GRAND TOUR OF THE SCOTTISH COAST NC500. PART 5

By Anthony Osborne.

Tuesday 20th To The Arch Inn on the banks of Lock Broom at Ullapool.

Again, we had a heartly Scottish breakfast, or at least those who wanted one did and others were more sensible and had a rest having something lighter. Many of us were overeating and suffering from all of the food proffered to us. The pounds were starting to increase our waist lines. Had we gone for two weeks many of us would have joined the ranks of the group’s fat blokes by the end of the holiday!

Over the bridge from Skye

Having left Skye over the bridge to the mainland our first call, to satisfy the wishes of Fat Controller, Gar, was to Eilean Donan Castle on its own island in Loch Duich.  ​

Eilean Donan Castle.

There has been a castle on this small island since the 13th Century and since then it has been rebuilt 4 times. Whilst its full involvement with the Jacobean rebellion in 1715 is not known. In 1719 the castle, occupied by 46 Spanish soldiers, who supported the Jacobites, was bombarded by three heavily armed Royal Navy Frigates for three days. English soldiers were sent ashore and captured the castle. In the magazine they discovered 343 barrels of gunpowder which they used to destroy the remains of the castle rendering it uninhabitable for almost 200 years. In 1911 the ruins were bought by John and Isabella MacRae who spent 20 years restoring the ruins to their current condition. It has been used in films including Highlander (1986), Loch Ness (1996), Entrapment (1999) and James Bond - The World is Not Enough (1999). Ian and Gar endeavoured to recreate a scene from the film Highlander on the bridge to the castle. One has to admit that they would not get an Oscar for their performance, you will have to see the YouTube video of Day 5 to see the performance! There is a link to the video at the end of this blog.
As we departed from the Castle we started to see more and more rugged countryside passing by lochs and mountains. Some stretches of road had covers built over them, a bit like tunnels, to stop rockfalls and avalanches, particularly in winter, blocking the road. We passed through small communities, some even having petrol pumps with E5 fuel, which we obviously had to visit on occasion!

Henry follows his trailer behind Betty past the rockfall defences and towards the artificial tunnels

We soon arrived at the start of the Applecross Pass where the roads became narrower and narrower with regular passing places. Traffic was light and most of the drivers we came across were polite and courteous. It was good to see quite a few motorcyclists out and about. When they came up behind it was easy pull into a passing place to let them by.
After filling Bill, the black MGB GT, with fresh E5 we caught up with the rest of the convoy parked by a cattle grid only to find that Betty the trans Mondeo was without driver. Gar soon appeared from some bushes muttering about too many tins of Tango, and we were off again.

Climbing towards the summit.

As we climbed towards the 2,053 ft view point up gradients sometimes achieving 1:5 the temperatures of the car cooling systems were also climbing. We were going up the side of a valley with near vertical drops on one side of the road.  

Not quite at the top but Ardarroch, the other side of Loch Kishorn, is a very long way down!

Passing places were visited often to allow traffic coming in the other direction to pass. Near the top of the pass we encountered a series of hairpin bends and then the road levelled out with a car parking area at the highest point of the road, the Bealach Na Ba (Pass of the Cattle) view point.  ​

Magnificent views and people in ‘T’ Shirts in the cold wind at the viewpoint.

It was a little cool outside the cars but some brave souls braved it in their ‘T’ Shirts! It was a magnificent view point but lacked any amenities, just a level area with a Triangulation Point at one edge.  ​

We moved on and enjoyed the sweeping road down to sea level at the small village of Applecross. Our leader set off southwards out of the village but then decided that we should be going north! We all did an about turn, avoiding traffic which was surprisingly heavy all of a sudden for a village in the middle of nowhere. On the way back a car park was spotted with a brick building in it. I think most of us explored the interior of the building and were much relieved for finding it!
Having lightened the load, we proceeded northwards out of Applecross and on across country to Ullapool. We still had almost 120 miles to drive before arriving at our next hotel, the Arch Inn. The total day’s route was 172 miles.

The Arch Inn on the Ullapool sea front.

We arrived at the Arch Inn, eventually, and checked in, each being allocated a room. Guess what? Yes Brian was on the upper floor again although he did decline a change to the ground floor. We had booked tables in the restaurant and met there occupying two tables. Sadly, as I don’t eat fish, the mainly fish-based menu was not too exciting for me. The only meat I could find, without having to suffer fish with it, was a steak burger. I have to admit that this was the least enjoyable meal I had during the tour.

To be continued ...

You Tube video day 5.