Scottish Highlands - Moffat to Dornoch

7 -  13 September

The Mist-covered Mountains

The roads around the north coast of Scotland are by no means new, but now that they have been designated the North Coast 500 and received a great deal of publicity, they have been given a new lease of life.  So having seen a documentary on TV and read some magazine articles, we are off to see the sights for ourselves.

First stop: Moffat in the Scots Borders.  Louise came down from Edinburgh to visit us for the day and we spent the afternoon on a steep walk alongside the Grey Mare’s Tail waterfall, about 5 miles away. Deteriorating weather prevented us completing the walk as far as Loch Skeen, the source of the falls.

(I am the tiny blue speck on the path in the distance; John and Louise explored a bit further)

Walk along the GreyMare's Tail Falls

I think waterfalls are going to be a feature of this trip!  Next stop was at Killin, near Loch Tay, where a narrow stone bridge crosses the Falls of Dochert. A sunny afternoon meant that we unstrapped the bikes, following a route down to the falls, (rapids rather than falls, but quite impressive, as a result of the recent heavy rain) and a little way through woods above the town.

Falls of Dochert

Then on to Dingwall, via the Cairngorms, which remained invisible, shrouded in low cloud and rain.  Many of the grass pitches at the Camping and Caravanning Site were too muddy to use and instead we were instructed to park up on one of the access roads.  After that it was off to Ullapool (or Ullapul, if you are Scots!)  On the way, we stopped to view the Rogie Falls during a brief sunny interval, and I was very excited to see a salmon leap!

Rogie Falls

We made a further stop at Corrieshalloch Gorge and Falls of Measach, where there is a pleasant, short walk along the gorge, but sadly the bridge across the falls to the viewing platform is currently closed for maintenance.

Path leading down to the gorge; Ullapool in the distance

At this point we joined the NC500 proper, having chosen to miss out the leg around Applecross and Gairloch.

The site (Broomfield Holiday Park) at Ullapool is usually delightful, I’m sure. It has a lovely view over Loch Broom - but is also directly hit by any adverse weather from the north-west!  Sadly, this was our experience. We took our time selecting the least-sodden grass pitch (no hardstandings). After a broken night’s sleep due to the lashing rain and wind buffeting the ‘van, we checked the weather forecasts.  The weather on the eastern side of Scotland looked somewhat better, so we decided to jump ship, but required a tow from the site tractor to get us off the very wet ground.

We headed back towards Dingwall, calling at Blackwater Bridge and falls in Strathgarve, which we had missed on the outward journey.

Strathgarve

Then north to Dornoch, and what a delightful place that has turned out to be.  The site is just a ten minute walk from the small town, where the visitor centre, located in the Carnegie Courthouse, provides all the information you need, including walks and cycle rides.  And we can recommend the tea-room upstairs!  Improved weather enabled us to walk down to Dornoch Point, but we escaped a heavy shower by visiting the Historylinks Museum, which details just about anything to do with Dornoch and the surrounding area from times past to the present day - see www.historylinks.org.uk .   Did you know that Andrew Carnegie was a Scot, who later emigrated to America, but used some of his huge fortune to found libraries and centres for music and art? He bought Skibo Castle, about 4 miles from Dornoch, as a holiday home and to ensure that his daughter had a home in Scotland.