UK2026: Day 6: Many Arcs and Arches

Location: Near Kinlochewe

We slept fairly well at the side of the single lane highway. Very little road noise overnight. It was windy however. Fortunately we were parked nose into the prevailing winds. This meant less rocking and wind noise. Still plenty of noise, but not as bad as John O’Groats.

Lovely start to the day. It was clear and mostly sunny with some threatening skies. No worries, we got ready and hit the road at some time near 0900. The mission for today was a castle, fish and chips and of course stop at both too many and not enough scenic vistas.

First stop was the lovely Kylesku bridge. You have seen in is such programs as “Grand Tour” and maybe some Harry Potter movie cause everything else around here has been in a Harry Potter movie.

We did actually drive over it. You have two choices, go forward or go all the way back. We went forward.

Next stop was Ardvreck Castle. At this point the weather was getting pretty nasty. Rainy and very windy. We had hoped to grab some shots with the drone but it would have been in the loch if we had tried.

Real talk: There is so much beauty along this west coast and it seems to change frequently that none of my words nor pictures will ever do it justice. You really must experience it. Also, I can’t even remember all of the cool lookouts we stopped at.

Good news! Most of today’s drive was on two lane roads. Oh sure, they are really narrow but they are slightly less stressful than the single track.

We stopped in Ullapool to wander the shops and get some fish and chips. I forgot to take pictures of the fish and chips. We had planned to get the fish and chips to go, but the skies disagreed. So we ate in the chip shop adjacent restaurant. It was OK (trying to assess while disregarding the price). Strangely, it stopped raining for a bit right after we sat down. After lunch and exploring some shops we filled up with diesel and hit the road again.

Things we skipped (mostly due to weather). The six mile hike to the tallest waterfall in the UK. The hike down the gorge. But, we did stop at the gorge lookout. Whilst there, both the new and the old gods alight and gave us this.

We drove through some high winds and heavy rain (still able to see some of that great scenery) as the terrain around the road became forested. There are even sequoia trees here. Big ones. Surprised those haven’t been cut down over the years. In Poolewe we pulled over to figure out where we would try and get for the night. We really wanted somewhere with shelter from the wind. We found a park-up down a residential road and decided to stay there even though it was only five o’clock. Not much scenery right here but plenty around.

Mrs Milddogs observed that I have not yet accidentally driven on the wrong side of the road. I’m a local now!

Hoping for better weather tomorrow!