Travels in a Motorhome for a Year - Ullapool - Melness - John O Groats - Aberdeen - Week 17

TUESDAY, 23 DECEMBER 2014 Week 17

Well we have had virtually a whole week without staying in Amethyst. The weather up here in Scotland has been challenging to say the least, so we decided to hire a car and see the Highlands in a four by four, which we hoped would keep us out of too much trouble. We stopped off in Ullapool first and again it was completely devoid of tourists at this time of year, the local caravan park we were supposed to have stayed in was empty and I was told we had permission to use their electricity, but no other facilities were available. 

I was actually quite grateful that we were not travelling this part of Scotland in Amethyst! On the plus side the views of the mountains and Loch Broom were breath-taking. I loved the little town on the edge of North West Scotland, with a biting wind and peace and quiet. We went to The Seaforth pub and sat by a gorgeous crackling fire in the grate and got ourselves all toastie warm with some delicious food before heading back out in the cold to find some accommodation.

Now we have had some trials and tribulations with finding campsites open at this time of year. Still, we did naively believe it would be far easier to find Bed and Breakfasts or even Hotels open with plenty of rooms available due to the weather and time of year. Hmmm, how wrong we were. It has been quite a testing week to find a bed for the night, but we got there in the end.

We stayed at the Ship Inn, in Ullapool. It was very modern and lovely, but I don’t think they had many guests as the corridors were freezing, but the food was amazing, and it was all decorated Christmassy, which I love. The name didn’t give much away to us, not even the next morning when the whole room shook as I heard a deep rumbling sound which went on for a good few minutes.

When I queried it with Del, he said, “Ah, it’s just the brewery changing barrels!”

Me: “I don’t think rolling barrels shakes a bedroom to its rafters!”

Anyhoo, we went outside to load up the car and there’s a dirty great big ship parked up in the harbour! Okay it was a ferry, but it was a BIG ferry. We found out later that it was the ferry to Orkney, I didn’t realise Ullapool was big enough to warrant it’s own proper port and if we hadn’t been on such a tight schedule to get the car back I would’ve like to have gone over to Orkney or even the Shetlands.

The next day, we drove up to Durness. We had a look around Smoo cave, which I thought was creepy and claustrophobic, but as you can see from the pictures very pretty. We also found the most amazing Chocolate factory called Coco Mountain; I loved it because I love the film Chocolat (with Johnny Depp) and it sells a certain kind of country lifestyle that is easy going. I’d love an olde worlde chocolate shoppe. When we entered the shop, the owner seemed a little flustered and preoccupied; there were boxes everywhere. “Great, you arrived.”

He welcomed us. “Erm, yes, we have! Can we have two deluxe hot chocolates, please…” The guy's face fell a little. “Oh, I thought you were the Packers… I’ve got all these boxes to fill for Christmas orders, and my packers haven’t shown up.” We offered our services, but he only offered us a kilo of chocolate as payment, so we settled for the deluxe hot chocolate instead. And it was the BEST hot chocolate I’ve tasted in a long time. Castle on the way to Durness. On recommendation, we went to the point, and it was brilliant but freezing!

There were meant to be two hotels in Durness, the town at the edge of the world, and they both claimed to be open all year round are closed. All B&Bs are closed. So, armed with just a bag of organic chocolate buttons, we headed further along the northern coast in the hope of finding accommodation. 

We came to a sign pointing to a hotel well off the beaten track in a village (hamlet) called Melness, and what a find. Not only was it open and accepting guests.

It overlooked the most beautiful sandy beach bay and Rabbits Island. Carragan Hotel was warm, pretty, and very comfortable. I can completely understand why holidaymakers go back year after year. We also had a little whisky-tasting session while we enjoyed haggis neeps and tatties… Mmm, yum, yum. The following day, we had a long walk along the dunes on the beach, then went back and had more haggis for breakfast. Aww, delights to my taste buds. We were informed of Dunnet, the northernmost point in mainland UK. I’d always thought it was John O’Groats, but we were wrong. 

We stayed for photos, quickly appreciated the views of the coast, and then dived back into the car for warmth. We headed up to John O’Groats, passing the Castle of Mey along the way. (The Castle of Mey was the Queen Mother’s private residence in Scotland, and it was very beautiful, too. It was just a shame it wasn’t open, but that’s the beauty of writing this. I can go back to this next year and start planning the places I’d like to revisit during the summer season, and these places in Scotland are definitely some of them.

The most northerly point of the UK! God, How Cold? The second instalment of Week 17 (titled Week 17 and a half!) It will be posted in a day or two. It was rather a long blog, and I haven't sorted out all the photos yet. Sitting in a cafe, I'm getting funny looks because I've been here blogging for over an hour as it is. Eek!

I'm picking up the blog halfway through the week before Christmas because last week was such a long blog. We headed back down the east coast of the Highlands after a night in Helmsdale, but there wasn't that much in Helmsdale to blog about, really. We spent a night in the Motorhome as we needed to pop back for supplies, then headed back out down the east coast, ending up in Aberdeen on Mad Friday, something I hadn’t really heard of until recent years. Still, it was the last Friday before Christmas, and it was mad crazy and a pleasure to be a part of. 

We went to The Grill, which is the oldest bar in Aberdeen, and the atmosphere was amazing. I’m an avid people watcher at the best of times, so it was interesting watching all the revellers – revelling… I love old-fashioned and well-loved old public houses like The Grill.

It hasn't changed in about a hundred years! We then went to a church converted to a trendy bar called SOUL. I did feel a bit sacrilegious, especially when I realised the DJ was in the pulpit, but it was an incredible place to be. 

Do any of my Mancunian friends remember The Athenaeum on King Street in the '90s? Soul was like that, with an all-original interior and an uber-trendy bar slapped bang in the middle of the ground floor. From Aberdeen, we headed down to Stonehaven, a lovely little seaside and harbour market town with a Lido and good old-fashioned seaside holiday loveliness. We found a great little coffee house called Maggie Mays. Oh joy, I just wish I could’ve stayed longer to try a few of the dishes on the menu. We both chose the Steak Strips on Baguette with a home onion chutney… I’m salivating, just writing about it.

We went to Chanory Point to look for dolphins and saw the tiniest speck bob up out of the sea by Fort George. A professional spotter with a wide-angled camera lens told me it was a seal head. Humph, I was so excited, only to be crushed. It was very cold, but lovely scenery. We then headed back up north as the car had to go back, but we did stop off overnight at Grantown On Spey after riding through the snow-topped mountains and passing through a little ski resort close to Corgarff Castle of Strathdon and the Lecht Ski resort. We travelled through the country in the snow!

Grantown was another picturesque highland town in the middle of the Cairngorm National Park. Corgarff Castle at Strathdon

Lecht Ski Resort. Strathdon lies in Upper Donside in the Cairngorms National Park. Strathdon is an area rich in scenic beauty and places of interest with marvellous opportunities to observe wildlife.  There are small communities scattered throughout Strathdon, the largest of which is Bellabeg.  Every year on the fourth Saturday of August the Clansmen of the Lonach Highlanders march through Strathdon to Bellabeg Park for the Lonach Gathering, a unique and friendly Highland Games.

I did take a few photos but try to imagine acres of pine trees with intermittent splodges of snow-capped peaks. We stayed at lovely B&B called Parkburn and Fay, our host was brilliant, very cosy home with piping hot traditional full Scottish breakfast, just how I like it!
No sign of the Aurora Borealis (northern lights to you and me) yet! We gave up on that little mission.

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