Taexalia

wild.life

Highlands and Islands In a Week part 6

And now returning to the Highlands and Islands trip - I had meant to finish the tale before now!

On the Thursday we watched the weather reports with dismay as almost all the Isles were sporting wee clouds with rain or snow symbols. It didn't look good for walking or touring or anything really. But we set off anyway with a vague plan to try and spot some dolphins or seals. We passed Inverness and crossed the Kessock Bridge and took a quick stop of at North Kessock. The tide was going out though, so no dolphins.

After that I suggested we try Chanonry Point as that is where many of the WDCS pictures seem to be taken. The drive took us through the Black Isle and back onto the coast of the Moray Firth. Chanonry Point was exposed and windy and although we sat and watched the wild white horses on the water for a bit, we soon realised dolphin spotting was off the agenda - we need to gen up on our tidal flows next time...

Decision making was up to me at this point, for some reason, so I suggested we head to Udale Bay as it was marked as an RSPB reserve on the road map. We were managing to stay within the slice of sky that wasn't black and raining for the most part and when we parked at the bay Mum and I braved the cold to spend some time in the bird hide. There was quite a bit of bird life, despite it being so early in the year, but the cold finally persuaded us back to the warmth of the Roomster. We circled the rest of the Black Isle and rejoined the A9 to cross the Cromarty Firth and find some refreshments.

Success!

Just after we left the bridge, we spotted a large seal basking on a rock at the edge of the water. naturally you can't just stop the car on the A9 for a photo shoot so Mum and I craned our necks to soak up the sight for our memories. We stopped off at The Storehouse of Foulis for some tasty soup whilst enjoying the sunshine on the water before continuing up the A9 at my request - I had spotted an ancient monument symbol.

Our drive took us across the Dornoch Firth and on past Golspie until we came to a signpost for Carn Liath. By this time the weather was questionable and we were looking out at bleak grey water. We could see what we guessed was Carn Liath Broch on the other side of the road - we had to park the car and go by foot and this included an exhilarating jaunt across the A9 with only speed and luck to protect us.

The Broch itself has some well preserved features that illustrate the double wall construction that offered defence from marauding tribes. Even though it's mostly gone, it's an impressive building.

Turning inland we decided to head for the Falls of Shin. We took some wee single track rural roads to get there and the scenery was wonderful even if the weather had turned its full force on us. The Falls of Shin were not in their full spate, but were still quite impressive - you can see salmon leaping there between February and September unless you are travelling with us and they are as scarce as dolphins. We pondered the idea of a forest walk but the rain persuaded us to continue by car and enjoy the scenery dry and warm and so we headed back across the firths and home.

On the following day the weather reports were just as bad so we decided the prospect of walking was unlikely. Instead we pointed the Roomster down the Great Glen to Fort William and then took the Road to the Isles to Mallaig. There appears to be a challenging road upgrade project going on with signs up detailing times the road is closed for blasting. Luckily we accidentally didn't need the road at any of these times and weren't too held up by the occasional traffic lights. More stunning scenery than you can shake a stick at and some of the whitest sandy beaches I have ever seen.

We arrived in Mallaig just in time for lunch which was had overlooking the harbour. We could see the CalMac Ferry at the docks and wondered about the possibility of a trip to Skye. After lunch we went to their office and were told that ferries were still all cancelled but there would be a review at 2pm to decide if the 3:30ish ferry would run. The very lovely lady took Dad's mobile number and said she would give us a call once the decision had been made.

It's a terrible thing when you have to kill some time on the Sands of Morar with white sand blowing in the gale, the Cailleach dancing and distant sun kissing crabbit mountains. The Gemmadog was in her element and flew aboot showing off her long stride and lack of sanity. The Cailleach danced in closer and round about the time that CalMac phoned to say the weather was too bad and the ferry wasn't going to run, we decided to get back in the car quick.

That is actually a hailstorm heading towards us and it caught us.

I am not sure what you call the Road to the Isles in the other direction, but we took it back to Lochailort and then turned off to drive through Moidart. We stopped at Mo's Chip Shop at the end of Loch Shiel and had a cup of tea. There were more places being added to the "we could live here" list and we managed to remain fairly close to the sunshine pockets. We came through Glen Tarbert and up the edge of Loch Linnhe to Ardgour where we caught the Corran Ferry - a five minute trip but still we were on a boatie! Homeward bound took us back up the Great Glen in time to freshen up and get changed for an evening in Inverness courtesy of Dad.

I can't think of a better way to round off a wonderful week than a couple of hours in the Iron Works being entertained by Hayseed Dixie. There is something to be said about listening to heavy metal classics covered by banjos and mandolins whilst standing amongst Inverness' finest and my folks. Surreal. But very much fun. I especially like Hayseed Dixie's song about the numpty terrorists who tried to attack Glasgow Airport last year - "I set myself on fire". They definitely tuned into the mood of the nation with regards to these guys who forgot to measure whether their car would actually fit through the doorway - "dinna mess"

And afterwards we spent our last night in the cabin before waking up to a landscape of snow and temporarily frozen pipes and then saying goodbye at Fort William - I got the gorgeous train ride home.

It seems like an age has passed...

Hello there! If you are new here, you might want to subscribe to the RSS feed for updates on this topic.

Tags: ancient monuments, cailleach, family, highlands and islands, Scotland, snow, travel, weather

Posted on April 8, 2008 in .

2 Responses to “Highlands and Islands In a Week part 6”

GreenishLady says:

April 8, 2008 at 11:47 pm

I’ve enjoyed being along on every bit of this trip. Thanks so much for sharing it all. And would that be the “Road from the Isles” perhaps?
Jaggy says:

April 9, 2008 at 11:00 pm

So many overlook our beautiful country and head abroad for Holidays and for some reason try to look for History in the backwaters of a Spanish tourist town.

Our own is much more interesting, varied, and right on our doorstep. Congratulations for braving grim weather to enjoy it. I’m looking forward to another Summer of touring the beautiful countryside and coasts we have.