We lay a little bit later this morning, as we didn't have a very long trajectory to accomplish. We got a lovely coffee in the village and filled up our trusty Citroën, as we weren't sure where in this godforsaken countryside we might encounter another petrol station! At the coffee food truck I spotted an interesting item on the menu: haggis in your breakfast roll!
First we want to purchase plastic rain ponchos, in case of dire need, and we'd seen them at Eilean Donan, so off we go.
Skye bridge, this time at leisure, is a full pleasure.
Now what do you know, the sun is shining at Eilean Donan, so we get an awesome new set of photos there!
The yellow stuff in the foreground is kelp.
Our journey today will take us from Dornie back to Auchtertyre, then north past Achmore and Strathcarron, and all along Loch Carron past Ardnarff, through the Strathcarron Tunnel, Attadale, Coulags, Achnashellach, Craig, Achnasheen. Here we turn west towards Loch Maree, a very large loch with beautiful scenery, Kinlochewe, Talladale, Victoria Falls (we wanted to have a look, but saw it involved a bit of hiking to another waterfall & we'd seen too many already), Charlestown and Gairloch. This place struck us as an undiscovered Gem! Then on to Poolewe, Tournaig, Drumchork, Laide, First Coast, Mungasdale, Badcaul, Ardessie (another famous waterfall), and our resting place, the Dundonnell Hotel.
We are now moving into a quite different landscape, one of forestry and timber. This did not exist on Skye at all.
Pardon the drops! Its raining, which makes photography from a moving car quite difficult. The landscape is mostly planted pine forests, or forests being harvested for timber, or vast areas of tree stumps.
There is a railway line next to the road, which runs next to Loch Carron, and here comes the Strathcarron tunnel...
We have reached Loch Maree, a HUGE loch with lovely scenery. The Scottish Highlands is a landscape of high mountains and moors and lochs. The main economic activity besides tourism is afforestation, it seems. Other than that cattle and sheep, crofting, fishing and aquaculture, and wind energy.
Here at the end of Loch Maree floating on the water is a seafood farm: oysters, mussels, crayfish etc.
These yellow bins are found on steep slopes or downhill roads. They are grit bins, to put on the road when it is slippery.
And now just a few snapshots of the road to Gairloch.
Here we encountered rhododendrons for the first time, and from here on the road is lined with them!
There was a lookout post just around this corner, and we stopped there on a whim. What a view!! We were quite hungry already, and thought we would have lunch at Gairloch, but as it was sunny and definitely not too windy, we made ourselves some lunchies in the boot: sourdough bread we cut with a carton knife (yes, really!), butter and the best brie. I sat down on a bench next to a man who told me he felt like he was at primary school, wanting to exchange samies with a classmate...
View of Loch Maree from Glen Docharty
My brie-broodjie
We wanted to explore to see what the Scots meant by Victoria Falls, but found out it was a place Queen Victoria was quite fond of, and thought nah, not another waterfall!
This is Gairloch at the sea. And look at the golf course next to the beach!
And onwards to Dundonnell.
Here we are at last in the Dundonnell Hotel, a truly old-fashioned hotel, to our delight. The restaurant serves dinner from 6-8, and at 8 a local band, Destitution Road, sings folk songs of the world. The bar is open from 5.
Izzie and I regard ourselves so lucky that we found this place off the beaten track! So to celebrate, we each had a half-pint of lager with our wonderful slow cooked pork belly, creamy mustard and tarragon sauce, served with a potato cheese gratin, roasted carrots and tender stem broccoli. At 8 we came down for the concert. They handed out a songbook so people could join in, but no-one really sang. I loved it!
Good night, folks!
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