Back Up To Wester Ross

A journey of three parts. The first was Bradford to my caravan near Penrith, the next up to Stirling and the final one up to Badachro near Gairloch.

The first photo is of Doune Castle which is near Stirling where we spent our first night. Sal wanted to go there as she is a fan of The Outlander, which uses it as Castle Leoch. Unfortunately the castle was in the process of undergoing a structural survey so there was fencing all around the base and no admission was allowed. The Castle was also featured in Monty Python And The Holy Grail.

We had a quiet night at the hotel and next morning, after a breakfast sandwich at the local Dobbies, began our long journey up to Wester Ross. It is a very tedious trip up the A9 to Inverness and the miles seem very long. We did have a stop at Carrbridge which is on the edge of The Caingorm National Park, just to stretch our legs and hopefully have a coffee. Unfortunately the cafe we called in the previous year had now been turned in to a pizza and burger takeaway so we had to do without.

Inverness was reached during rush hour so the traffic build up quite considerable but once through, we headed across country and soon the hills of Torridon and The Great Wilderness were in sight. We made our final stop on the shores of Loch Maree where we were greeted by our first rainbow. At this time of year they are a frequent occurrence and we were treated to some belters over the coming week.

Half an hour later, and we were unlocking the door to Blacksmith\"s Cottage in Badachro. Cases were taken upstairs, food put away and drinks cracked open. It was quite mild so we sat outside, taking in the view across the loch to distant Gairloch and relaxing after our journey.

All year I had been fearing that our holiday would be cancelled due to the pandemic, so it was such a relief to finally get there.

Our next day was a quiet, local one, just visiting The Bookstore Cafe in Strath, going for a stroll along the beach and visiting Gairloch Harbour with its locally built and financed Sitooterie. It as amazing that such a simple idea coming from local folk can give so much pleasure, not only to locals but to the wider visiting population.