Kanga And Wombats Adventures

We had a great night’s sleep at Michele’s cottage at Kinlochbervie. She had such a great personal story to tell. Born in Scotland, she moved south to Sussex to work, get married, have kids. Her partner died, the kids grew up and left, so she returned to find her roots.

It seems it’s hard to infiltrate this community even if you’re Scottish…..Brexit, Covid, ……hadn’t helped with the task of finding workers to renovate her cottage. Being a single woman running her own show aroused suspicion, it seems!

Because of its isolation,  Michele had waited weeks, months to get electrical, plumbing, virtually any sort of building work done. Workmen had to travel from Inverness, 95 miles, and 2 1/2 hours travel time away!

The upshot of all this is Michele is pulling up stumps and calling it quits, buying a camper van, and fulfilling a lifetime yearning to travel. Good luck to her!

We found her little cottage warm and cosy, the shower hot, and breakfast a treat.

But before we left this little corner of scenic majesty, we drove a little further up the very narrow local road to Oldshoremore, where we’d heard the beaches were pretty cool. And they were.

Nestled snugly in a little valley, access to the beach was via the cemetery! It was a blustery morning, as you can see by the grass being blown horizontally.

We left Kinlochbervie reluctantly and headed south to our first stop at Kylesku.

Months ago, I’d booked us on a boat trip from Kylesku up Loch Glencoul to Eas a’Chual Aluinn, Britain’s highest waterfall.

But, the joys of travel dictate you have to take the highs with the lows…we arrived at Kylesku to find the boat trip was cancelled due to high winds on the loch. Not a soul around, just the words ‘Friday, cancelled’ written up on the Harbour info sign! I couldn’t help but be disappointed. This was going to be a highlight of our trip!

Absolutely nothing could be done hanging around, so we ploughed on south. The wind blew a gale, and the rain got heavier.

Then, around the next corner was Ardvreck Castle.

Originally built in the late 15th century,  Ardvreck Castle was scene to much bloody mayhem, murder and skulduggery between the MacLeod and MacKenzie clans. But it was certainly serene and peaceful today. While the rain had a breather, we scurried over to the loch shoreline to take a look. Nearby were the ruins of Calda House, built in 1726 by Kenneth MacKenzie for his wife Frances, who did not care for the austerity of Ardvreck Castle!

Then, one of the highs of travelling happened, when, on needing a loo stop, we came upon this out of the blue.

Silverbridge, across the Black Water, was built in the early 1800’s originally to aid in the transport of livestock bound for the south. If you didn’t need the toilet stop, you wouldn’t have known it was even there! What a little beauty.

I mentioned ‘the clearances’ a few posts ago, and to do it justice, it needs proper explaining in it’s own right.

In the aftermath of the Jacobite rebellions, the government banned the wearing of kilts and playing of bagpipes. The Highlands were put under military control. The ties of kinship and loyalty that once formed the relationship between Laird and clansmen disintegrated into merely an economic relationship of landlord and tennant. The lairds were tempted by the easy profits to be made from sheep farming, and so started mass evictions of the peasants, called the Highland Clearances, that saw the relocation of many crofters to cities or forced them to emigrate to America, Australia and New Zealand.

Although the Clearances took place over 200 years ago, they remain an emotive subject even today. Pretty much every host we have stayed with have mentioned the Clearances in some context. Obviously still very raw for some.

For example, driving through Ullapool, we read that the harbour served as an emigration point during the Clearances, with thousands of Scots seeing as their last memory of home, the pretty township fade into the distance as they sailed away to a new life across the world.

Our destination for the night was a little settlement outside Lochcarron called Ardaneaskan. Our hosts suggested we eat dinner before we came out to their house as it was a single track through forest and tricky to navigate in the dark.

Acceptable pub grub at the Lochcarron Hotel was sourced before making our way to Rona’s Place, right slap bang on the shore of Loch Carron. Our host Roy had built a very unique viewing platform in the back garden. We were tempted to set up there with a bevvy or two, but it was windy, wild, and freezing!

Bed and a hot shower seemed like a better alternative!