Lochboisdale Hotel

... on. I stopped in a parking, view point over looking the Isle of Skye, couldn't actually see Skye due to the low clouds. I ate my lunch and it almost felt like the car was being blown over, the winds were so strong.

I got to the SYHA Torriden at around 15:00 and it didn't open until 17:00 so I had a wee nap in the car park. I must be getting old, having an afternoon nap!!!

... around alot.

I arrived at my destination, Ullapool at around 16:00, parked the car up outside the hostel and went for a walk along the beach and through the town to get my bearings and to see where I could get some food. The SYHA Ullapool, opened at 17:00 and I booked in and got my bed sorted. Dinner was a Chinese takeaway....mmm!

I make my rolls for the next day and early to bed tonight as I have an early start in the morning.

... time. Lovely place, huge sweeping gardens and you had an opportunity to go out to the smaller islands in the Loch and have a look at the seals.. funny lot having their afternoon nap, lying on their sides!! They all looked up at us as we came past as if to say 'whats all this noise about then, can't you see I'm sleeping' Their natural enemy the killer whale doesn't come up as far into the Loch.. they just ...

... is at about 10m and we have to make sure we don't get too close to the wrong edge as there is a 2000 foot drop on the north side of the mountain. Up at the top I get out my stove and make a very welcomed hot chocolate for the two of us and we quickly get a couple of photos taken and the get our asses off the summit as quickly as we could.

The walk down which we though would be a lot quicker and ...

I've made it to Fort William, checked into the SYHA Glen Nevis and decided to go for a walk in to town to get some dinner. Little did I know that it was 3.5 miles each way in the pouring rain to Morrisons.

Gone to far to turn around and I am wet now.

After a quick visit to the shops, it was time to be on our way. The tide for a southwards passage was due to turn in our favour at 11:00 so we weren't exactly having to hurry. It was cloudy and pretty windless and we had about 24 miles to go, if we were to go to Loch Harport, on the western side of Skye. We thought that we would spend one night there on a visitors' mooring and if we got there in time, have a tour round the ...

We reached the hostel at Uig, one of the northernmost towns on the Isle of Skye, last night. This morning, while re-charging the camera battery, I picked up a couple of books from the hostel's library (pay or exchange). I got one in English about two sisters living in a castle with no money to their name, and one in German which I have been struggling through as we drive. I think it's about a prisoner ...

... southward through south Uist enjoying the countryside despite the rather cloudy and dark day. We made several attempts to reach the ocean shore but it was not easy as most roads ended well before reaching the shoreline. However at a place known as Trolaisgeir we did manage to reach the great Atlantic Ocean and were greeted by another magnificent white sand beach which stretched ...

We had a full day of travel from walking half hour with our packs to the bus station, taking a two hour bus through the Isle of Strangers (Lewis) and the Isle of Harris. Here we had a strange bus driver who stopped the bus (so thankfully!!) along one of the most amazingly beautiful and sunny beaches of the island!!
We ferried accross the Sound of Harris and saw cool birds, a bit like pengins but they could fly with wings that moved like propellars of a windmill ...

... this was the site of a viking garrision who operated out of here in their longboats. They carefully selected it because behind the headland, at high tide, was access to a small protected loch where they could hide their boats and also protect them in bad weather. On the highest point of the land, overlooking the sea, are the remains of a 2,000 year old Iron Age broch-like dun that would also have been used by the Vikings. The landing was extremely ...