North 500

Seeing as a lot of people who had travelled all this way to come to the wedding stayed for the following week we did as much as we could with them; a visit to Johnston's woollen mill, a beach bbq, Landmark adventure centre, fish, chips and drinks round here and a trip on the Keith to Dufftown rail line. After a hectic fortnight we packed up the car and went on a tour of North Scotland with our munchkins, JR, some friends and their daughter. This popular route has some wonderful roads and challenging stretches too.

We spread the drive over 5 nights with two nights in the last campsite at Applecross although honestly we may do this again with two nights at each site so we can explore the local area even more. As we drove we could see 50 shades of green and when the sun came out another 10 shades popped out at us.

The cliff tops at Dunnett Head

across the water from John O' Groats

It was odd to see that the heather over the hills looked like such a muted shade of purple and yet when we drove through more wooded areas the purple of the heather popped out at us. We saw highland cows, sheep in the road and more ruins than you could keep track of.

 



One funny moment happened when we drove over to the Isle of Skye and we were following our friend only to see he had left his wallet on the roof of his car and, amazingly, it had been there without falling off for a few miles by this point. Needless to say we pulled over very quickly to retrieve it! Having walkie talkies in the cars so we could contact each other was useful and we were surprised to remember them.

classic picture

an oyster catcher we saw when we paused for lunch

lobster pots at Plockton

We had initially planned this trip over a meal and made a list of places we wanted to see and we managed to fit most of it into our action packed few days. One place we went to was a village called Plockton and I admit that I did not see that it was at all distinguishable from anywhere else we had been and so wondered why our friends wanted to go there. Until lunch. Oh, yes, lunch. We went to the Plockton Inn http://plocktoninn.co.uk/seafood-restaurant-and-bars/ and everyone enjoyed their meals. I had the seafood platter...

Best seafood platter I have ever eaten. The cockles, mussels, salmon and trout were smoked at the Inn.

As if my food heaven was not complete we went to the Applecross Inn  http://www.applecross.uk.com/inn/ dinner after a visit to Skyeskyns https://www.skyeskyns.co.uk on the Isle of Skye and I had the langoustine caught by a man who works there. Beyond delicious and we are definitely going back!

One thing we noticed as we went from one campsite to the other was the sheer number of the people doing the same route as us and the sense of camaraderie between bikers, young couples, old couples and young families alike. It was a wonderful trip and one we will remember for a very long time; a brilliant honeymoon and an excellent trial of my new tent. JR was quite calm and slept comfortably in our double sleeping bag and I had some very deep sleep to recover from the previous few weeks.





The only bad thing about going on a drive like this is that we feel happy with the thought of moving to an even more remote area but wherever we are I am sure we will still send Hugs from Haggis Land.

Jx

The bay at Durness where I took my morning dip in my birthday suit