Retirement Travels 2018 – The Hebrides Part 3 – Stornoway to Loch Lomond

An early night for our 6am start the next morning for yet another ferry – this one from Stornoway to Ullapool. We were lucky yet again – a lovely calm crossing. My son had planned a drive along to Gairloch, and back towards Inverness.

Yet again , some glorious scenery. This one is overlooking Little Loch Broom, looking back towards the islands we had just sailed past on our way into Ullapool on the ferry. (There has been no editing on these photographs – that lovely blue sky was for real!)

I like this one if only because of the placing of my son taking his own photos… It adds context.

The road took us past the island of Gruinard, famous for being used in anthrax experiments, although apparently it was decontaminated in the 1990’s. I confess I am not sure exactly where these were taken, except it was on the road to Gairloch, but aren’t they beautiful…

We had lunch in a lovely little cafe, the Whistle stop in Kinlochewe, which my son had discovered on a previous trip. We all had a lovely lunch – I can thoroughly recommend it.

We then headed for Inverness. We had booked a small self-catering apartment. The location was fantastic, really close to the centre of town, and the owner was ready with a parking permit, meaning we could park right outside. The apartment only rated an OK, but I won’t name and shame them, because by the time this post will be published, it will have been taken over by new owners. It had the potential to be amazing, but it was tired and in need of some TLC. I am sure the new owners will sort that out very quickly. However, it provided a very welcome patio with a seat in the sun, working wi-fi and a functioning kitchen, so it met what we needed.

The next morning we were greeted with rain – the first of our holiday. (To those readers who don’t come from Scotland or Ireland, you will not appreciate how lucky it is to have a whole week in early April with no rain!) Ireland and Scotland are green because of that wet stuff that falls from the sky!

We headed off down along Loch Ness. We avoided the tourist shops en route and then headed off to the Kyle of Lochalsh, and the bridge to Skye. The roads are narrow, and we followed a couple of lorries (not quite wide loads but close)  However, all credit to the lorry drivers, they pulled in and let everyone past.

Late morning we arrived at a lovely village, Dornie. I was delighted because they had a craft fair. in this very hall.

I think they have one about once a month. (As my more regular readers know I am into crafts) So I was able to spend a lovely time wandering around knitters, weavers, bakers, jam makers, stone polishers and many more. One chap was baking bread, that was effectively a sandwich or maybe better described as a Calzone – e.g. a bread wrapping to sausage & bacon, plus many more offerings. Had we been self-catering rather than staying in a hotel, we would have bought a few more things. However, we had a lovely coffee and cake, I bought a few stones. We were also able to get a few nice photographs of the local castle, Eilean Donan.

Then we headed off to Skye. It was the first time I had crossed the bridge since it had been built. It was built in the mid-1990’s, originally as a toll bridge, but the Scottish Government bought it in 2004, so it is now toll-free. We met up with my daughter-in-law and had a lovely lunch at Sabhal Mor Ostaig, prior to yet another ferry back to Mallaig, and then on to Fort William. They were heading for the overnight sleeper to London, we were staying in Fort William overnight then heading home via friends near Helensburgh.

The road to FortWilliam from Mallaig was lovely, so still. We got some lovely reflective photographs

Sadly on the second photograph, there was a very dead deer lying in the field, which had either been hit by a car or a train. They are such lovely animals.

The next morning as we set off from Fort William, we were just spoilt by the lovely still waters and glorious views. Here are a few

 

 

These hills show you that Winter was not that long ago

 

The mist had descended by the time we got to Loch Lomond, but still some lovely photographs, sort of eerie…

 

 

We had a lovely lunch with our friends and headed home

So the end of a lovely week in the Hebrides and the North of Scotland.

I hope you have enjoyed this mainly photographic tour….

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