Day 5 -- Monday, the 27th June
We get up early. The time has come to clear the Cromla Cottage and move to the next leg of our adventure. It is worth noting that adc still has no clue where we are going.
Coming out of Cromla's driveway is scary and time-consuming: it is a narrow passage, full of obstacles, and I am driving a relatively big car that I do not know well yet. Ah, well. It goes well all the same.
The drive to Lochranza is as uneventful as they get, on the other hand.
Yesterday, while we were having fun, all ferries to Claonaig were rerouted to Tarbert, because of the weather. That caused huge delays and disruptions. No such disruption is announced for today, but it is hard to know until one is on site. Well, the boat arrives little after us, and we board and depart punctually.
It is a smooth crossing, followed by a comfortable northward drive. We stop in Melford around 11:15, forty-five minutes ahead of schedule. We are back at the Lord of the Isles for lunch.
That was not really the plan. In January, I booked a table at long-time fave Crannog, in Fort William, for tonight. Sadly, they contacted me mid-May to cancel the booking: because of staff shortages, they are not currently open on Mondays and Tuesdays. Looking at the map, JS and I then decided to come back here in Melford instead, seeing as adc liked the place so much in 2019.
So, here we are. Since we are so early, the ladies have a glass of wine in the car before lunch.
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| Rescued from the White Stag Dinner |
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| This is how reputations are forged |
I start to worry that the clock is ticking and the doors are not opening. Is Scotland suffering from a total lack of staff? Will our road trip be tarnished by everything being shut? Negative: at 12:00, the door is unlocked. We walk in and sit at a table. Woo.
The place has been refurbished (we are later told that they used the forced, lockdown-related closure to refurbish), and the menu seems to have shrunk. In fact, there is simply no blackboard because it is Monday. What we order is excellent.
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| Soup of the Day (veg) for me |
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| Soup of the Day (veg) for adc |
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| Haggis bites for JS |
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| Fish Pie for adc |
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| Fish Soup for JS |
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| Fish & Chips for me |
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| Lemon Sorbet for JS |
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| Sticky Toffee Pudding for me |
They play good music to boot: in amongst tearful Scottish ballads (some of which I want identified, but fail to get anyone's attention to do so), we are exposed to Peat & Diesel for the first time. When I ask the lass to identify the track, she adds: "pRRRoper Scawttish music," with an approving nod and an irresistible smile. Tonight, I will discover that they are playing in London in less than two weeks, a gig that should have taken place earlier, but was postponed. On the 9th July, two days after we are back, we will see them in Camden in a packed venue, surrounded by an unhinged crowd singing in Gaelic (partly), then go home with all their records. All this, because a restaurant cancelled my booking. Teh lolz.
(The other song I wanted to know was a Celtic ballad, sung in English, and had the following lyrics: "I can't remember the last time / We were so far from the shadow / To the land" or thereabout. Answers in the comments, plzthx) [Edit: in October 2022, as a consequence of another trip, I finally discovered it: Tide Lines - Shadow To The Light (Piano Version) \o/]
Body replenished with good food and soul soothed with tales of Hebridean adventures, we proceed further up north.
We stop for the view of Castle Stalker, a place we discovered last year, but will not eat at, today.
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| Python fans rejoice |
We then continue to Balachullish...
...then Fort William, where we are staying tonight. At the Glenlochy Apartments, to be precise, right across the street from the distillery, and, incidentally, in the exact same room JS and I occupied some ten years ago, just before this blog was born.
That is when it dawns on me that I never packed the two samples of Glenlochy I made specifically for this occasion. First Crannog, then this... Fort William really does not want to be welcoming, today!
At least, I have Peat & Diesel to cheer me up, now.
Soundtrack: Peat & Diesel - Light My Byre
Whilst it is mostly dry, we take the opportunity to walk to the nearby supermarket for supplies. Then, we call it an early night.
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| The local cat marks parked cars as his |
Day 6 -- Tuesday, the 28th June
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| No wonder I wake up cold! |
We leave Fort William on the early side -- and under a light rain. The journey takes us northeast, through Drumnadrochit. It is too early to eat at the Fiddler's Inn, but a perfectly good time for a loo break. Yay. From there, we take the scenic route to Beauly, then Dingwall and Tain, where we stop at Glenmorangie. The tour is expensive (18GBP per person for the basic thing), and the tour coaches do not inspire us. We are ecstatic nevertheless: a group of bullfinches are playing on the lawn, near the car park. I had never seen one.
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| The famed twelve stills with the tallest necks in Scotland are visible from the courtyard, albeit behind a net |
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| More stills |
A couple of snaps of the stillhouses (the new one is well swish), a look at the shop (tourist trap), and we are on the road again.
We drive past Dornoch (adc suspects we will stop there, but we do not), Golspie, Brora, Helmsdale, then north to Thurso. The unplanned stop at Glenmorangie put us a little behind schedule: we park in front of Wolfburn a few minutes after 14:00. Regardless, we manage to convince the guide to let us join the group that started the visit ten minutes ago.
With a couple of hours between the end of the tour and our next deadline, we drive into town for a bite to eat. 17:00 is early, but T's Café is open, and the menu looks appetising. And, indeed, the Sri Lankan specialities hit the spot.
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| I have a hot chocolate, just because! |
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| Jackfruit Devil for JS |
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| Dallo Curry Squid for adc |
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| Lamb Kottu for me |
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| Steamed Rice to go with it |
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| Pol Roti to share |
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| Garlic Bread to share |
From there, we drive two kilometres to Scrabster to board the ferry. That is right: we are going to Orkney! We end up leaving twenty minutes ahead of schedule, most unexpectedly.
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