If this year had been what we were expecting and hoping for on 1st January, we would already have had several adventures with Ellie, but this is not a normal year. It wasn't until the beginning of August that we found ourselves in a position to go away, so we started following the forecast and beginning to get ready and pack. At the first opportunity, Ellie was packed, and after a short delay (caused by having the other car serviced and not able to pick up until later than expected) we headed off north over the Kessock Bridge. The original plan was to stopover at a Forestry and Land Scotland Stay the Nights spot, but when we arrived at Strathrory, we were not impressed with the sloping site, despite having our new ramps with us. There were just too many midgies to be faffing about with them! So we set off again for a place we had checked out previously at Rosehall. It's a rather sweet little car park and turned out to be very quiet, we were the only occupants over night, but it is obviously popular with dog walkers and runners in the evening and morning. Nobody seemed bothered by our presence and we did a litter pick in the morning in a very deliberately obvious fashion. We also discovered that although David had switched on the gas the previous evening and also the fridge, there was apparently no gas in the morning. This could not be right. David religiously records the weight of the gas canisters before and after each trip and knew this one was still quite full. After a little logical thought and fault finding, we concluded the most likely problem was a faulty gas regulator, and the best solution would be to return home, get a new one and then try again. So that was what we did.
By later Tuesday afternoon, we set off northwards again, but this time got as far as the John Muir car park at Quinag. We had passed many campers, mostly car campers but a few vans too, at Ardvreck Castle. It is really quite sad to see.
When we arrived at the car park there we found a comfy spot with nice views and decided to stop. There was one other vehicle parked, but we guessed it belonged to a day walker and sure enough, they soon returned and left in a hurry, mostly due to the millions of midgies.
Seriously, millions and millions of midgies. Millions.
We had a reasonably good night, in the morning, the gas still worked and we had coffee with our breakfast. Several cars arrived. A family faffed in the first, applying lotions and potions before exiting the car and leaving only to return to take the keys from the ignition and lock the car, them return again to fetch something else from the boot before finally heading for Quinag. A young gentleman sat in his car a while transfixed by his mobile before eventually leaving the car with an insulated jacket slung loosely over his arm and his phone and external battery in his hand, going the opposite way to the family before pausing, turning round and following their route. Another car arrived, I think the lady filled her car radiator with water, pottered about a bit, then drove away again. David did a litter pick, but there was next to nothing.
Having seen the millions of midgies the previous evening and in the morning, and no hint of a breeze, we decided not to continue with our plans to visit Britain's highest waterfall, Eas a Chual Aluinn, as it would most likely be unpleasant, but instead head for the coast and hopefully a breeze! A quick peek at the map and a walk was spotted that was not only coastal but took in a trig point, bonus. We also decided to drive a road we'd not been on before and headed north to pick up the B869 and follow the coastline via Nedd, Drumbeg and Clashnessie, before heading to the car park near the lighthouse at Cluas Deas. Once parked we had lunch before heading off in to the murk to follow the clifftop path.
It was quite a busy little walk with plenty of people and many dogs, but not all made it as far as the Old Man of Stoer. In fact, only two other people that we saw definitely made it that far, a pair of climbers. We saw noone else after seeing them make for the cliffs until we got back to the car park.
Spot the lighthouse
At times felt like we were walking off the edge
Playing spot the landmark...
Cloud beginning to clear
Cliffs full of birds
Looking along the cliffs
Looking back
There it is! The Old Man of Stoer
Instead of returning the way we came, we continued to the Point of Stoer then headed uphill and inland to the trig at Sidhean Mor, accompanied briefly by a pair of ravens. From here, we picked up a path that avoided most of the bogs and past a small lochan. A lonely red throated diver was swimming there. We continued and picked up the track below a mast that returned us to our start point.
The trig
All gone again
Roughly 7.13 km and 430 m total ascent
We decided not to go too far to find somewhere to stop for the night and so headed for Lochinver before making for the car park we have stayed at previously at Little Assynt. Initially when we arrived there was a couple of cars and dog walkers, we were intending to stroll down to the toilets, but on reading the notices discovered (not surprisingly) they were closed, so returned to Ellie and waited for them to leave. We were soon joined by three other vans who all stayed the night and all left before us in the morning. It was a relatively quiet evening, we amused ourselves by comparing the set up of the two vans we could see, both VWs. Have to say, we prefer Ellie, they seemed to need to be in the back of their vans from outdoors quite a lot. The road, the A837, does eventually quieten down, but the traffic starts again quiet early. After the other vans left, David did a litter pick, just to be sure, but to be fair there was very little again.
The weather was not great and in the end, we decided not to bother stopping off for a walk on the way and just went home.
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