Loch Carron was a highlight of the break. A quaint (no other word for it) cafe on the shore and the weather clearing beautifully and the mountains with steam and cloud enveloping and dissipating from them. The guy was 30 miute short of opening, but there was no way I was leaving I sat and soaked up the view and when he got back, ordered a mug of tea and bacon and egg sandwich and invited him to join me. He talked well and we shared stories but I just could not tear myself away from the view. An hour, 90 miuntes I was there and just got lost in the beauty of it.
One of our Pilots, Charlie Baker had recomended Torridon to me and the guy at the albatross cafe said to keep going through Torridon and the road is windy, quiet and very picturesque. I took both of their advice and they were spot on. An amazing road, one of the best viewpoints I have seen yet and at the end of it, the filming location for “Loch Ness” starring Ted Danson. What more could you ask for?
I saw my first deer today. I was beginning to think I was going to get through the entire trip without seeing one, but three hopped across the road in front of me and just before finding my camp spot for the night I saw a herd, though they were in a garden so could be “owned” I suppose.
It hammered it down, the conditions were awful and there was no way and no point in stopping I just laboured on in the pouring rain and the grim spray. There was an MX2 recently flipped and I stopped to see if I could help, but the locals were out and the driver had been unhurt. Horrible mess though, on it;s roof an all…A few miles later, it was like flipping a switch. The rain stopped and blue sky greeted me, just as I hit a cracking viewing point.
And that was how it stayed, to Ullapool and beyond. At around six I decided to start looking for a camping spot, but this far north, trees are in pretty short supply. Well, no they're not, but what trees there were, were fenced in or around a house. It wasn’t too breezy so I decided to look for a location with a view. It was at Loch Assynt with an island bound ruined castle that I set up camp and ran out of time to get in the bivvy before a massive squall went through.
In my waterproofs I just sat alongside it for about 25 minutes and watched as blue sky slowly approached. Then I was forced into the bivvy, prematurely by marauding midges. I’ve already experienced them, but this was a clump of about 82 million and were not put off by the smidge cream…….
I’m about 45 mins further north than planned which will hpefully get me a bit longer to explore Talmine,Thursoi amd Dunnet HEad……
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