As we were early for lunch, I drove past the restaurant and decided to aim for Neist Point, right on the west coast and being on very narrow roads this took longer than I thought. Taking the wrong road too didn't help and as it was closing in on the 1.15 lunch time booking, I had to give up on that search and head back to the Three Chimneys.

This restaurant has been open for 40 years, has been listed in the world's top 50 restaurants and gained its first Michelin star last year. This is all the more amazing given that it lies 5 miles off the main road and is accessed via a single track road with passing places. Quite a bleak landscape and would not be very welcoming in the winter!

Delicious food and we had a really good 3 course lunch (during a relaxed 90 minutes) topped off with our dessert - hot marmalade pudding with drambuie custard. Beautiful!! See photo below.

And this is the restaurant itself, Janet standing outside it and the view from the restaurant.

100 miles driven today.

3rd JUNE - ISLE OF SKYE - NORTH OF PORTREE

It had been raining overnight but by the time we went down to breakfast it was bright and sunny.

We had decided to take a trip round the north of Skye and left the hotel about 9.45am. There is only one road up the eastern side of the north tip of Skye, which then wends its way down the western side back down to Portree. This road passes through Staffin on the east side and Uig on the west and the landscape is quite barren and rocky and becomes quite flat the further north you go. All along this road circling the northern part of the island there were quite a few small communities of a dozen or so houses - there were very few isolated properties.

At the start of the trip, we had a very heavy rain shower but as had been usual on our way round Scotland, it was quite brief in duration and the further north we went the brighter and sunnier it got. We were back at our hotel at 11.30am having driven 52 miles.

On the road up to Staffin

Uig Bay

We had lunch in Portree and then back for a drink in our hotel bar. Eating again at our hotel tonight as the food here seems as good as anywhere else in Portree.

I've also now booked a B&B in Lochearnhead for Friday night, as during that day we are planning to travel from here to the Glenfinnan Viaduct and on through Glencoe. About 4/5 hours driving and probably enough for one day. This leaves a 2 hour drive home to Peebles on Saturday.

2nd JUNE - PLOCKTON TO PORTREE, ISLE OF SKYE

The very wet and windy weather forecast didn't really materialise here, apart from a few hours of rain and wind early yesterday evening. Woke up to a very bright and sunny morning!

Left The Plockton Hotel about 10am and then 10 miles to the Skye Bridge and a further 36 miles to Portree and we arrived at The Cuillen Hills Hotel about 11.15am.

There was very heavy rain once we were over the Skye Bridge but that only lasted about 20 minutes and by the time we got to Portree it was fine and dry, with not a breath of wind.

After checking in, we went for a walk into the centre of Portree - a bit disappointing and almost slightly run down, unlike the harbour area which seems to have made a real effort with its' brightly painted buildings and varied businesses (hotels, B&Bs, craft shops and restaurants).

Portree Harbour

And pub prices in the centre are not much short of extortionate!!

Anyway, we had a very nice lunch back at our hotel restaurant, looking out over Loch Portree, view as below.

Have booked in for dinner tonight at our hotel and looking forward to exploring more of Skye tomorrow.

Later tonight, I tried on the off chance to book lunch for either tomorrow or Thursday at The Three Chimneys, a well commented on restaurant in the west of Skye, and luckily enough we were able to get a table for Thursday lunchtime. Looking forward to that.

Finally, a lovely evening in Skye tonight as per the following photo.

1st JUNE - ULLAPOOL TO PLOCKTON

We left Ullapool this morning at 9.20am after a continental breakfast at our B&B. We had really no choice over our breakfast as this B&B only provided "breakfast in your room" namely, home made bread, fresh fruit, choice of cereal, boiled eggs and either coffee or tea. Nevertheless, it was all very tasty, particularly the home made bread.

The weather forecast had not been great for today, in fact heavy rain was meant to have swept in from the west by lunch - but currently it's 5pm and we have had very little rain. Can't believe that we have been so lucky!

So today we drove south to Plockton via Braemore, Gairloch, Kinlochewe and Eilean Donan Castle, which I believe is known as the Wester Ross Scenic Route. Well worth the extra 40 miles / 1 hour that it took to get to Eilean Donan Castle, especially as the sun was shining most of the way down.

We stopped at the Castle about 12.05pm for lunch and a look round, which was admission money well spent. Eilean Donan Castle was quite derelict until 1912 when a 20 year restoration plan was commenced and the end result is quite fantastic.

A further 10 miles and we were in Plockton at 1.30pm, a small village sitting at the end of Loch Carron, with our hotel sitting on the waterfront, palm trees et al and a beautiful view up the loch. Particularly so since the forecast bad weather has not arrived as yet. A drive of 132 miles today wasn't too bad.

We had dinner in the hotel - great food and a place I would definitely recommend both to stay and eat.

A few photos of our journey down here are undernoted.

Loch Ewe near Gairloch

Janet at Eilean Donan Castle

View from our room at The Plockton Hotel

31st MAY - ULLAPOOL

Basically a rest day today and we wake up to a very rainy Sunday morning! The first proper bad weather we've had so far on our road trip. Just glad it wasn't like this yesterday at Cape Wrath!

We'd been told by quite a few of our friends that Ullapool was a beautiful place to visit but to me it looked like a small fishing port with a ferry terminal, this servicing the Western Isles. Not a lot to do in the village itself.

A dreich day in Ullapool

Out for a walk this morning and ended up in the pub for lunch! Out again this afternoon as the sun came out for a little while but again into the pub, as we thought it may start raining. (Heh heh)

And the weather did change for the better

30th MAY - KINLOCHBERVIE TO ULLAPOOL via CAPE WRATH

So after (a full Scottish) breakfast this morning, we packed the car and left to try again for the trip to Cape Wrath. Leaving at 9.15am, we travelled the 17 miles back up to the ferry port near Durness. Having missed out yesterday when we arrived at 10.30, I assumed that on arriving today at 9.45, we would be almost first in the queue. But no, there were about 10 people waiting on the jetty, and another 5 had already been taken over to the Cape in a small motorised dinghy (the main ferry was away for its' annual inspection).

However, today there were two minibuses operating, so we were in luck and after waiting 20 minutes for our turn to be taken the 8 minute boat trip over to Cape Wrath, we were soon on the 15 passenger minibus, which took one hour to travel the 11 mile journey to Cape Wrath lighthouse - the end of the line. This is the most north westerly point on the UK mainland and is so remote that NATO / British Army exercises are carried out here two or three times a year - at which times the Cape is not accessible to the public.

The reason for the 1 hour time scale is that the entire road from the ferry to the lighthouse is potholed and very old (mainly built in the 1850s by the Northern Lighthouse Board) and is not maintained by the local Council. But the driver was very good with his ongoing commentary and humorous comments and the time passed quite quickly.

We were allowed an hour at the lighthouse to take photographs and have a sandwich in the adjacent café. Unbelievably the weather was almost warm - the sun was shining, there was blue skies and there was hardly any wind! I can't imagine that happens very often in this part of the world!

We arrived back at our car at 2pm and drove south (some very spectacular views from this road) to Ullapool, further down the west coast, arriving at our B&B at 4pm. We'd driven a total of 83 miles today.

Some photographs of our trip are appended below.

A Ticket To Ride

Janet in the ferry

Cape Wrath lighthouse

Blue skies at Cape Wrath!

Sandy cove just south of the Cape

29th MAY - MELVICH TO KINLOCHBERVIE

Early breakfast today, leaving Melvich at 8.20am. We were looking to take the ferry over to Cape Wrath and having yesterday spoken to the guy who operated the ferry, he told us to arrive at the ferry port by 10.30am. This we did, but unfortunately there were about 20 people ahead of us and as there was only one (16 seater) minibus available (to drive the 11 miles to the lighthouse (end of the road) at Cape Wrath), we had to give up on this trip. Ironically, the weather was absolutely fantastic this morning, beautiful sunshine, blue skies and not too windy. Well, we may try again tomorrow, before we travel down to Ullapool.

After leaving Melvich, we had travelled west through Tongue and Durness on very narrow, single track roads with the usual passing places, pretty much par for the course this far north. From the ferry port (which was only 3 miles south of Durness), we carried on heading south to our B&B near Kinlochbervie (on the west coast and a very large fishing port / market) and arrived about 11.30am. Not as picturesque an area as I had imagined. A total of 80 miles driven today.

The weather, as it's been since we left Peebles, has remained generally very good, with only the odd heavy shower of rain.

Had lunch at our B&B before going out for a walk. Dinner booked for tonight - our B&B has a really good restaurant.

Durness Bay

Looking from the ferry port to Cape Wrath

The view from our B&B near Kinlochbervie 

28th MAY - NAIRN TO MELVICH (near THURSO)

We left Nairn in brilliant sunshine at 9.20am and after lunching in Wick and visiting Duncansby Head, John O'Groats and Dunnet Head, we arrived at The Melvich Hotel (located in a small village 18 miles west of Thurso) about 3.45pm. A total drive of 188 miles.

It was notable that the landscape changed north of Helmsdale, from being very hilly and rocky to becoming almost completely flat, until you reached west of John O'Groats.

We were very lucky with the weather - mostly sunny intervals, a bit windy but no rain to speak of until we left Dunnet Head and were nearly at Thurso.

Some photos from today - 

Duncansby Head - most North Easterly point of the UK mainland

The traditional John O'Groats photograph.

Dunnet Head - most northerly point on the UK mainland

Dunnet Bay

27th MAY - PEEBLES TO NAIRN

We left Peebles this morning at 9.15am and after stopping for lunch at Carrbridge, we arrived at the Newton Hotel in Nairn just after 2pm. An uneventful trip of some 185 miles.

When I lived in Nairn in the 1960's, I never even saw the Newton Hotel, far less step inside it, although I was aware at that time that Charlie Chaplin resided here for two or three weeks of most summers of that decade. I still remember seeing Chaplin in a wheelchair, being pushed round the streets of Nairn, quite happy knowing that no-one would bother him. There is a Chaplin Suite in the hotel, although that is not our accommodation!

Going out for dinner tonight with Gordon Main and his wife, Susan - to the Classroom Restaurant - Gordon's choice and located directly outside what used to be Nairn Academy, my old secondary school.

Quite heavy rain started mid afternoon, but had stopped by the time we left for the restaurant at 7pm.

Great night and excellent restaurant, followed by drinks at Uncle Bob's.

A PRECURSOR TO OUR TRIP UP NORTH

We leave for Nairn next Wednesday, but on Monday last week we travelled to Portpatrick for a couple of days. This was mainly Janet's idea, as she had visited there about 30 years ago. From Peebles, this is a journey of about 130 miles.

We were lucky with the weather, and although it was very windy, we had sun and blue skies.

We also visited the Mull of Galloway, this being the most southerly point of mainland Scotland.

Portpatrick is a lovely place to visit for a couple of days and our hotel - the Harbour House Hotel - is recommended.

So I thought I'd post again on this blog and also try adding a couple of photos of our trip away.