Our ferry from Stornoway docked at Ullapool on the mainland and we drove on to a campsite at the end of Loch Ewe, to be met by the most stunning sunset of the trip. During World War Two, a Polish Army unit was based on this site, one of many protecting the coastal communities against German attack. From 1941-44, Loch Ewe was a base for Arctic convoys. These ships provided essential supplies to war torn Russia along a route described by Winston Churchill as “the worst journey in the world”.

The morning brought a few more surprises when we found a neglected Pictish stone and a Font or Cup stone in the local cemetery. This five hundred year old stone has a hollowed-out bowl that is believed to hold sacred water that will never dry out and is reputed to have healing powers for warts and other ailments.

Maybe you already know this, but motorhomers have a tradition of waving to each other as they drive down the road (it’s a fifty/fifty chance of a reciprocal wave). Our current route was along a stretch of the NC500 and which is very popular with motorhomes and campervans. Unfortunately, our wing mirror didn’t survive one of these friendly encounters as the other driver strayed across the road and took out the indicator light on it. As you can imagine it was a bit of a loud bang, and no, they didn’t stop, Ian was not very happy.

Following the coastline, we continued south to Loch Shieldaig and a campsite which we’d originally booked four years ago when we hired a motorhome to try it out. But that was the year that Covid hit and everything got closed down, so we never made it. As it took us so long to get there, we booked an additional night. To our delight we had a lovely view of the Loch and Shieldaig Island where there was a nest of White-tailed eagles, which we caught glimpses of as they soared above the loch. Ian’s aunt and uncle loved this place so much that they named their home after it. I obviously wanted to know what the name translated to, expecting something like paradise or nirvana, I was a bit disappointed to discover it’s Gaelic for “herring bay”.

Weirdly the next day found us driving past oil rigs! I honestly didn’t know that they floated!! Onwards to Invergarry to collect an Amazon parcel containing the new indicator light from the smallest Post Office I’ve ever seen. It was literally a brick sized shed in a layby. Next up was two days of amazing warm sunshine and swimming in Loch Linnhe with views towards Glen Coe. For our last night by the sea, we built a bench from a beam of driftwood and had a beach fire. It was a beautiful evening. As we sipped our single-malt, the sun lowered behind the mountains, and it felt like the earth was sighing and relaxing into night, one that ended with another amazing, but very purple, aurora. Perfect.

Two final destinations on our list obviously had to include something to do with the canals in Scotland. First up, we spent a night with about fifty other vans in a carpark and a view of the Kelpies alongside the Forth & Clyde Canal.

Then on to the Union Canal to watch the Falkirk Wheel in action. Canals, canals, home is calling, and as much as we’ve absolutely loved our escapades in the Hebrides, we can’t wait to get back home to the boat to avoid the Scottish midges and enjoy the late spring sunshine (we hope). Before we headed back south of the border, we rounded off the trip with a wonderful evening catching up with some much missed Scottish friends.

 

 

 

PS The next trip to the Western Isles is already in the planning stage, there’s so much more to see!