More visitors

Anne and her boyfriend Ross have been doing the North Coast 500 Route this week, a very popular driving route around the north of Scotland, starting and finishing in Inverness. Ullapool is a popular stop on the Route, so Anne contacted us and asked if she could pop in to see us. Naturally we were delighted to invite them to stay overnight, and it was a bonus that Ally and Cat are here this week because it meant that they had young people with whom to socialise as well as us oldies. It’s the first time that we have met Ross and they seem very happy. We all went out for dinner to the Ceilidh Place and we had a convivial evening, then strolled back to the cottage as the sun set over the Summer Isles, for more drinks and chat. 

The young people were all up early this morning. The weather, which was so rainy only a couple of days ago, has turned absolutely gorgeous. Blue skies with one or two little lenticular clouds, and really warm. Ally and Cat were heading with their tent for a two day walk at Strathcarron. Anne and Ross were heading to Plockton in the next leg of their NC500 trip. And James went to bag two Corbetts at Strathconon. I also had an excursion planned; I cycled to and from the end of Loch Achall. The first part of the cycle is a bit steep for me but I managed to stay on the bike for most of the time, only getting off to push it on a couple of sections. Then it descends to a bridge over the river and goes along the side of the loch. The views of the blue loch sparkling in the sunshine were tremendous. When I cycled back I went for a swim in a large pool just below the waterfall at the bridge; James had told me about it. It was great for swimming, and lovely and cool on this hot day. If you swim up the the waterfall you can be swept down the pool by the rushing water, which is brilliant. The good thing about the last part of the cycle is of course that it’s all downhill! Later James and I walked into the centre of Ullapool to get fish suppers. It was nice to see lots of people outside enjoying the sunshine.