A scenic drive and stops today, through low-populated northern coastal areas. Few facilities along the way, so our first stop was a grocery store to lay in a picnic lunch for later. For us, a cheese and red-onion sandwich, some raw carrots and a Kit Kat bar, all to split.
Our first scenery stop was near Portskerra Harbour for a rest break. Although we didn't go down to the harbour, it's a pretty area:
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| An unusual fence, using vertical stone slabs |
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| Nice picnic spot for a few people. Too small and too early for our group though. |
On the road again, some varied NC500 tour terrain:
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| Colourful heather bloom |
It was getting to be time for lunch, so we stopped at Smoo Caves where they had picnic tables and facilities, and a somewhat challenging hike way down into a valley and a cave with a waterfall, a lovely 2 1/2 hour break.
The cave entrance is located at the end of this 600 metres (660 yd) long tidal gorge (Geodha Smoo) which was once part of the cave, now collapsed.
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| Very fjord-like, draining water from the cave out to sea |
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| An overview of the trail down to the cave, and back up |
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| Covered walkway into the falls view. Wet in there. |
A short video of the falls in action:
A Wiki link if you'd like more information about the cave:
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| Nice-sized camper for NC500 touring |
Leaving the caves, we stopped for a short visit to nearby John Lennon Memorial garden. Lennon shared boyhood holidays in the Durness area. A nice little oasis when tour buses aren't visiting...
We reached our hotel in Ullapool about 4:30 today, a nice early stop. A one-night stay at the Caledonian Hotel.
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