Morefield Motel Ullapool

... local hangout for the cast and crew. They even pinched the 'Glenbogle' village sign when shooting ended.

Then up the road to the Culloden Battlefield, where the native Scots (led by Bonnie Prince Charlie) fought the Brits and were fairly well decimated. You can walk around the battlefield, and the two sides are represented by red (English) or blue (Scots) flags. There are also headstones where mass graves for the clans lie.

Back on the road ...

... from sea level to over 2,000 feet in 5 miles. I made it to 4 miles and had to turn around :-(

It was pouring with rain and the wind was so strong I couldn't cycle forwards without falling off, I even found it difficult to push the bike into the wind up the road. As I could see the cloud cover lowering over the mountain and no sign of the wind passing, I decided to turn ...

... a visit to Smoo Cave. I got to the hostel at around 11:30 and went down to visit Smoo Cave. This took approximately 10 minutes as there was not much to see except, yes you guessed it, a cave and some water!

So I decided to carry on driving along the North West Highland route, where around every corner was a photo opportunity so as you can imagine I was stopping the car every mile or so just to get out and take a photo. I now have plenty ...

... phoned ahead to make sure that there
is some availability and there is. Great, my first night back in
Scotland is a SYHA Carbisdale Castle, and what a hostel this is. I arrive at the castle at 7pm and
dinner is just being served so I treat myself to a cooked dinner after my 8.5 hour drive up, I think I deserve it.

... laughing?)...(yes, that's what the sign said, swear it on my life). It was located right across from a road sign that said "Loon's Reserve"... its like God left a present for anyone with a sense of humor out in B.F.E. Orkney, I tell you. To make up for all of the sheep.
4. Was a guest at a pretendy-wedding today. It was a classy affair. Location: the bus. Unlucky couple: Aaron and Isabelle (who, incidently, were the ...

... and kept going …. slowly. As a driver, you fear being side-swiped by every oncoming vehicle. As a passenger, I spent the whole time cringing away from the left side expecting to be killed at any moment from running into a post or rock wall at speed. Either way, it is surprisingly difficult to judge where your boundaries are, where the edge of the car actually is in relation to the road. By the end of the week I was up to the speed limit and sometimes spent ...

... off the bus into the freezing cold highlands rain no less than 5 times. Last night was a doozie, though, shower-wise. My goodness... just picture a goldfish that's been coated in butter doing slidey-slide all over in its little bowl...and that's how my "tub shower" went.

On a side note, I have a hugely massive crush on our old man bus driver, Brian. For instance, I was walking up the 3 ...

... yeh, think so, you not coming?' I was wavering until a voice came from the underneath the quilt in Darren's direction, 'John, get back into bed... you're one of us' and that decided it. The three of us had a late breakfast (with the red squirrels) and then a swim and a lounge at the spa pool in Aviemore. Initial guilt at letting down the experienced mountain men was eclipsed by the pure delight of bubbles tickling the lower back and massaging sore muscles. When the ...

... and swiftly moving water of the River Ness was probably no colder than the air.

In the last of the daylight we tracked along the western edge of the 23 mile long but very narrow Loch Ness. Previously I had wondered if the monster myth had been a creative attempt to get tourists to come to an otherwise unremarkable place (a tactic similar to the creation of a ridiculously long name for a certain nondescript village in North-West Wales ...

... evening I joined the hordes in search of Mackenzie's Poltergeist on one of Edinburgh's many ghost tours. I don't know what I was thinking in paying someone to let me into a chained-up haunted cemetery near midnight so they could scare the **** out of me, but the tour was actually quite interesting and genuinely historic. For the record, no real ghouls emerged. As much as I would love to spend more time in Edinburgh, I think I'll wait until ...