Day 20:  - Tuesday, 17 September 

Weather: 14º - 17º - Cloudy, windy, sunny in the afternoon

Accommodation: Armadale House, Armadale, Sutherland 


Our alarms woke us at 5.00am and after a quick shower, breakfast and final pack we were at the ferry terminal, a two minute drive away, at 5.50am well ahead of the final check-in time of 6.10am. It was dark and the ferry was well lit in the Stornoway Harbour. I had yoghurt and two Kwells for breakfast!



We have had a wonderful time in the Outer Hebrides so it was a bit sad to watch Stornoway disappear in the distance. However, our next adventure begins and at the end of the day we were staying half way across the top of Scotland making our way towards the Orkneys. 



The ferry left on time at 7.00am as the sky started to lighten and the sea was only a little choppy. We found the quiet lounge so we could have some further sleep. As we left the harbour I could see the lolaire Memorial on the coast and the marker in the sea when the ship sank. They were so close to home. 



The ferry arrived in the picturesque fishing town of Ullapool at 9.30am and we wished we could have stayed to have a look around but we can’t do everything and we had to press on. 


Our destination today was going to be Durness, NW Scotland but we had trouble getting accommodation so we booked further along the coastal road and toured Durness during the day rather than staying the night. Staying at Armadale puts us much closer to the ferry at Scrabster near Thurso when we catch it early tomorrow afternoon. We’re pleased to be staying at Armadale as the trip to the ferry tomorrow would have been tight from Durness. The majority of the coastal road is single lane with passing places which was slow going as there was a lot of traffic with a great proportion of them being large motorhomes. There were many sheep both on the road and on the sides of the road. And at one time even a tractor which made it super tricky with the motorhomes.



Our highlight of the day was visiting Smoo Cave at Durness. It is thought that the word Smoo comes from an old Norse word meaning hold or hiding place. Within the cave is a 20m impressive waterfall. There is a tidal gorge at the entrance of the cave. It was a steep climb down and up from the cave on wide steps. 





When we arrived at our B&B we were warmly met by our wonderful host Dette, an old Dutch-born woman who has owned the Victorian mansion for 17 years. It was built in 1854 and it is huge. We have a large room on the bottom left hand side of the house overlooking the lovely garden and the hills in the distance.





After the long drive Henk and I crashed for about an hour before setting off for dinner. Dette suggested The Strathy Inn, a tiny inn about five minutes from the B&B. The inn is in the middle of nowhere like our B&B. It was built in 1810 as a coaching inn and is now a bar, restaurant and has accommodation. The restaurant only had three tables and we got the last one. We had a delicious home-cooked meal and had a great chat with the owner. 



After such a long day we were early in bed and feeling excited knowing that this time tomorrow night we’ll be in the Orkneys. 



Comments

  1. Julie HSeptember 17, 2024 at 4:00 PM

    You journey has been fascinating! Most of the places and sites you have visited I have never heard of, and there is so much history. Loving it.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
  Day 30: Manchester - Friday, 27 September Weather: 6º - 13º - Partly cloudy, windy, chilly Accommodation: Staycity Aparthotels  We woke to a brighter day. The clouds had lifted considerably and the wind had dropped. The sea between the high cliff and the harbour wall at Eyemouth was still very rough with high waves coming onto the shore. It was so different from the calm seas we saw only two days ago only a short distance north of Eyemouth. Our accommodation didn’t include breakfast so we packed our car and drove to the harbour at the other end of the village to find a cafe. We couldn’t see anything open and nearly walked passed  the Waterfront Cafe as we walked into the chilly wind. The award-winning cafe sits inside a plain harbour building. Henk and I indulged in French Toast with bacon and lashings of maple syrup (as Enid Blyton would say!). Whilst waiting for breakfast to be cooked I walked along the long, narrow harbour to take photos. The wind was sti...
Read more
Image
Day 5 - Oban to Portree, Isle of Skye - Monday, 2 September Weather - Overcast, drizzly - 10º - 15ºc  Accommodation - Burnbrae Apartment, Portree  This was a day of travelling to arrive at the Isle of Skye for our week’s stay. Our highlights on the way were the Eilean Donan Castle and the little village of Plockton. And, of course, we were very excited to have arrived on the Isle of Skye. It was a good day to drive as the weather was mostly drizzly and it was cosy in the car. We left Oban at 9.00am and arrived at Portree at 3.00pm. There was four hours of driving. The A82 road hugged the coastline most of the way and it felt we were very much in Scotland with the drizzle, low mists, high mountains, large fir trees, lochs and mountain streams. It was a very pretty, atmospheric drive.  The one radio station we could tune into was BBC Gaelic so the Scottish music added to the experience. After three hours of driving we arrived at the Eilean Donan Castle. It was goo...
Read more
Image
  Day 28: Leith, Edinburgh - Wednesday, 25 September Weather: 3º - 11º - Sunny Accommodation: Pillars House Guesthouse We woke up to a glorious day in Anstruther. There was not a cloud in the sky. Before breakfast I crossed the road from our accommodation and took some photos of the harbour in the bright sunshine.  The day was in two parts - before arriving in Leith, Edinburgh and after arriving in the city. We took the Fife Coastal Route and visited many pretty harbour villages, all very close to the each other and looking spectacular in the morning sun. The first village we visited was Pittenweem only a seven minutes drive on a minor road from Anstruther. I wanted to visit Pittenweem having read Australian author Karen Brook’s terrific historical novel, The Darkest Shore which is set in the early 1700’s in the tiny village. It has a beautiful deep harbour.  A number of men were sweeping up autumn leaves from the Main Street. The leaves are now falling quickl...
Read more