The weather was still foggy like it was yesterday so we knew
that any views we were going to have were going to be more dramatic rather than
spectacular! Our first stop was Loch
A'Mullin – a nature reserve which was really very big but there was only one
road through the whole area. I have to
say that the walk itself isn't very exciting, but there are a couple of lakes
which are definitely worth stopping off to just sit down and look over for a
while to spot wildlife. We went about
half way down the road before deciding to turn back, when we stopped off at a
couple of places before deciding to sit down and watch the water in a spot
which, funnily enough, wasn't that far from where we had parked! Mathew had spotted a bit of a track which we
followed, ending in some natural flat stones which we sat on and looked out
watching the wildlife on the lake below.
We saw a few seals around and we were quite sure we saw at least one
otter. It's body was more flexible than
a seal's and dark too, whereas the seals were quite a pale grey colour and some
were on a few rocks near the shore.
After this stop, we continued down along the coast, and we
decided to drive along the scenic Lochinver Coastal Route which was actually quite fun as it twisted
and turned and bumped up and down and all over the place. It took us just over an hour to get all the
way around, before we stopped off at Ardvreck Castle which was basically just a
ruin, but it was rather dramatically set on the coast of Loch Assynt. It was built by Angus Mor III in the latter
half of the 15th century, and began as just a simple rectangular
block as high as 3 or 4 storeys. Almost
a century later, Donald Ban IX expanded this by adding a tower, vaulted cellars
and a vault over the great hall on the first floor. This castle has seen much violence, murders,
executions and sieges before it was struck by lightning in 1795!
Carrying on, we started getting a little hungry and were on
the look out for some tea rooms which might suddenly appear, as they often seem
to around here! We stopped off at the
first one we saw which was in Elphin and we had some very nice vegetable and
lentil soup for lunch followed by a chocolate brownie which we shared between
us.
Back on the road and Knockan Crag was in thick fog so we
decided to skip it, even though it had been recommended to us, half the walk
would have been up in the clouds and the view would not have been very
spectacular. So we continued on to
Ullapool where we investigated the Museum but it was closed as it was
Sunday. At least we had a chance to
stretch our legs for a little while and I finally found a cash point so I was
able to get some money out. It was then
that we thought that the western coast of Scotland may be more conservative,
and possibly more religious than the rest of the country. We weren't sure about this, but the fact that
so many places were closed on Sunday gave us a hint.
We continued onward to Corrieshalloch Gorge and the Falls of
Measach which were quite impressive, although I didn't really like the bridge
as it was one of those which moved around quite a lot when there were other people
just walking across it. Not exactly like
the Capilano Suspension Bridge in North Vancouver, Canada, but it was advised
that no more than 6 people should been on the bridge at any one time...! Corrieshalloch Gorge is a slot gorge or box
canyon, cut by glacial meltwater between 2.6 million and 11,500 years ago. The waters of the River Droma drop some 100m
over the course of its 1.25km journey in a series of waterfalls, including the
45m Falls of Measach. In Gaelic, it is
called Easan na Miasaich which means
‘fall of the place of the platters’, whereas Corrieshalloch means ‘Ugly Hollow’
but trust me – it is far from ugly!!
After this, we drove around to our B+B in Aultbea which
was very nice indeed, owned by Delia and Bryan Islip, and we joined them for
tea, biscuits and a chat in their living room.
It turned out that Bryan was an artist and a wordsmith, his 'pastel
paintings' hung on the walls everywhere and for sale as prints in the foyer, as
well as calendars and cards. He's a
great artist, and when we were chatting to him and Delia in their front room,
he told us that what we had suspected was correct – the people on the western
coast of Scotland are very conservative and believe that NOTHING should be done
on Sundays, not even hanging your washing outside. He also told us that people living further
out in the Western Isles are also more religious and conservative and until
recently, the Isle of Lewis didn't have planes or ferries travelling to or from
the Islands on Sundays.
Kirkhill House B+B in Aultbea was very nice, and our
room was lovely. We had lots of things
to eat in our room – teacakes, milionaire's shortbread, digestive biscuits and
ready jammed scones! I don't think we've
ever had so much food in a B+B before!
After a short while chilling out in our room, we went out just down the
road to the Aultbea hotel where we had dinner before returning to the B+B
for the night.
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