Oops in Ullapool

Oops in Ullapool

Well, firstly, we had no accommodation secured. And it’s peak holiday season here.  But we ended up landing a brilliant little self-catering place on the top of Ullapool hill.  It was not “on the market” – really cheap (well, for Ullapool, at peak season!) and has the most amazing views of Loch Broom, lovely garden and Sash has her own ensuite.  And it is a great walk down to Ullapool (and a bit of a struggle uphill on the way back!)

We headed to Tesco’s for our shopping on Sunday.  Having filled up the trolley with healthy offerings (and some evil macaroni pies…mmmmm) Ed was busily checking out the beers and Lois was sussing out the labels on the wine bottles in one of the aisles.  That’s something that we are not used to here – alcohol for sale in a supermarket.  However…we were spotted by the store manager and told that you couldn’t buy alcohol on Sunday until after 12.30pm. “It’s Scottish law” he declared (“bl…dy Aussies”, he surely thought).  Lois replied, “but we weren’t planning to drink it ‘til after then!”  Slightly red faced we returned the produce to the shelves, seeing as it was only 10am.  Oops.

We went to the Falls of Shin www.fallsofshin.co.uk and checked out the touristy gift shop and café there owned by Al Fayed (of Harrods and Dodi Fayed’s dad fame).  There was a Madame Tussaud’s wax model of him resplendent in his kilt with his hound at his side.  Weird (and so modest, don’t you think?)  Sasha couldn’t believe it – this is her first sight of Madame Tussaud’s handiwork (well, her workers’ handiwork) and she kept saying “wow…it’s so real looking!”.  (Can’t wait to take her to the wax museum in London.)

We had our flask of coffee at the bbq area listening to the bagpipes version of “Local Hero” blaring out of the speakers.  Funnily enough, wherever we go lately each of us at different times thinks we are hearing bagpipes…even when there aren’t any at all (first sign of Scottish madness??)

We took a walk down to the salmon leap and hooray – the salmon were leaping.  Amazing! Gee, what some creatures will do for procreation!

The next day (yes, we did return later that evening to Tescos for the Czech beer and Australian SSB…nice) we went for a drive south to Gairloch.  Just lovely and the girls clambered on the rocks en route at Altbea and dangled their tootsies in the lovely cool water.

However, our hire car didn’t like all the ups and downs of the Highlands – the auto transmission kept getting stuck in 3rd gear.  Not fun, with all those hills to accelerate up and cars to overtake.  So the trip back was a long one.  Did stop and see some funny sheep though (they were running free all over the place, including the roadside), and Sasha enjoyed running around in this beautiful place we stopped at to let the car cool down.

Laptop Nomad Haven Found

We found a brilliant place to hang out for a wee while in Ullapool  – The Ceilidh Place.  Just perfect for us, it has great lattes (we are pushing it to get a “skinny flat white” in these parts), free wi-fi for an hour (hooray!) and a great bookshop – small but fantastic selection.  Oh, and it’s also a pub and eatery.  Great atmosphere and they make the best carrot cake ever. Here’s a pic of Sasha with Mum, having a maths lesson.  Bit o’work, Bit o’ play…..