Back on the road home

Arriving at Ullapool

On Saturday morning we were up at 5.15 so we could be at the ferry terminal in Stornoway for last check in at 6.15.  We boarded the ferry and set sail dead on time at 7am.  This time we were on a very nice 2 year old ferry, M.V Loch Seaforth.  First stop was the restaurant for breakfast as we were all starving and then we relaxed into the 2.5 hour journey to Ullapool.

We were very lucky as the weather, once again was amazing.  The crossing was more like a scenic cruise - you could be forgiven for thinking that you were in Scandinavia, as we cruised down a long sea lock amongst islands and mountains towards Ullapool.  We had expected Ullapool to be another Uig - i.e. just a ferry port, nothing more.  We were wrong, first of all it was the most scenic port I have ever been to (at the head of a loch, surrounded by purple mountains) and secondly, it was a pretty and thriving town - lots of amenities and good looking eating establishments.  Shame we had a lot of miles to eat up today as it would have been good to hang around and investigate.  I have a feeling we will be back one day to investigate more.

View from the observation lounge

Canyoning

We drove, drove, drove through the Highlands, there aren't many roads in the Highlands meaning that you can't really take a direct route back home.  We drove east to Inverness and then south to Pitlochry.  We decided to stop off at House of Bruar again and were glad we did as we had a fantastic lunch - fish pie and roast lamb, which we divided between the 3 of us.  We discovered a waterfalls walk behind the venue which we investigated, it was a good 2.5 mile walk in the forest following a waterfall up a valley (a very mini version of the Ingleton falls walk).  It was very pleasant and just what we needed to stretch our legs.  When we got to the bottom we came across a group of people taking part in canyoning.  They were jumping into pools off cliffs etc and was actually quite a good spectator sport.  Now if I was in my 20s I would be up for it big time, but now I would be worried about hurting myself in some way (very boring middle aged comment I know!)

Nik and Tom at the Falls Of Bruar

We headed on down to Livingston where we had booked a Travelodge room for the night.  The weather turned on us - it poured on us, it was a grey, drizzly horrible journey, we were happy to get there.  We checked in, had a rest and then headed out to Tony Macaroni for dinner (ground floor of the hotel) which had the biggest menu I have ever seen and churned out ok food.  So glad we didn't have to go any further.  We all collapsed into bed around 9pm.

Sunday we got up and headed to a local Wetherspoons for breakfast which was astonishingly cheap and good value for money.  The hotel, it turned out, was part of a retail development including a designer outlet centre and a number of other retail parks.  We decided to do a quick once around, Matt and I both bought some clothes (always the way: when you least expect it, shopping is easier than when you are under pressure!), I spent a quick half hour in Hobbycraft (I could spend 2 hours in that shop, although still wouldn't buy too much, especially cake stuff as it is so overpriced there).  We then headed further south.  We stopped off at Gretna services for lunch (a doughnut each) and then home.

We got back around 3pm, unpacked, and then decided to head to the Old Post Office for post holiday platters.  A perfect end to a lovely holiday.