1021 Day 7 – Ullapool to Edinburgh – Tuesday 21st May 2019
- Sophie Carter
- Oct 7, 2019
- 4 min read
Day 7 – Ullapool to Edinburgh – Tuesday 21st May 2019
Today was a lot of driving, it’s a long way from Ullapool to Edinburgh. Breakfast was amazing, milk was refrigerated, pastries were in a cabinet, cereals were in individual boxes, meat and cheese were displayed in a cooling unit etc. You could even put whiskey in your porridge which was very Scottish. We grabbed our bags, checked out and got back on the bus for the final time. It was a shame to say goodbye to such a beautiful place. I could have stayed there for years; the first visit was Black Water River. The water is dark because of the concentration of peat and dark rock in the river.
There is a place called Rogie Falls our first official stop. We had to walk through a woodland area, the trees were tall and stunning, at the end of the short walk we got to a bridge overlooking a waterfall. It was another place I could have stayed to just listen and watch. I would have liked to cross the bridge and see what is on the other side, but we didn’t have time because our ferry was early today. We did a brief diversion to Strathpeffer, there are 3 or 4 shops. After this, we drove quite a bit to get to the next stop of Clara Cairns, which is an arrangement of standing stones and a bronze age cemetery.
Once everyone had a chance to look around, we headed around the corner to the National Museum of Scotland, mostly about the story of the Jacobite vs British. This was our lunch stop as well, I chose macaroni cheese, but it got cold quickly. We had a look in the shop for a museum the shop was huge, but I suppose that’s what happens when you have a big area of land such as Scotland. We still had time after the shop, and we spent about five minutes discussing what we would do at that time. In the end, we decided to get a hot drink and headed back to the bus.
The next few were just picture stops like the Ruthven barracks. It started raining at this stop so we cut it short, I would have waited a few minutes to see if the rain would stop but with 16 people to keep amused, we couldn’t just sit around. The next one was Blair Castle, belonging to the Duke of Atholl. Which was also just a picture stop, it was quite far from the road, so it was difficult to get a nice picture. I think I managed to get one though.
We stopped in the town called Dunkeld. Nick said there was a Cathedral just around the corner which of course we looked at. Dunkeld being a small town meant there weren’t many shops, one of them was called the Scottish Deli. It was a typical shop for a small town, it sold a bit of everything. Like our local corner shop, I suppose. Most of the group grabbed a drink of some kind and then it was home to Edinburgh. We did a very brief stop at Kinross because some of our group had a connection with the name Kinross. It was only fair they get a picture of the Kinross (I believe they were Australian).
It now ended, Nick (the tour guide) was a nice guy, our group of people were all nice, everyone got on well, were respectful, which made the few days a lovely experience. It was pouring rain while we drove back to Edinburgh, we arrived a bit after 6 pm, said our goodbyes and good lucks, grabbed our bags and walked to our hotel, the Ibis Styles. This time we got rooms 1 and 2, I took room number 1 which was huge and the disabled room.
The downside to my room was there was no light switch in the bathroom, it was motion censored instead. The light being on made it hard to get to sleep but it did eventually turn off by itself. We dropped our stuff in our rooms, sorted it out and headed out to Princes Street for the shops. I found a nice hoody, it is a dark red/maroon colour, and just high up on the comfy warm hoddy scale. I also got a few pens and little bits as presents; I can’t remember if I have mentioned them. Every chance I got I was buying a named pen anywhere they sold one. I find pens the easiest to remember places. It is practical and doesn’t use up too much space to keep for years. To this day I have been collecting pens for years and I still have not filled one pencil case.
Once we had got everything we wanted from the shops, we dumped the stuff in our hotel and tried to find something to eat. We checked the Weatherspoon’s because it was close by, and we knew we all liked the food but there weren’t any tables. In the next pub, there wasn’t any space, and it didn’t feel nice to walk into. Not very inviting. Finally, we found a pub called The Malt Inn. Perfect for what we wanted, drinks and food, somewhere to sit immediately and not overpriced.
Then it was back to our hotel to pack up for the night. I am not sure how I am going to get my stuff in my suitcase, but I did eventually. I found the room was cold this time and I couldn’t get the heating to work so I ended up wearing my jumper to bed. I suppose I could have asked the front desk, but I don’t want to be annoying.
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