Roadtrip 2011; North into Sutherland

Mountain scenery, waterfalls, fishing towns, ruin castles, Clan history, white beaches with a turquoise sea, today's journey had it all...

Descending down to Ullapool below the An Teallach mountains is the Corrieshalloch Gorge and the Falls of Measach, worth stopping for a wee look...






The river plunges 46 m(150 ft) over the Falls of Measach...






Ullapool is one of my favourite coastal towns,
Desgined by Tomas Telford it was built in the 1780s on the shore of Loch Broom during the white herring boom, today it has a small fishing fleet and is gateway across the Minch by ferry to Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis...

Now here is a good example of Scottish weather and how quickly it changes,
there had been heavy showers all day blowing through in the strong wind, by 6pm it turned into an almighty gale, after kite surfing my big tent down onto the beach below the campsite i decided best pitch the small tent up behind the shelter of a wall, then a storm blew in which saw me in the car for the evening whilst it blew a hooly outside and rain lashed the side of the car...


Next moring the storm had blown out and i was greeted by a fantastic morning!...
6am and the still water of Loch Broom looked amazing...










Time to hit the road and the scenic drive into Sutherland, and its amazing mountain scenery...












On the shore of Loch Assynt is an old ruin castle...




Ardvreck Castle was constructed around 1590 by the Clan MacLeod,
it is a classic scenic Castle ruin, usually busy with coaches i had the place to myself at 8am...
















History;
On April 30th 1650 James Graham, the Marquis of Montrose was captured and held at the castle before being transported to Edinburgh for trial and execution.
Montrose was a Royalist, fighting on the side of Charles I against the Covenanters. Defeated at the Battle of Carbisdale he sought sanctuary at Ardvreck with Neil MacLeod of Assynt. At the time, Neil was absent and it is said that his wife, Christine, tricked Montrose into the castle dungeon and sent for troops of the Covenanter Government. Montrose was taken to Edinburgh, where he was executed on 21 May 1650, using the traditional method for traitors: hanging, drawing and quartering.



Ardvreck Castle was attacked and captured by the Clan MacKenzie in 1672, who took control of the Assynt lands....


In 1726 they constructed a more modern manor house nearby, Calda House which takes its name from the Calda burn beside which it stands. The house burned down under mysterious circumstances one night in 1737 and Calda House stands as a ruin today....




Calda house before the fire...










Time to head up the coast, destination tonight was to bike out to camp at a remote beach, plenty to see yet before that,
The big skys and views here are amazing in todays weather, behind the view is still dominated by the mountain of Slioch...








At Kylesku bridge i planned to park up for pics but there was a film crew and the car park was taped off, they were filming a bright red Aston Martin sports car zooming up and down the bridge, watch out for it on a motoring show on the telly soon!...


So i er... borrowed some pics off flickr, the bridge here is known as `The Bridge over the Atlantic`...




Also in the car park is a memorial to WW2 submariners,
It is where the X Class midget submarine crews trained and left on there daring misson to Norway to attempt to destroy the German battle crusier Tirpitz,
And as you all know 2 of the training XT class subs the men used lie today here in East Lothian at Aberlady Bay...

I have written and made a film about the subs and crews and there daring misson over on the other blog here; No Through Road

Very brave young men...




A few more miles to tonights destination...


Scotlands Matterhorn...


At Laxford Bridge Junction a road leads to a dead end at Sheigra but first a stop off at a lovely beach, Oldmoreshore...


Time to get out on the pugsley after a lot of driving and soak up the views...










That turquoise sea looks inviting eh?, pity its only 3 or 4 degrees Celsius!...








Some film...


Back to the car and a mile or so to the road end is another lovely headland at Sheigra, with a great view above the beach from a rock headland out into the Atlantic...
















Some film...


Back along the road to a car park and it was time to pack up the bike and Fat BOB trailer to head out to camp at what has often been described as scotlands most remote and beautiful beach...