To the Badachro Inn for a last pint.

These photos were taken on my last night in Wester Ross. It was a gorgeous evening so I decided to go for a final pint in The Badachro Inn just up the road. The setting is idyllic with the beer garden sitting just on the edge of the loch. For such a small place, the pub does a roaring trade and not, I might add, just from passing tourists. There were a fair few red faced, bulbous nosed local fishermen propping up the bar when I was there and none looked as though they had any intention of leaving anytime soon.

The village looks out onto an inlet projecting south from Loch Gairloch and is well guarded from the elements by the rocky islet of Eilean Horrisdale. The area was long renowned for its cod fishing, and Badachro's growth was as a result of that. When the fishery was in full operation much of the cod landed at Gairloch was dried at Badachro before being shipped to markets in Spain. Today the area's main catch comprises of lobsters, crabs and prawns: and the piles of lobster pots on Badachro's jetty plus the characters in the pub suggest that the village is still an active base for fishing vessels. Most of the boats on view in the inlet though,are leisure craft and very expensive they look too.

I usually go up to Melvaig, which is on the peninsula to the north of Gairloch, when in these parts but I didn't have the time this year. On the drive up, the views across the bay back towards Torridon are terrific so before returning to my hotel, I had a quick scoot across to take a few shots of the late evening sun on the hills. I was surprised how well they turned out and it was a fitting end to my stay.