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Published: July 31st 2010
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Sunset at Poolewe
It was worth staying awake until 10.30 to capture this Things we have learnt about Scotland so far - it never gets dark and the scenery and wildlife are great - what next?
Going to Skye seemed like a really good idea until we were sat in the van having lunch before crossing the bridge over there. The wind was gusting force 8 and we sat watching to see if lorries could get across before attempting the crossing ourselves. All went well but it was just as nerve racking on the island as the roads were very exposed with the added complication of being single track. We pushed on and made it to the site on the banks of Loch Greshornish where we pitched up next to a small fence which we hoped would provide some shelter. The wind continued at force 8, gusting 9, for the entire 6 nights of our stay and it chucked it down with rain, however we had a fantastic time. The scenery is amazing, waterfalls everywhere (probably something to do with the rain), with the most spectacular ones plunging over the edge of cliffs into the sea - never seen that before. One day we drove to Loch Dunvegan where we were lucky enough
Waterfall plunging into the sea on Skye
One on many we saw, they also plunge onto roads, anywhere really - must be all the rain to see lots of seals, both in the water and hauled out. We also visited the coral beach which was lovely - it must be so nice there on a warm sunny day, white coral beach, turquoise sea, seals and lots of islands to look at, hey ho. Next stop was Neist Point, a light house on the west of the island where the sea is really rough and we watched gannets plunging into the crashing sea. On our last day we went into the Cuillin Hills. These were formed during a volcanic eruption and you can see where the lava cooled rapidly as it poured down the hills. Trevor was attacked by an artic tern on Cuillin Bay while trying to take it’s picture - must of wanted its best side showing! We had been intending to visit the Outer Hebrides but it was too rough, we didn’t even fancy the short trip to try and spot sea eagles. We will definitely return to Skye, hopefully we will get better weather next time. A sign we saw on one of the beaches warning of the dangers of remote areas inspired us to keep heading north, we thought the weather
must improve - wrong.
Another thing learnt - there aren’t many roads in Scotland and the ‘A’ roads are single track and littered with cattle grids, sheep (described in one tourist brochure as nasty, malicious little beast whose sole aim is to force you off the road) and enormous cows. However there is so little traffic (mainly comprising of foreign tourists), loads of passing spaces big enough for our van and plenty of opportunities to park for photo stops that it really doesn’t seem to be a problem - but then I’m not driving!
Next stop Poolewe, a great site right on the shores of Loch Ewe, where the wardens Dean and Angela were enjoying their job so much they have inspired us to send off for information about being wardens as this maybe an option for topping up the funds. The wind dropped and we managed to get our awning up, but the rain continued to be a problem for the next 10 days - thanks to all the people down south who kept telling us about the great weather they were getting, really helped. We did manage a boat trip, this time on Loch Gairloch. The
tour operator was a marine biologist and knew everything there was to know about the wild life we saw. Did you know that seals sleep on the sea bed? We didn’t. We also saw porpoises - impossible to photograph as they are too fast and many sea birds, including Great Skuas. We will never look at gulls in the same way again, we can now identify black headed gulls, herring gulls, gannets, fulmars, guillemots, black guillemots, razor bills, cormorants and shags - well until we forget again. There are some lovely beaches in the area, especially around Gruinard Bay, white sand and dramatic rock formations, great stuff. Our favourite part of the day was just before sunset (about 10:30) when we often saw seals near the site, one night we watched two fighting over a fish - they were so close we could hear them breathing. We didn’t manage to see any otters though we kept trying.
We then headed for the most north westerly town on mainland UK, Durness. (Have just realised it has taken us 6 months to travel the length of the country, doesn’t seem like 5 minutes to us, but as someone kindly pointed out
Artic Tern
Fights with Trevor to get his best side ‘you could have walked it in that time’) We stayed at a fantastic five van site on Loch Eriboll. Mr Smith, 94 Laid thank you we had a great time. We thought the view from the van at Poolewe couldn’t be beaten - we were wrong. Again we were on the side of a loch, the scenery was stunning and a short walk through the croft took you down to where the otters could be seen - and the sun came out! One night we saw an otter bring a very wiggly fish onto a rock and eat it, we could hear it ripping it apart, a bit gruesome. On the first day we cycled along the loch to the north coast, the first sight of it blew us away. Huge beaches with silver sand and soaring cliffs, we just had to explore them. We also visited Smoo cave which has a massive waterfall crashing through it (and has the largest entrance of any sea cave in Britain), unfortunately the boat trip into the next cavern wasn’t running due to flooding, I wonder why? We also wanted to visit Cape Wrath, this involved a ferry trip and a mini bus
as although Cape Wrath is connected to the mainland there are no roads. The ferry trip was okay but the mini bus was ancient and driven at great speed over a bumpy track for nearly half an hour, I thought we were going to die, but it was worth it to stand on the most north westerly, and remote, point of the British mainland. On the way back we stopped off to see more puffins - the little devils get everywhere.
It doesn’t get better than this.
But it does!!!!!!!!!!
The next site was another five van site, this time at Skerry harbour, a tiny harbour on the shores of the North sea. The site was right on the shore where the track ran out - best views EVER, from the van we could watch the 5 or so small boats coming and going, the waves crashing on the islands and rocks and the sea life. There was only 3 of us staying there, the owner lived a fair distance away and it was so peaceful - there was nothing between us and the arctic. On the downside there was no signal of any kind, tv (Trev
It all goes wrong
This farmer was doing so well until he met us on our bikes missed his first formula 1 race for years), mobile or internet and one day we set up an ‘office’ on the rocks near the site to use the internet and book our next sites. We only used the car once during our 5 night stay, to visit Strathy point and watch unsuccessfully for whales, as it was just so nice.
Can it get any better?
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Emma
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Caravan
Even in a field all on it's own your caravan still looks massive. p.s bring us back a seal would you? And an otter if you can fit one in. XXX