Today we have the edge of Storm Betty and I am rather looking forward to a day hunkered down inside whilst the wind and rain do their thing outside.
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(to read the museum info boards, click on a picture and it will enlarge, clicking on the black surround of the image takes you back to the blog post)
Kinlochewe campsite is perfectly placed not just for access to Torridon but also to drive along the beautiful Loch Maree towards Gairloch and Melvaig. Unfortunately this was probably the worst weather day of my trip - low cloud and drizzle which meant that the views along the A832 were not what they should have been (but I quickly forgave the Weather Gods given what I had experienced on my Torridon day).
The primary destination was Gairloch, another location from the "best trip ever" holday so many years ago and I wanted to see the place again. The wonderful sandy beach did not disappoint although the weather meant I decided against a longer walk. The promontory on the far side of the bay has the remains of an Iron Age fort but it is hard to make out any detail. The sea was so calm I almost considered a swim . . . but the number of jellyfish washed up on the sand nixed that idea.
After lunch I visited the award-winning Gairloch Museum which is now housed in what used to be a WWII Anti-Aircraft Operations Room and is now very different to the tiny museum we visited 30 years ago.
The displays were well put-together and showed that life in the Highlands was anything but peaceful and bucolic in the past.
But as always in this part of the world it is the geology which really interests me:
Then I drove a couple of miles further up the road to Poolewe. I have been half considering rejoining the "friendly" Caravan/Camping Club so I had a look at their little site in this village. TBH, it did not appeal.
Find of the afternoon was the Poolewe Hall which housed a delightful Button-cum-Gift Shop and a glorious second-hand book store. Not sure when I will wear it but I managed my only other souvenir of the trip, a pretty little scarf that just had to come home with me. Conclusion? Gairloch did not disappoint and gets added to the increasing list of places I must return to again and spend far more time in.
On the way back to Kinlochewe I tried to have a tea break at Loch Maree but this was the one place where the midges won. I could not get out of the van without being engulfed in cloud after cloud of them so it was a brief walk around the visitor centre and then give up.
I don't think I could cope with the midges anywhere in the Highlands at this time of year.
ReplyDeleteI do not remember midges from our previous visits to this location, but timing is everything to avoid the little b*st*ards. The trick is visit early or late in the season.
DeleteI recall being stuck on the road side at Loch Maree back in 1960 waiting for the AA. I don't recall the midges but having lived in rural Scotland for half a century I have learned that there is no shame in wearing a midge suit.
ReplyDeleteI suspect there are times when the midges are particularly bad that without a midge suit, or at least a head covering, you could not go outside and get much done.
DeleteBloomin' midges! I can only think I've been fortunate to have avoided them, during all my visits to Scotland. X
ReplyDeleteThis was my first unpleasant encounter as well, so like you I have been very fortunate.
DeleteGairloch Museum lo0oks right up my street especially those shelves with the old packaging.
ReplyDeleteThose regimented rows of white campervans/caravans are so depressing, just as hideous as those hideous "holiday complexes" you'd find on the Spanish Costas. xxx
I am always more interested in how people lived than how a few tried to kill each other.
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