Tuesday 17 September
Home to Daviot 377 miles
A long drive up to our first accommodation just south of Inverness. Several stops on the way.
Breakfast in the shadow of Stirling castle - and the flask came out for the first time!
Then a stop at the Dalwhinnie distillery - just for a leg stretch and not to sample the wares.
Mike bought himself a new t shirt.
We went to the site of the great battle of Culloden which was very near to where we were staying.
There were some Highland cattle in a field at the side of the exhibition centre - most of the foreign visitors had obviously not seen a long haired 'coo' before as they were totally fascinated!
Then we went to find out accomodation - a lovely farmhouse complete with hot tub! We unpacked and then made use of the facilities.
As we had bought food with us - knowing that there was nothing around us - we enjoyed a lovely tapas type meal in our room - looking out at the beautiful views!
Wednesday 18 September
Daviot to Helmshore 106 miles
An excellent continental breakfast then we were back on the road... only to find that we had a slow puncture.
So our first stop was to find a tyre place!
We didn't expect Kwik Fit to be our first Scotland 500 destination!
Our slow puncture turned out to be in the only tyre which had already been repaired. So after a pair of new tyres (and a considerably lighter wallet!) we eventually hit the road nearly three hours later than planned!
We decided to follow the same route as planned but maybe miss out a couple of stops. The weather forecast had been for light rain all day but as we set off it was cloudy but not raining - and the sun even came out briefly.
Cathedral ruins at Rosemarkie.
Went to to Cromarty but only saw oil rigs. Lots of birds though.
Lovely scenery.
The weather started to change so we didn't see the Struie Hill viewpoint or the Sutherland statue in all the mist and rain - and we didn't even bother trying to look at the salmon leaping at the Falls of Shin.
But it did mean that we'd caught up with our itinerary and were able to spend time wandering round the splendid Dunrobin castle.
Beautiful castle and grounds - though a lot of their fortune seems to have been made from the Clearances when thousands of crofters were driven from their lands.
Onwards to Helmsdale in the steady drizzle for fish and chips and a view from our room (complete with fairy gardens!) over the harbour.
Thursday 19 September
Helmshore to Brough 85 miles
The rain stopped so I had a quick walk before breakfast.
A pretty little village and a nice house - lovely outside and quirky inside! And right at the side of the harbour!
Think this meant fishing nets rather than computers lol.
Porridge for breakfast for me and bacon and eggs for Mike. Delish!
Met a lovely Austrian couple who were staying in the same place. Exchanged details so who knows - we may see them in Manchester or we may get over there! Always great to make new friends!
Our first stop was a short walk to visit the abandoned Clearance village of Badbea.
Even though we'd had a hearty breakfast our next stop was at the Bothy Café - another recommendation. Tea and cake!
Onwards to Lybster to look at the pretty harbour. We were stopped before we got there to be told it was closed as they were clearing up after filming there the previous day. Apparently the harbour had been decked out as part of South Georgia in the Falklands for the Netflix series (4) of The Crown.
We went a short distance down the road to turn round. As we got level with the man again he stopped us and told us that if we went now we could have a quick nosy as most of the people had gone on their lunch break. We didn't need telling twice!
Next stop was to be the Whaligoe Steps - 365 steps cut into the cliff side leading down to a small harbour. We had decided to look at it before attempting it to see if it was doable. In the end the decision was made for us as we found Whaligoe but didn't find the steps! Tbf we didn't actually try very hard!!
But big kudos to all the womenfolk who used to skip up and down the steep steps with full loads of herring on their backs!
Most of the heather had already flowered but I found a little bit which I left in the car to dry out.
We thought that we had also missed the grey cairns of Camster - copies of 5000 year old burial and religious cairns. But we managed to double back and see them.
Then we went to Wick to look at the Old Pulteney Distillery. There was no availability for tours and Mike didn't want to pay £70 for a bottle of whisky so that was that.
The rest of Wick seemed to be asleep or out!
Further down the road we saw a sign for the old Wick castle but when we got there we found that it involved a walk along with dire warnings about not falling off cliffs so we didn't do it.
We then drove to Duncansby Stacks and walked out onto the headland to see the rock formations and the nearby birds nests.
A short drive back and we were at John O' Groats. We took the obligatory photo at the sign post and set off towards Mey castle.
Then the sun came out!
Even though we were too late to visit the castle we skipped in through an open gate and managed to get a few photos before we were ushered away by a tartan trousered official.
Off we went to find our accommodation - with another distant sea view.
We went out for a meal later but as we drove to the restaurant we spotted signs for Dunnet Head - another place we wanted to visit. As it was only 3 miles away we did a detour and were rewarded with a beautiful sunset!
The restaurant was busy (well it was the only one round there!) and the food was excellent. Never thought that I'd be trying a clootie dumpling gin but I did - and it was nice!
Friday 20 September
Brough to Loch Eriboll 99 miles
A great stay with a lady called Carmel - so many similar interests in arts and crafts and life experiences it was uncanny.
... and she cooked us a great breakfast before we left!
First of all we doubled back a short way to Mey castle to have a proper look inside it.
It was an organised tour but there were only 7 of us so it was a good number to be able to look at all the rooms without jostling for position.
The guide was very informative and gave a good insight into how the Queen Mother acquired the property and how informal everything was there.
No photos allowed though which was a shame as the rooms were beautifully lit in the sunshine.
It was quite funny to see the phone boxes dotted along the coast in the tiny villages. Some working, some not - and one even used for what looked like a book and vegetable exchange point. But most of them in the most scenic locations!
We set off again on the coast road taking in Thursoe, Bettyhill and Farr beach. All stunning scenery in the 25 degree sunshine - we couldn't believe how hot it was!
We stopped to watch a man fly fishing.
We went along a minor road on the loch side and completely missed Tongue and the ruins of castle Varrich but it was worth it for the beautiful scenery. Luckily we didn't meet any cars!
Moine house - abandoned now but once an important stopping place in crossing the dangerous bogs of Flow Country - and a family lived there. Some interesting graffiti!
As we went round Loch Eriboll we discovered that many large ships had anchored up there as it was so deep. Some of the sailors had gone up onto the hillside and carved the names of their ships into the rocks. Sailors from HMS Hood had spelled out the name in rocks so that it was visible from their ship. In fact there were several ships called Hood and it was spelled out twice.
We decided to try and find them on the other side of the loch as we had to go past the area - though the location was a bit vague.
Eventually we got to our overnight stay - a caravan on the shore of Loch Eriboll. Fabulous!
We had a walk down to the loch side.
Saturday 21 September
Loch Eriboll to Drumbeg 69 miles
A beautiful sunrise over the loch.
This had been a great place for an overnight stay.
We had breakfast at the café down the road and a quick visit to a nearby pottery studio. An amazing lady with fabulous work inspired by her wonderful lochside location. Very pricey though - out of our price range!!
We had a wander at what we thought was the quarry - trying to find the names of the ships we'd read about the previous day. Nice walk but we were in totally the wrong place!!
Eventually saw the word HOOD spelled out in stones high on the hillside as we drove past.
It's there in the distance - I'm pointing towards it! We didn't walk up to it as there was no defined path and it was very boggy. Probably just as the locals like it - undisturbed!
Onwards to Smoo Cave.
Then a visit to the John Lennon memorial in Durness - rather run down which was a shame.
I do love an Irn Bru when I'm in Scotland! The colour was lovely in the sunshine!
We saw some freshly cut peat piled up in the sunshine drying out. Interesting how they cut the trenches.
Had to have a hot chocolate at Cocoa Mountain and a look round the craft shops.
Went part the way along toward Sandwood Bay with more wonderful scenery.
A stop at the Kylesku hotel for a meal.
Then on to our accommodation for the night.
A view over a loch at this stay. The owners showed us round then shot off to the pub - which closed at 8pm. We settled for a quiet night, a bottle of wine and watching the sun set!
Sunday 22 September
Drumbeg to Aultbea 136 miles
Woke up to sheep outside the window!
Mike went back from breakfast in the conservatory to our room to fetch his tablet and in those few seconds a goat walked into the house, headbutted the main door shut and then pooped on the hallway floor! Luckily Marianne the owner was totally ok about it - I suppose that is why they have hardwood easy clean floors with all the animals about!!
The goat then proceeded to peep at us from outside the conservatory door. Very funny!
So off we went, leaving the chickens, goats and sheep behind!
We headed down past Lochinver having decided that we didn't have time to go inland to see the ruins of Ardvreck castle.
Lots of photo opportunities on the way - and even though there wasn't as much sunshine as yesterday it was still about 20 degrees.
We detoured off to Achiltibuie.
A short stop in Ullapool.
The Falls of Measach - I didn't venture on to the suspension bridge but just looked at Mike's photos later!
Then another detour out to Badrallach and onwards to our accommodation at Aultbea.
Despite our (new!) guide book telling us that there was a pub in the village our host told us that it had recently been closed. So we went down the road to Poolewe for a meal.
Monday 23 September
Aultbea to Strathcarron 90 miles
Rain when we looked out the window. We thought that was it for the day but we were wrong!
The lady who owned this house was lovely but had clear ideas about how she was treating her guests etc - which was fair enough as it was her home! View from her kitchen window.
No asking what time we wanted breakfast - we were told it was 8am.
At 8am Mike was in the (separate room) shower and she knocked on our bedroom door to say breakfast was ready. I said we'd be there when Mike was ready. Two minutes later she was back to ask if we wanted tea or coffee.
But having said that her continental breakfast was lovely with fruit, yoghurt, juice, fresh baked bread and delicious preserves.
We were fed, watered and on the road for 9am - more or less ushered out of the door - and the bed had already been stripped! Very funny.
First stop was literally just down the road at the Inverewe Gardens. Not at their best so late in the year but still very lovely.
As we'd spent so long there we decided to skip our hour long trip out to Rus Reidh lighthouse. We went to Red Point beach instead. Good decision.
Badachro Inn - at the side of a beautiful loch.
Suitably fortified we headed towards the Applecross peninsula. There were all sorts of dire warnings in the guide book about not attempting this drive as a learner driver or with a big camper van etc etc due to its 1:5 gradient.
It was a stunning drive!
The pass was not as scary as it was made out to be! And we were so lucky that the bit of on/off rain had disappeared.
We saw three rainbows and a herd of Highland coos just ambling along the road!
So with the Applecross pass under our belt we drove slightly inland to Strathcarron and a lovely accommodation with views from our room on three sides.
Tuesday 24 September
Strathcarron to Inverness 110 miles
Another dull start to the day. The coast was behind us now as we travelled back to Inverness.
We were advised to take the more scenic route back to Inverness rather than using the A9. So we did. Very pretty!
Our first stop was at a pretty little pier called Somethingferry (can't remember!) but there had been no ferry there since the 1970s when the road was built.
Even though we were away from the coast there were still loads of great views.
We stopped to take pictures of the pretty little Eilean Donan castle. Lots of tour buses coming and going.
So off we went - to our next castle!
Urquhart castle. Not quite as impressive or romantic this one
A little detour to the island of Skye. Just to say we'd been!
As we were passing by we went over the bridge for coffee and cake in the sunshine.
We continued up along the side of Loch Ness.
There were not many viewing places at the side of the loch and when we did stop at ? it was full of Nessie tat and trivia! And they even had the cheek to charge 50p for the loos - which could also be paid by debit or credit cards!! That's a new one on me!!
So onwards to Inverness to book into our final stop.
A short walk along the side of the river and then into town for a final meal and an early night - we were shattered!
Wednesday 25 September
Our last morning in Scotland before making our way home. We hadn't seen the city properly but it would be a good excuse to return to the area.
A great last Scottish breakfast!
Then it was back on the road to Greenmount and home through the wet and misty weather (and floods apparently!) which we'd managed to miss for most of our trip.
We'd also managed to miss the latest Brexit debacle with the recall of parliament after the unlawful prorogation so there was a lot to catch up on!
Our Scotland 500 route had actually been planned for 509 miles but with our usual penchant for going off piste we had covered 712 miles.
Plus the nearly 800 miles to get up and down to Inverness! So we'd covered about 1500 miles in total over the week. Well I'd just looked at the scenery whilst Mike drove!
A fabulous adventure and a great trip! We will be back.. 😁
