An Unexpected Journey

Saturday 2 September 2017

Owing partly to Jenny not being super organised and booking the ferry from Skye weeks ago (thinking she needed the details of the car to do so) and partly due to the inefficiencies of Direct Ferries (not direct and take forever to confirm if you are booked on a ferry or not) we ended up not being able to get on the 10.40am ferry from Armadale and, booking directly via the CalMac website (ie DON’T book through Direct Ferries as they told us this boat was also unavailable) got ourselves booked on the one at 12.15pm.  This gave us a more leisurely start to the day than anticipated which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing as we had time to traverse the west coast of Skye via Dunvegan with a traditional post breakfast hike up a hill side to see the stunning views over Loch Bracadale from the Broch Dun Beag, a well preserved broch (tower) which probably dates from a few hundred years BC but it’s suggested it was reoccupied in mediaeval times.  Once again, nothing to stop you walking and climbing over it and amazing that you can walk down a flight of steps that someone hundreds and hundreds of years ago also walked down.

Back in the car and now drove directly down to Armadale as with traffic and winding roads we had no clear idea how long it would take and certainly couldn’t afford to miss the ferry.  Ended up getting there pretty much right on schedule and time to grab a coffee and enjoy the sunshine before driving onto the ferry.  Only slightly annoying that although we were one of the first 10 cars to arrive we were probably one of the last 10 cars to board the ferry so not sure how they organise that. Seems unfair that the people who roll up at the last minute get to be first on the boat and first off whilst the people who get there earlier are last on and last off.  Still, these guys do this day in and day out and I’m sure there’s a reason.  Just not sure what it is.

Once we had parked the car on board we headed up to top deck and spent the 20 minute ride enjoying the sunshine and stiff breeze and saying hello to numerous dogs on board  - really, I think there are nearly as many dogs on holiday as people!  Before we knew it, it was time to get back in the car and disembark at Mallaig.  We had some idea of grabbing some lunch here but the road led us straight out of town so we decided to head on the next place which ended up being Arisaig.  Here we had a very nice lunch at the Arisaig Hotel – a prawn and rose marie sauce sandwich in crusty white bread, salt and pepper calamari and possibly the best hot chips we have had so far on this trip with lots of little crispy bits.  Very nice.

We then headed down the ‘road to the isles’ and managed, either due to poor signage or overflowing car parks, to miss seeing the monument to Prince Charlie, as well as the Glenfinnan Monument and viaduct.  Continued on and also missed the turning to Neptune’s Staircase but saw them from the road and I guess that’s all you really need to see and we have seen locks elsewhere on this holiday.  Stopped in Fort William for a quick bit of souvenir shopping, toilets and pharmacy (the never ending cold just won’t quit) then a change of driver and back in the car for the next stint.

Meandered our way southwards but instead of taking the main tourist route through Glencoe we took the road alongside Loch Linnhe thinking it would be a scenic drive and less busy with cars.  Well it was less busy but not very scenic as although the road looks like it runs right on the edge of the loch there is always about 20 metres worth of thick vegetation between the road and the loch so not much to see and they always seem to put the P spots in the least scenic locations.  Oh well, at least the road took us to a lovely little peninsula called Benderloch and were able to find a sign in the tiny town to show we had reached our homeland.  We then turned east and made our way to the top of Loch Awe for the photo of the very scenic Kilchurn Castle.  The nearby town of Lochawe has a very picturesque church right on the water and there were many kilted men and well dressed ladies outside so we assumed there must be a wedding going on.

A final little drive south and all downhill to Inveraray during which Larry made the fateful comment “Wow, this will be the latest we’ve arrived at our accommodation” it being about 5pm at the time.  Pulling into Inveraray we ended up at the back of a line of cars and when we got to the front realised there was a ‘road closed’ sign on the road we needed to take to Cairndow and our accommodation that night at the Cairndow Stagecoach Inn.  The blokes from road maintenance/emergency services or wherever who were fielding questions from motorists wanting to take that road advised that there had been a serious road accident and that the road was closed to all traffic for several more hours.  Unfortunately the accident was this side of Cairndow which meant we either had to sit in Inverary for ‘several hours’ or else back track back up to Dalmally and then take the road via Crianlarich and Tarbet and then head into Cairndow from there.  So basically another one and half hours of driving on top of our very long day.  We opted for the drive and, on the bright side, we got to see some more Scottish scenery including the top half of Loch Lomond.  On the downside we got to see a hell of a lot of traffic that may have been other diverted traffic or just weekend/holiday traffic or just using the A82 which is one of the main north/south roads through this part of Scotland.

We eventually arrived at Cairndow about 7pm and after dumping our luggage in our room made our way to bar for a restorative drink.  It was pretty crowded in the hotel with people who were obviously stuck here until the road reopened so we took our drinks across the road to the beer garden which was very pleasant as it overlooked the loch and was less crowded.  Chatted to a nice couple and took some photos of them as they were our age and failing at doing selfies “Scottish arms are too short” the man complained.  They told us they would soon be going in because of the midges which, accordingly to them are blood suckers which leave giant welts on your skin.  Not sure if they were pulling a ‘drop bear’ kind of story on us – must google it.

Finally got a table for dinner about 9pm and had a very nice duck in an orange and plum sauce but really too tired to fully appreciate it.  Was interesting as we ate to see a police car driving down the other side of the loch (the part that was closed) and then about five minutes later a big long line of headlights as the road reopened and everyone could finally get to where they wanted to go.  Stumbled upstairs to our very nice bedroom (complete with princess canopy over the bed) and a hot bath in the huge spa bath (couldn’t get the jets to work unfortunately) before bed.