Scotland Day 9: More Beaches for Your Buck

  Another day with a long drive and seeing what we can stop at along the way.  I do wish we could have spent more time at Pentland Lodge House if only to talk with Liz and pet her dogs some more.  She gives off very positive and happy energy.  She even had electric car charging stations out front.

  Along all these drives past the sheep filled pastures have let me see all levels of sheep laziness.  Sheep will be eating grass in one of the following states: standing, kneeling downward, laying with their legs curled under them, or flat on their sides and munching.

  I have also noticed that the lambs wag their tails like crazy when they are nursing.  This area also has the type of sheep that tend to have twins as long as the mother is healthy.  I’ve seen a lot with two, some with only one, and even some with three.

  Farr Beach was one of our random stops.  As we were driving by the sun was making it a very lovely sight, but by the time we pulled over and got the cameras out it decided to go into hiding.

  Coldbackie was another random stop with a beach.  It was a lot easier to stop at than the last one.  There was a picnic area and we didn’t have to stop in a No Parking pull off.

  Varrich Castle was a bit of a hike.  We also did not walk down the correct path at first.  We parked in a fine place, but when we walked down the road we found a gate that was locked and lead to the wastewater treatment area.  We were going to turn around, but one of the locals just told us to hop the gate and that it connected to the path that lead to the castle.

  The walk wasn’t too long but it was a lot of up hill.  The other day my calves cramped and I was unable to soak them, so the uphill was not fun.  I had to stop many times and try and stretch it out.  I did finally make it to the top though!  I didn’t go up the spiral stairs in the center because I felt it was unnecessary.

  Sango Sands Oasis Bar and Cafe was a very small eatery in a very small town.  The food was really good though and I could see it being a place I would go to if I lived closer.

  We stopped to take a few pictures of the scenery and some motorcyclists stopped to do the same.  They had been coming from the other direction and mentioned that there was a waterfall just down a bit on the left.  There was even parking right there for it.

  It had sounded like there was going to be a long walk but when we parked by the waterfall it was quite close.  My leg felt fine at that point so I had no problems going up and down the small hills.  My only problem was that I had my long view lense on and I had to get a bit of distance between me and whatever I wanted to take a picture of.

  Ceilidh Place in Ullapool has some nice big rooms.  They also have a very swanky lounge area where I am typing this now.  The bathrooms are also quite large, but unfortunately, no tub.  We got talked into booking dinner at the hotel, and while it wasn’t bad, I’m sure we could get good food if we had wondered around.