For our final day, before driving back home on Saturday from Glasgow, we had a long drive planned from Clachan Gardens, just south of Ullapool, through Glencoe. Unfortunately this meant only one stop as the total driving time was planned at 5 hours 30 minutes (but turned out to take an hour longer).
Breakfast was fancy, probably a little too fancy for us – thyme on mushrooms, 4 types of marmalade and intricately arranged fruit. But it was tasty and the coffee was good.
Just south of Ullapool we stopped at Corrieshalloch Gorge, an incredibly deep and narrow gorge with waterfalls everywhere. The actual gorge itself was too difficult to take a decent picture of – no way the sheer scale would make sense in any photograph, as it was 60m (200 feet) deep. The only wildlife we saw was a little tree creeper, but the waterfalls gave time for more practice with sunglasses on the camera.
The drive to Glencoe then took us on a mixture of incredible driving roads, busy tourist routes, parts of the NC500, and too many roadworks. We kept getting stuck behind godawful Chinese import cars (BYD, Geely, etc.) driving way too slow (actually a common theme of the whole holiday) so overtaking opportunities were plentiful. A quick stop at Fort William M&S for lunch (more Christmas sandwiches) then onto Glencoe.
We had 2 reasons to visit Glencoe – the “Skyfall” road made famous in the Bond movie of the same name, and the mountains. Without time to get out and walk we drove through and paused for brief looks and photos. The Skyfall road was pointless. Lots of idiot tourists incapable of driving their cars, stopping in the wrong place, and generally making a nuisance of themselves. Waste of time (next time we’ll go very early in the morning). Several Aston Martins though.
Glencoe and the surrounding mountains were spectacular – we’ll plan a return trip – out of season.
Then onto Glasgow. A total of 6 hours 30 minutes since leaving Clachan Gardens we arrived. Hotel was different to our first on the trip – the Arthouse – which had a very interesting original gated lift, unusual internal architecture (which felt a little like a prison) and…..a power cut! Just as we were finishing getting dressed for dinner the lights went out. Apparently small Scottish islands aren’t the only places experiencing power cuts. Dinner was at a top notch Indian (superb food) then we tried Daddy Marmalade and Devil of Brooklyn (excellent cocktails).
Breakfast – Clachan Gardens, Ullapool
Lunch – picnic by M&S
Dinner – Green Gates Café, Glasgow
Hotel – The Arthouse, Glasgow