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08/03/06 - Durness, Scotland (photo album for first 2 weeks in Scotland) For a taste of true desolation, drive to Durness! |
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Leaving Skye, we set off on the long and (again) windy journey
up the west coast of Scotland to Durness... about as far north
as you can get on Britain's mainland. Along the way, we
made a couple of stops in the seaside towns of Ullapool and
Lochinver. The amazing thing about these towns out in the
middle of nowhere... really - NOwhere - is that everywhere we
went there were hordes of British tourists enjoying these tiny,
cold and gloomy places right along with us. Guess that's
Britain in August for you. We finally made it to our inn, the fine Mackay's Inn, which we highly recommend for next time you're passing through Durness. After what we'd seen along the drive, we expected very rustic accommodations, but found ourselves in a very stylish, comfortable, well-appointed room (even had a plasma tv and fully-loaded iPod), with a view of the water - where the Atlantic meets the North Sea meets the Arctic. The weather cooperated for us. That is, it was just what we expected from the far north of Scotland - cold, rainy, windy, misty - it just wouldn't have been right to have sun. We attempted to go for a hike down the coastline in the morning before heading back south, but the weather turned us around after about 20 minutes. Climbing back into our comfortable car, we were able to drive eastward along the coast and enjoy some absolutely magnificent views of the cliffs and mountains. We also got out to walk down into Smoo Cave, a large cave carved into a cliffside by the ocean with a waterfall running down the back wall. Very cool. Next stop is Inverness, "The Gateway to the Highlands" and "The Fastest Growing City in Europe", to name but two titles... We'll see if we feel like adding any other titles to the city's current claims to fame. |
She may be smiling, but she's not happy to be walking around in cold, blowing rain
Scott takes the stepping stones to the mouth of Smoo Cave
Back wall of Smoo Cave opens up to a waterfall |
