Sunday we left the remote north and drove to Ullapool. It only took half a day so we had the afternoon to explore Ullapool which is beautifully situated on a working harbour. The Main street, Shore Street runs along the water with a few pubs and woollen/ tourist shops. We found lunch in a very busy tea shop one street back where baked potatoes were on the menu! Yum. Then we went walking and explored the local museum which is in a restored church, had a coffee in an upstairs gallery, browsed an outdoors shop and sent a postcard. We also found an amazing bookshop which was chock full of beautiful titles about Scottish history and landscape. It’s well worth visiting is you are ever in Ullapool. The owner was extremely helpful also. We stayed the night in the Royal Hotel which has great big rooms with views of the harbour.

The next morning we continued driving towards Fort William. We stopped in Fort Augustus on the way and spent a long time driving down the side of Loch Ness. Sadly, we spied no monsters. We did have a yummy Scotch Broth for lunch and walked around the series of five locks in the centre of the village. Unfortunately we didn’t get to see these in action. Arriving in Fort William around 3 we found our cottage, bought some supplies and then drove about a mile to the foot of Ben Nevis to the Ben Nevis Inn where ate a hearty meal in a cosy atmosphere in the company of serious walkers ll chatting about distances, ascents and other such things. imwas wearing my top from the North Face and hiking boots so I think we fooled them. Then it was home to plan the next few days activities, light the fire and bed.