NC500 2017 - Day 4 - Gairloch to Lochinver
Tuesday 4th July 2017
Gairloch to Lochinver
Route
An excellent breakfast to start the day followed by a visit to the falconry.
There were blue skies above us and very little breeze, ideal conditions for touring. I'm sure we should have planned our itinerary but we just seem to drive along and find plenty of interesting stops.
First stop today was the Gairloch war memorial, placed at a viewpoint overlooking the loch and golden beaches.
Second stop was an unassuming lay-by, one of many with a photo opportunity. There is a cache nearby called 360 degrees which implied we could get a better view but for this we had to climb! We found a way up but we should have changed our shoes!
Next was the Corrieshalloch Gorge, the deepest slot gorge in Britain. Well worth a visit and a walk across the suspension bridge gives you a sense of vertigo, especially if someone makes it wobble!
Our lunch stop was in Ullapool at the excellent Seafood Shack, fast food with a difference - scallops with beetroot cous cous and cullen skink eaten outside on rickety benches. A quick walk around the harbour and we were on our way again.
The next stop was at Ardvrech castle (or the little that remains of it) a rather bleak place to live overlooking Lake Assynt, the lady of the house thought so too so had a 14 bed mansion house built instead.
We arrived in Lochinver mid afternoon so made our way to the Albernach Hotel just a little way out of town. Our room has an enormous fireplace and a sumptuous four poster bed with a view over the loch. Tea and cake were served on the outside terrace in warm sunshine.
The hotel's Michelin star restaurant is closed on Tuesdays so we had dinner at the sister pub in the town. Excellent oven baked smoked Haddock and dreamy Lemon posset.
With the days so long we had time for an after dinner walk through Cullag Wood and we had it all to ourselves apart from the midges!
Gairloch to Lochinver
Route
An excellent breakfast to start the day followed by a visit to the falconry.
There were blue skies above us and very little breeze, ideal conditions for touring. I'm sure we should have planned our itinerary but we just seem to drive along and find plenty of interesting stops.
First stop today was the Gairloch war memorial, placed at a viewpoint overlooking the loch and golden beaches.
Second stop was an unassuming lay-by, one of many with a photo opportunity. There is a cache nearby called 360 degrees which implied we could get a better view but for this we had to climb! We found a way up but we should have changed our shoes!
Next was the Corrieshalloch Gorge, the deepest slot gorge in Britain. Well worth a visit and a walk across the suspension bridge gives you a sense of vertigo, especially if someone makes it wobble!
Our lunch stop was in Ullapool at the excellent Seafood Shack, fast food with a difference - scallops with beetroot cous cous and cullen skink eaten outside on rickety benches. A quick walk around the harbour and we were on our way again.
The next stop was at Ardvrech castle (or the little that remains of it) a rather bleak place to live overlooking Lake Assynt, the lady of the house thought so too so had a 14 bed mansion house built instead.
We arrived in Lochinver mid afternoon so made our way to the Albernach Hotel just a little way out of town. Our room has an enormous fireplace and a sumptuous four poster bed with a view over the loch. Tea and cake were served on the outside terrace in warm sunshine.
The hotel's Michelin star restaurant is closed on Tuesdays so we had dinner at the sister pub in the town. Excellent oven baked smoked Haddock and dreamy Lemon posset.
With the days so long we had time for an after dinner walk through Cullag Wood and we had it all to ourselves apart from the midges!
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