Blogs from Sutherland, Scotland, United Kingdom, Europe - page 2

Getting to Lochinver was a mission in itself. There wasn’t a lot of information available, and hardly anyone really knew how to get there. The first stop was easy enough, I had to make my way to Inverness. I went on to the customer service desk and asked how to get to Lochinver, the number 67 bus with a connection at Ullapool. Which bus do I connect with? Not sure. What time will it come? Don’t know. That was pretty much the theme. I got to Ullapool easy enough, but from there the same questions yielded the same answers. Even the bus timetable was really unclear, there were different times for summer, winter and school days. I asked at the Ullapool pier, they told me to go to the Information Centre. The guy there told me ... read more

I’ve been in Lochinver now for over a month, and despite working all but 4 days in that month I’ve still managed to get around the area and check it out. Lochinver itself is a decent little town. As you come in the town is split in two through the water bed that leads out to the sea. In terms of shops, it has two groceries, a deli, two restaurants (one of which is Michelin star rated, the other is Inver Lodge), a whole bunch of B&B’s and two pubs. There is one set of traffic lights for a pedestrian crossing which is always on green (actually I have seen it red once, some foreigners had pressed the button even though there were no cars. They were probably Spanish). Needless to say in terms of entertainment, ... read more

Day 36 Tongue- Thurso ( and Orkney!) 45 miles 1211 miles The previous evening the weather had dried up and I had enjoyed good views on a short stroll around Tongue. Was the wet weather finally over? - No Chance!!. This morning the rain was falling like stair rods although the wind had gone - so by the time I got to the top of the long hill out of Tongue i was soaked through once again. This was to be the first of many hills on what was possibly the hilliest route since North Cornwall. Initially the rain was so hard that views were poor again, but thankfully by eleven it had stopped and after a change of clothes in a bus shelter I was able to carry on in comfort. The road initially ... read more

Geo: 58.0265, -4.40151July 7, 2010Thurso, Scotland6:00-8:00 a.m.I must have slept really well last night because I missed the storm that everyone was talking about in the morning. I didn't hear a thing and I even had the bedroom window open. After breakfast of scrambled eggs and waffles (on the side this time), we boarded the bus to head to the Isle of Skye. We have to retrace our steps back for about 2 hours. So we will pass through the towns of Latheron, Dunbeath, Helmsdale, Brora, and Golspie onto our first stop in the town of Lairg.Lairg, ScotlandWe stopped here from 9:50 to 11:00 to rest, grab a bite to eat, and view the Shin Falls on the Shin River (very nice little fall, even saw a salmon jump up through the water on its way ... read more

I have developed a fairly fun rule for travel: always accept. Why not? I mean, within reason, but generally speaking, unlike in my home life, here if someone invites me to a pub or for dinner or on some kind of adventure, I say 'sure, why not?' And the result is that I've had wonderful times with all sorts of people that I'd normally have ruled out from the get-go. Take Durness, for example. I went on a tour of a sea cave and on this tour was a girl who seemed particularly eager to befriend me. Turned out that we were camping at the same campground. She invited me to hang out with her after the tour. Sure, why not? Leaving the boat, the somewhat odd man doing the tour, recognizing my new friend from ... read more