Ullapool

JUNE 5, 2024: Not such a successful day.

When I planned what we would do today, I was a bit over-ambitious. First a hike to see a lighthouse and a stone pillar in the sea. Then a hike to a waterfall. Then a shorter hike in a Nature Reserve with a large waterfall. Then a last hike to additional waterfalls. All this plus two hours of driving according to Google Maps (meaning four hours of driving in the motorhome) to reach the campground where we are supposed to sleep tonight.

We woke up in our beautiful campsite near Achmelvich Beach. The plan was to have breakfast and then go for a walk on the beach before we start our drive for the day. By the time we finished breakfast, it was pouring rain. No walk on the beach. We thought we would just quickly stop at the beach car park for a few photos, but the car park was closed.

Yesterday, to reach this campground we drove on a very narrow one-track road, that was stressful. The lighthouse, the stone pillar in the sea and the first waterfall were several more miles down this road, in a section that is marked not suitable for motorhomes. That canceled going to the first two hikes.

Instead, we headed towards Lochinver, a small town that we had driven to by mistake looking for our campground yesterday.

We needed some supplies for motorhome maintenance and at the campground they told us the hardware store in Lochinver usually has what we need. We went to Mackay’s Hardware and Chandlery. We asked the young clerk what chandlery means, and he thought it means housewares. However, looking it up, the Cambridge dictionary defines it as a shop or building where supplies for boats or ships are sold. Considering Lochinver is a fishing village, this makes more sense.

We then continued our drive on the NC 500, towards Ullapool, the largest village in the area before we reach the Isle of Skye. Next week we will be on Skye and then in the Outer Hebrides, on the island of Harris and Lewis. We don’t expect supplies to be plentiful. In Ullapool, we can fill up with gas, propane and groceries for the week.

The drive towards Ullapool alternated between heavy rain, drizzle and the occasional 5-minutes of sunshine.

On the way, we drove through the small village of Elphin. They were having a craft fair today and we decided to stop. There were a handful of local artisans and I bought a hand knitted headband to keep my ears warm when we hike.

From Elphin, we continued towards Ullapool. The scenery continued to astound, even in the on-and-off rain.

We finally reached Ullapool, a village with a population of approximately 1,500 inhabitants. 

In Ullapool, there was a Tesco superstore (our favorite supermarket chain in Scotland). We filled up with food supplies, filled up our gas tank, and then found the propane supplier and for the first time, filled the propane tank. We use propane for cooking (both the stovetop and oven) and for heating the water for showers. Now that we were fully supplied, we felt ready to travel to the islands.

We continued our way to the Corrieshalloch Gorge National Nature Reserve, a nature reserve with a suspension bridge crossing a deep gorge overlooking a large waterfall.  At one point, to reach the reserve, we drove through a forested area with very, very tall trees.

We finally reached the Corrieshalloch Gorge National Nature Reserve at 3:45 and they close at 4:00. They would not let us in. Not a good day for hiking. We continued driving onward.

At last, we reached the third waterfall we were supposed to see today, Ardessie Falls. Ardessie Falls is a series of cascades. The first is right on the main roadway, but you can take a hike to see more cascades up the mountain. When we parked the car, the sun was shining. By the time we put on our hiking boots and got ready, it had started to drizzle. We decided to do the hike anyway – the rain was not too hard. We reached the waterfall along the road but could not find the trail that would take us up the mountain to the upper falls (feels like this is beginning to be a reoccurring theme). We looked and looked in all directions but could not find the path, so we returned to the motorhome. The moment we got back to the motorhome, it started raining buckets, so I guess it was good that we did not find the trail.

So far, not such a successful day. The last thing I was sure would go wrong would be our campground for the night. When I tried to make reservations, they said to just show up. Almost every night the campgrounds we stay at are full. I was afraid we might not have a place and would need to wild camp for the night. The way everything else was not working out today, it seemed like that is exactly what would happen.

We got to the campground at 18:00. The owners had been away all day and just recently opened the campground. We were the only ones there. No problem getting a seaside spot with a spectacular view and an electric hook-up. No Wifi – but can’t have everything.

The rain continued on and off all evening. At one point, we saw a magnificent full rainbow. Looking closely, we noticed it was a double rainbow. Hopefully this was a sign of a better day tomorrow.