Surprisingly we woke to a glorious morning in Ulapool. The tent was still wet so had to shammy it down. It was getting a regular occurance. I think its rained every night this trip. We set off back on the main roads towards Gruinard and Laide. Was a nice drive through the valley despite some impatient driver who nearly caused an accident. We did pull over when it was safe to do so, baring in mind some of the pullover spots had huge potholes the tuks wouldn’t cope with at speed. Anyhoo it was only the one person, I just got a fright. We stopped at the wee General store/fuel Station in Laide where the owner was ever so kind and asking lots of questions. She was very informative and told us that Gruinard Island was known as anthrax Island. In brief the island was used during the second World War for germ experiments and was only declared contamination free in 1990. I’m sure there is more to this, something I’ll read up on more. Also the area just north was complete closed off and was a high area of acrivity during the second World War. They still today do many exercises around the area. Another interesting fact was Garloch was the only high school on that peninsula. Meaning kids have to travel 15miles a day to get to school sometimes more. This women was a wealth of knowledge so well worth chatting to if your passing by the area. The station had just had a power cut and the lady informed is the likely hood is there was a lightening strike somewhere in the loop. She wasn’t wrong. As we left and reach the top of the hill you could see the dark dark clouds in the distance and I seen a large flash out over the water. It was coming in and it wasn’t long before it started. We seemed to skip the worst of the rain and reached Garloch. Still wet and miserable we opted for some food, quick bite to eat by the waterfront. As we were eating someone came to chat to say he had seen it online and asked us how things were going. After a chat, he handed us a donation which was so kind. We needed it today. Tiredness was kicking in from the lack of sleep and the rain was dampening our spirits. We continued down to kinlochewe and from there headed along the valley which was just Incredibeble. It was wet and miserable but the road was flat single tracked and we felt absolutely tiny in amoung the giant mountains either side. We even stopped a few times to get out in the rain to just admire the moodiness of the area. In the sun it would show so different. That’s what I love about Scotland, regardless of the weather you still get a great view, and it changes all the time . We soon approached sheildaig camping and Cabins. What a lovely wee site. The owners kindly donated us free accommodation so we pitched up in the rain whilst getting bombarded with midges. Everyone exhausted and fed up of the rain I think tensions were running high but once the tent was pitched it was chill time. Bobby cooked us some food and the rain finally stopped, unfortunately the midges didn’t. Bobby and I went for a stroll to see the village of sheildaig. Quiet place but lovely views and surroundings. Little boats sitting out on still waters as we sipped on our drink in the bar. Soon we were back in the tent listening to the rain as we drifted off to sleep
754 total views, 2 views today
Well done guys in the rain, it didn’t stop all day. Was utterly horrendous. Yous are all doing incredible especially in the challenging roads. Ashame about the inconsiderate drivers.