Kanga And Wombats Adventures

It was pretty hard to get going this morning.  Luxurious beds and a sleep in…

Jonathon cooked our breakfast and was off to Broadford on business, leaving us to pack up at leisure and get to know Annetta his wife, a bit better. It turns out that Annetta met Jonathon when she was a guest here, just like us! Lucky Jonathon!

Our aim this morning was to explore the Tarskavaig area directly opposite the Sound of Sleat looking towards Elgol, in the hope of seeing the Cuillin Hills in all their glory.

It was tricky to drive in, single track again with intermittant passing spots, but we’re getting the hang of it, and it wasn’t exactly rush hour! The Cuillins were still playing hide and seek with us, but we caught a few of their cousins. Stunning in the morning light.

Then around the corner popped Dunscaith Castle. No information on when it was built, but as was becoming obvious to us on Skye, it was owned by either the MacDonald Clan or the MacLeod Clan depending on who’d won the most recent battle. It has a remarkable, well-preserved entry bridge.

It was time to hop on the ferry at Armadale, sail over to Mallaig, then swan leisurely down to Kilchoan, ready to sail over to Tobermory on the Isle of Mull in the  morning.

Ha! Best laid plans!

Ferry from Armadale to Mallaig off luv!

Ferry from Kilchoan to Tobermory broken down!

Some emergency planning was immediately necessary..and guess what? I was learning to be calm and accepting. I wasn’t at all phased and set about cancelling/ booking accommodation and sourcing another way to find our way to Mull. Nothing could compare with the ‘Great Europcar Debarcle’ at Stoke! I was chilled.

Done!

Mind you, an hour road trip turned into a three hour road trip, but then we got to see more of Scotland, and bits we didn’t expect to see. Right?

Like this.

Our planned picnic beside the castle turned into a car picnic because it started bucketing down. We made do with a very ‘Enid Blyton Famous Five’ lunch of peanut butter sandwiches, caramel popcorn and grapes, washed down with lashings of CoOp lemon and lime soda!

The Lochaline ferry was now in our sights, the Lochalin Hotel booked (last room!).

This meant backtracking a bit, back to Invergarry and then down Loch Lochy, turning westwards again just before Fort William.

It was then we noticed another place that was completely off our radar, as our original plans did not go anywhere near it. Google was consulted, and we discovered we had 35 minutes to get there! The race was on!

Roadworks, slow campervans, you name it, we copped the lot. In the end, we screeched into the parking lot with one minute to spare. We literally jumped out of the car and ran to the viewing spot.

Had we been better prepared, we might have made it in time to actually climb up to the viaduct and get the quintessential photo, like those lucky people up on the left of the bottom pic.

But we had to be content with the ‘carpark view’, and I have to say, we were completely happy with that. What a thrill!

Another hour of driving on those single lane roads beside Loch Linnhe and Loch Sunart brought us down to Loch Aline and our haven for the night, Lochaline Hotel.

Our host for the night, Shaylee (her mum couldn’t decide whether to call her Sharon or Hayley), was a bubbling bundle of delight from Leicester. She assured us the ferry would run tomorrow, and then filled us up with pizza, pasta and a Sav Blanc or two.

A great day!