Tuesday 8th October, 2024 – Lochinver to Gairloch

Distance driven: 86.0 miles
Time at the wheel: 2 hours 26 minutes
Heiland coos spotted: 0 (Normal service has resumed)

We’d done two nights at the Old Coach House (Cosy Highland Fireside Escape) so again it was time to move on to our next two-night stop. First, though, we wanted to pop to Lochinver Larder to buy some pies, and just nose around a bit. They also do pies by post and having tried the first of the pies we brought home, that’s definitely going to happen. There is also a butcher and game dealer, a bookshop, and several other shops, so Lochinver is definitely somewhere to go if you want to shop for supplies on the route. We also saw the deer which were grazing on the local football pitch despite the notice saying that they were trying to keep the area clear of such creatures. Deer can’t read, so were happily cropping the grass round the goal mouth when we went past.

We were on for taking the complicated route back to Ullapool by way of Inverkirkaig, another of those single tracked passing place bespattered roads that challenge the driver but reveal the most spectacular scenery. It is all breathtaking around there as far as I can see, and this road proved no exception. The road skirts the Inverpolly Estate, and from various points you can see the summits of Stac Pollaidh, Cul Mor, Cul Beag, Suilven, Canisp, Quinag, Ben Mhor Assynt, and Conival. The light was amazing with clouds and sun breaking through and reflecting off the lochs, the road was incredibly quiet, and although we could only progress very slowly, I would highly recommend taking this detour and enjoying the views. We spotted a number of stags, and heard even more, the rut being in full swing now. It’s amazing how the sound carries out there. There were, also, it goes without saying, sheep. These were better behaved than on the Drumbeg loop and we agreed that they would stay on the green stuff and we would at least try to keep it shiny side up on the black stuff. 

When we reached Ullapool it was time to refuel. Never pass up an opportunity to recharge or fill your car because the filling stations and charging points are few and far between and not always open 24 hours. You really don’t want to run out of power out there. We also refuelled ourselves at the Ferry Boat Inn where a cup of coffee somehow morphed into a smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel, made with smoked salmon from the local Ullapool Smokehouse that was so good we had to detour and buy some to take home.

The road from Ullapool was not as challenging as the morning’s effort though it wasn’t without its interesting sections. We turned off the main road and promptly stumbled on Corrieshalloch Gorge and the waterfalls. This is under the care of the National Trust for Scotland and has well-maintained paths along the gorge to the mad pedestrian suspension bridge (which Lynne refused to cross) that leads to a short path on the other side of the River Droma that ends at a viewing platform. The bridge does bounce rather a lot when you step onto it, but if you can get over that it’s worth the effort for the views from the platform. There’s a good visitor centre that offers coffees, tea and cakes, and lots of informative signage so that you can more easily understand the landscape in front of you.

On the road from Braemore towards Gairloch the scenery continued to offer drama, with mountains, expanses of boggy peatland, and sandy beaches in a dizzying succession of places. The weather lowered at us, but never quite tipped over into inclement, and we made good progress along the route, hampered only by occasional contraflow roadworks that had us wondering how the people working on them ever got all the equipment they needed out there. It must be a logistical nightmare, though maybe they’ve all been doing it so long that it’s easy for them.

Further down the road we came upon the Russian Artic Convoy Museum, an absolute treasure of a place. We only had an hour before they closed and it really wasn’t enough. I’d recommend at least a couple of hours. The Russian Arctic convoys sailed from the United Kingdom, Iceland, and North America to northern ports in the Soviet Union in response to a request for aid from Stalin after Hitler’s invasion of Russia. 78 convoys set off between August 1941 and May 1945 and during that time just under 1,500 merchant ships delivered essential supplies to the Soviet Union. These convoys were escorted by the Royal Navy, the Royal Canadian Navy, and the US Navy. “Eighty-five merchant vessels and 16 Royal Navy warships (two cruisers, six destroyers, eight other escort ships) were lost. Nazi Germany’s Kriegsmarine lost a number of vessels including one battleship, three destroyers, 30 U-boats, and many aircraft. The convoys demonstrated the Allies’ commitment to helping the Soviet Union, prior to the opening of a second front, and tied up a substantial part of Germany’s naval and air forces.” The museum tells the story of many of those involved in the convoys, which were particularly active out of Loch Ewe, which is a deep sea loch that is geographically defensible. As a result, there were servicemen and women from all round the world and there were times when military personnel outnumbered the local population by three to one.

After that we figured we’d best crack on to Gairloch and find our hotel. Tonight we would be back to being looked after rather than self catering, and it was very welcome. The Myrtle Bank Hotel is well placed on the loch side and we had a massive room looking out towards Isle of Skye and the Outer Hebrides. The bathroom was enormous, and the room (Room 1) had the advantage of being in a separate building to the main body of the hotel. This meant it was very quiet. We were warmly welcomed, and booked a table for the evening in the hotel restaurant. Before dinner we tested the bar and discovered yet more whiskies that we liked. It was then that I realised we were running out of options if we wanted to visit a distillery, most of them being on the east coast. We would have to resolve that problem the following day. 

Dinner was good solid home-style cooking and we hit the scallops and the squid again for starters, following it up with salmon and with scampi. It was all nicely done, even if it wasn’t going to set the world on fire any time soon.