Day 23 Another of day of great views!

Tuesday Caledonian Hotel Room 304

Wow the cold today is cutting....
From the moment we got up we could see that it was windy outside.... had our in-house breakfast nothing fantastic but did have porridge so gave that a go... it did seem to be ok so here’s hoping I am onto something!

Meet a fellow while sitting in the front sun room of the hotel, nice chap, an English man he was interested to find out about our travels and what we were doing. He was working but enjoying the great view from the sun room, so work didn’t seem as boring!

Took it slow getting going today didn’t leave the hotel until after 11am, then set off on foot to discover the town. And the wind blew and the chill factor off it was really cutting... I just love Ullapool’s ambiance so quaint like off a movie set.. all the houses crisp white bar a few....
We headed straight for the port to check it out with the big fishing boats in, reminded us of our brother in law Joe and his hard work of being a fisherman!

We discovered we could have gone over to the Isle of Lewis from here on the huge ferry, just looking what we could have seen over there looked so interesting, but time is against us with so much to see and do already.... If this trip was just about the UK we could have spent longer here, and I. truth there is nothing stopping us e. Dot our plan and the fact we have the lease car to pick up which will be left had drive... this is picked up on the 1st from London then we drive over to France going on the. Chunnel and all that’s booked, so yes we do have a shedule after all...

After a look around, discovering lots of cute homes, a huge Caravan Park right on the open beach front where the wind was howling through.... there was even a cotton tent someone had up I kept thinking how cold they must be, brave souls..... as we walked through we saw the prices sign to stay here and after seeing in the back if a Motorhome the other day it’s daily price of £69 pp per day we took that and then you add in the cost of staying in parks and they charge a driver fee again for electricity plus any other person and on and on their fees went we realised that staying in hotels even eating out and the hire car we are still ahead.... So expensive to do motorhomes here!!

Had a lovely cuppa in a lovely coffee shop unreal to see all their goodies laid out on a bench where you pick what you want and take it up to the counter where it’s charged for haven’t been anywhere it is quite done like this!

Once we had a break we found a couple of 2nd hand stores I could have gone mad in one of them... then a across the Street was a Vinnies type shop and yep scored 2 warm tops as mine aren’t as warm as I want to be! I can do a swap later and get rid of a couple of mine!

Then off to buy a sausage roll for lunch and into the car for a drive around town to check it out a bit more... only after the first street we headed up the hill leading out of town to see the view and somehow kept getting drawn further and further north to see more sights as they came into view... Wow was this trip worth doing as we discovered a Geo Park entrance sign after spotting an amazing mountain in the distance with low cloud around it like a halo.... so on we went like the pied piper drawing us further and further into his lair.... the scenery again so different to yesterday’s but still spectacular. Loch after Loch at least 5-6 from small to large ones dotted the landscape huge rugged Cragie Mountains with low hanging clouds just blew us away... then the sea came into view and at times it was what is sea and what is a Loch with Lochs becoming sea as their waters made its way to sea by way of little run offs.... so amazing how it all worked together in its eco system... again quaint little homes coming into view in what seemed so remote. Sheep everywhere, we met Donald a ram who had 4 horns 2 curly ones and 2 long pointy ones funny fellow he looked... A beach cove that obviously gets used heaps of cars parked, goodness knows how they could use it so, so cold.... A few cafes here and there for the tourist, and heaps of BnB’s and accomodation homes to hire. BnBs were just everywhere even all over Ullapool must be big business here. The little places we went through were Achnahaird, Altandhu, Polbain.... The huge Volcanic looking Mountain was called Stac Polliaidh, now say those names....

Sadly we had to head back to town finishing our look around the streets, they have a pretty big health centre here but no hospital that we could see... found a Tesco and even a Chinese take away....

So what to do for dinner? Well decision made we decided to go to the Bar here for a burger as that’s all they serve! Good choice it turned out as we meet another Aussie couple who it turns out were from Yeppoon.... small world! Julie and Rob he works for National Parks and Fisheries he was a fisherman himself until he couldn’t fight the government rule changers to Fishing in Qld so decided to go for a job with the rule makers themselves and loves his job very much!
They are travelling in the opposite direction to us for 6 weeks then head home! It was great to talk to like minded people and same ages... not saying talking to others from other countries isn’t as interesting it’s more so, it just felt comfortable talking similar talk knowing the places we were discussing... and for Julie talking to her it would seem we are both Dr Kaverjits patients in Yeppoon funny old world!

Our conversations came to end so off to bed, tomorrow we start heading back down the East Coast if the UK... another day where all my sense have been filled... How blessed a life I have. Thank you Lord!Read more