DIPPING INTO THE WEST COAST
Day1 Wednesday 26th April 2023
A reunion. What better way for a holiday to begin? Michael and Cindy flew all the way from Canada just to see us and a bottle of port. Indeed, it may be that the bottle of port was the primary factor in their visit.
The four of us had won the port on a cruise along the river Duoro over four years previously. We had kept it for convenience until we could meet again. It would seem we were not entirely trusted to do this, as Michael did demand proof of life on a number of occasions. Of course, not a drop was tasted by us. We had even devised a plan to render consumption of the port more enjoyable for all of us.
So, Michael and Cindy arrived, on time, on a flight from London to Inverness and we picked them up and took them straight to Connage Cheese Pantry, close to the airport. They have an unrivalled selection of cheeses, all of which would enhance the port.
Cheese chosen, we headed for home.
As you can see.
After our meal and a chat, our guests were beginning to show the effects of international travel, so off to bed they went. We had a big day tomorrow and we needed to be fresh.
Day2 Thursday 27th April 2023
We were going on an epic journey to the west coast for some fine scenery and some equally fine food and drink. First stop was some drink - at least for the gentlemen among us. These now numbered three as we met up with Bruce and Irene at the Glen Ord Distillery.
It wasn't long before the ladies went off to do whatever it is that ladies do and the gentlemen went on a tour of the distillery.
Here is Michael looking almost ready to dive into the mash tun.
Bruce was looking on to see if he actually would dive in.
Disappointed, Bruce then paid close attention to the guide.
The copper stills where a tiny bit of the magic happens.
The warehouse, where a big bit of the magic happens.
Michael and Bruce discuss how to roll a cask out the door without anyone noticing.
Once all the technical stuff is out of the way, it was time to sit down and try some of the product.
And try it we did.
Due to my specialist insider knowledge from a previous visit, we had an extra little glass at the bar once the ladies had re-joined us.
By now, it was time for a spot of lunch. We took the short drive to Coul House Hotel, where we had arranged for a light meal. We had a seat by the fire before we were taken to our table.
Had the weather been a little more clement, our smiling faces would have been eclipsed by the splendid view.
However, we had places to be, so we could not linger long after finishing our nice lunch. We were soon in the car and heading to the wild west. I could be charitable and say that the effects of travelling were catching up on Michael, but the truth of his dosing is probably more related to the effects of alcohol and food.
Luckily we were soon at our destination for the day - The Dipping Lugger in Ullapool. Even more luckily they had beds, where Michael could indulge his need for sleep.
The rooms are sumptuous. We had a large wardrobe and dressing area off the bedroom.
The bathroom was very nice indeed and I can testify to the comfort of the bath.
Just along from the bedrooms was a little room stocked with lots of sweets and biscuits, which were freely available for guests. The guests were the six of us as they only have three rooms. I know that Sharon had a Tunnock's Snowball and I might have had a teacake. I cannot say what tempted the others.
There was also a small honesty bar. We did not use that, not because we weren't honest, but because we were shown to the lounge for a complementary gin and tonic (or whatever else we fancied). The owners of the hotel also own a gin distillery, which makes Seven Crofts gin, which I know Sharon likes.
Whilst we were in the lounge, the Ferry from Stornoway arrived.
It soon disgorged its cars and lorries, while we sat in serenity sipping our drinks.
After our drinks we all retired upstairs to freshen up and rest before dinner. Once that was accomplished, we were back in the lounge before going through to the dining room.
The dining room is small and there is no choice of food. They serve a tasting menu and it can be accompanied by a wine flight, which all of us took up.
The menu is fashionably vague as to what you might be about to eat, but the front of house staff were very attentive and described each course and the accompanying wine as it arrived.
The snacks were a fabulous little crab and caviar pastry and a cured monkfish macaron. They came with a very nice South African sparkling Chenin Blanc, made by Ken Forrester Wines and called Sparklehorse. It was joyous.
The next course was called Easter and really consisted of bread and butter. Whilst the butter was good, the bread was outstanding. There are all sorts of breads made for Easter by a huge variety of cultures. This one was finished with honey and then a smoky, salty, finish. It was really very good and difficult to keep some for our main course as was suggested to us.
Next up was one of the biggest scallops I have ever eaten. It came with roasted leek, apple, pea puree and a burnt onion broth. Delicious. The wine was a Rose from Cote de Provence - Chateau Sainte Marguerite Symphonie Cru Classe. Not something that I might ordinarily have with a scallop, but it was pretty damned good.
Carrots came next! They had the flavour of Merguez, which is a North African spicy sausage. They were garnished with dukkha, an Egyptian spice and seed mix and nasturtium leaves. They were very good, despite the initial surprise of them being cold!
The wine was Le Cigare Blanc from California, but made with Rhone grapes. I have checked and you can get it in Tesco for £18 a bottle.
The fish course was langoustine. Langoustine raviolo, a langoustine tail and a langoustine foam. This really was outstanding. The accompanying wine was an Argentinian Chardonnay - Costa y Pampa.
The main course was fillet of lamb, with a square of lamb belly, topped with black garlic and miraculously not green mint gel and a roasted onion. It was wonderful and went really well with the Tempranillo from Spain - Seleccion Especial from the Abadia Reuerta vineyard. Possibly my favourite of the wines.
That's not to say there was anything wrong with the Muscat that we had with the homemade hobnob, blue cheese and greengage and plum chutney. It must have been really good, because I forgot to take a photo!
Similarly, I only managed a photo of the dessert plate, which was a fruity Manjari chocolate mousse , with crumb and lots of good stuff that I can no longer remember. It was served with the port. You might have expected the port and the Muscat to have been served the other way around, but they were really good the way they came.
After that, it was a night cap and then bed. What a fabulous meal and wines we had had. A great day all round to be honest.
Day3 Friday 28th April 2023
It was a very grey morning when we awoke on Friday. It turns out that we were all anxious to get moving and we were variously walking along the sea front before breakfast.
It was very still and the cloud was hanging low on the hills above Loch Broom. All very apposite, given that Broom derives from the Gaelic Braon - meaning drop of water or drizzle.
We didn't walk far - after all we didn't want to get too far away from breakfast.
We did notice a bit of brightness in the western sky, so we had some hope that the day might get better for us.
When we all got back from our various peregrinations, the table was ready for us.
As with dinner, there was no choice over breakfast.
We started with apple juice from Elgin's Orchard. This juice comes from Elgin (naturally) on the Moray Coast, not too far from Inverness. They have 3000 apple trees and produce 20000 bottles of juice every year. It was deliciously refreshing.
Next up was yoghurt, granola and rhubarb. This is far from my natural breakfast, but, surprisingly, I did enjoy it. The granola was home made, crunchy and tasty. The yoghurt was happily rendered less yoghurty by the rhubarb.
Seven Crofts gin cured salmon was next, slightly oddly served on a stone, which probably came from the beach just outside the hotel.
The main was Hebridean Egg. I've never heard of this before, but it involved a home made muffin, topped with Stornoway Black Pudding, poached egg and Hollandaise sauce. It was really good and surely worth trying to make at home.
That was all finished off with lots of tea or coffee, toast and marmalade. Not as good, however, as the marmalade we make at home using our grandmother's recipe.
Before too long we had all undergone the pain of paying for what was a fantastic stay and then we were off northwards.
Things were definitely looking a bit brighter, weatherwise.
We soon pass Ardmair Bay, with a cloud topped Ben Mor Coigach behind. Ard Mair has an interesting possible derivation from Gaelic. Aird would be a point or promontory and Mheara is joyful, frisky or even horny. Whilst the bay is a bit horn shaped, my guess is it comes from Iasg-mheara which is Gaelic for the fish Mullet. So, the mullet point.
As you go further north from Ardmair, the hills may not be giants, but they stick out from a treeless and flat landscape, which gives them a bit of grandeur.
Stac Pollaidh, is the one that looks like a mountain should.
The loch only adds to the picture.
It gets very rugged when you get close up.
It isn't too far from the sea, so we took a little detour down to Achnahaird beach. Now, if you were paying attention to the Gaelic lesson about Ardmair, you would immediately realise that this is the beach of the promontory.
There is a little car park close to the beach, so we stopped and had a walk along the coast a bit. Here is Michael, Bruce and I and some blue sky.
Here are the ladies.
The beach is down there.
So, we decided to get a little closer.
It is quite impressive and almost empty.
Nonetheless, we weren't going for a dip any time soon.
We had to retrace our route a little after the beach, but we were soon on the way further north again, with some views over the sea.
A couple of the locals ran down the street ahead of the car.
On the way back to the hotel, we saw more seals.
Clearly Iain did not think the food was enough of a contribution. He went home and raided his extensive whisky collection and brought back some for the gentlemen to taste.
Our first stop was the famous pie shop, but they were not interested in selling us anything, so we went to a little café on the other side of the road for tea and a cake.
Suitably fortified, we went up to the Pottery, where everything is decorated with old, broken ceramics.
There is even a car for pottering about in!
Somewhere to rest your weary legs.
After a browse and some purchasing, we we were back on the road - we had a bit of a deadline. If we wanted a bacon roll, we had to be at Flossie's Tearoom before it closed for the day.
When I say tearoom, it really is a hole in the wall of a cabin, that is also the shop for the caravan park nearby. They do a pretty good bacon roll. Shelter from the wind was a bit limited.
Despite the massive queue....
....there were plenty of tables available.
They do a pretty good bacon roll, or, in Michael's case, a Lorne Sausage roll. I bet it would be a decade or two since he has eaten a square sausage!
It certainly made up for the absence of any pies.
Even better, directly opposite were some Heilan' Coos, which was exactly what Cindy had been looking for.
Onwards, past more empty, sandy beaches.
More lochs and mountains.
There was even some wildlife to be seen in passing, including this adder, which is the only venomous snake in the country. This one just wanted off the road, although Sharon said it did hiss at her!
Before too long we were at the Kylesku Hotel, where we were staying for the night. This is the view up the loch from the hotel bar. The slipway in the foreground is where dinner sometimes gets dropped off by the local fishermen.
Here we are on the inside looking out at the view from the bar, before it was time to eat again.
Dinner time!
Don't I look happy with my choice?
It was big enough to blot out half the other side of the table.
Oddly, I don't have photos of anyone else's choices. Here is my main of Halibut, with new potatoes and a tomato salsa. Very good it was, too. Halibut is one of my favourite fish.
The chocolate cherry dessert was pretty good as well. I was very happy with my choices, as was everybody else. It wasn't the Dipping Lugger, but then, it wasn't supposed to be.
Time for another nightcap, then sleep, before another exciting day tomorrow.
Day4 Saturday 29th April 2023
Saturday morning was gloriously bright and sunny. So much so, that we were all out for a little walk before breakfast. Now Kylesku is not the biggest hamlet in the world, so a walk about doesn't take too long. That doesn't mean there isn't much to see. The hotel is right next to the old ferry pier. The ferry was replaced by the very fine bridge in 1984. The ferry boat, The Maid of Glencoul, was relocated to Corran, near Fort William.
The bridge is striking in design and this was recognised when it became a Listed structure in 2019. It was also the first bridge in the country to be officially renamed in Gaelic - Drochaid a' Chaolais Chumhaing - which basically means the bridge across the narrows. Sharon had a wee walk underneath it whilst I was doing some chores.
The sea was very calm, but I have been here when the storms were so bad, the ferry was off and the resultant detour doubled the distance I had to drive from Kinlochbervie to Ullapool. Not only that, the power was off and hotel kitchens could not operate and my dinner was at significant risk!
Calm is good.
There are also some nice hills to see. Quinag dominates the skyline hereabouts, although it is only 2650 feet high. The name Quinag is an anglicisation of the Gaelic Cuinneag, meaning milk pail. It is said to resemble a milk pail, but I've never seen that myself.
Back to the hotel for a hearty breakfast.
I had a very nice plate of scrambled eggs, smoked haddock, smoked salmon and spinach.
We had a little time to spare after breakfast, so we crossed the bridge and had a bit of a wander about. Here are Michael and Cindy in front of the bridge.
The deep waters of the sea lochs here were used for training mini submarine crews during the Second World War. The lochs were thought to resemble Norwegian Fjords and the submarines were to be used to try to sink the German Battleship, the Tirpitz. In the event, the Tirpitz was badly damaged and effectively out of the war for some considerable time. Some of the crews involved were lost at sea, or captured. Two of the crewmen involved were awarded the Victoria Cross.
Once back at the hotel, we boarded our own little boat, to go for a short cruise up the loch to see some wildlife and scenery. We probably could not have had better weather for it. Clear and fairly calm. If only it hadn't have been so cold, it would have been perfect.
Off we set, along with the other tourists, hoping to see dolphins, porpoise, golden eagles or white tailed sea eagles and the highest waterfall in the country.
Bruce and Michael dressed for the weather.
It may have been cold, but it was sunny.
Everybody had their eyes peeled.
It was just here that the guide told us all about the fascinating geology of the surrounding landscape. Unfortunately, I could not hear very well, so I can't tell you what he said. However, I suspect he was talking about the formation of the Moine Thrust, which occurred 430 million years ago when two giant continents collided and ancient rocks were thrust up to 100 kilometres west. Geologists were able to decode this from the rock formations here which show one continent sliding beneath the other. These are some of the oldest rocks in the world.
Sharon, the windswept seafarer.
Seals. These are Common Seals, which are, bizarrely, less common than the bigger Grey Seals. These two species are the two UK species.
In the distance we could see the highest waterfall in Britain - Eas a' Chual Aluinn - the waterfall of the beautiful tresses - presumably a reference to the appearance of the falls as braids or tresses of hair. The name is probably corrupted inasmuch as Aluinn would more correctly be Alainn, meaning lovely or beautiful.
The falls drop over 650 feet, more than three times the hight of Niagara Falls, but with a lot less water! The guide said that there is not a huge body of water feeding the falls, but that water collects from clouds rolling into the heights and condensing to form water. That sounds possible, but surely cannot fully explain the volume of water that we can see.
Whatever the source, the falls are impressive and no doubt even better following heavy rainfall.
Here we all are at the end of the loch, looking like we were on an Arctic exploration!
The clean waters of the lochs here make them ideally suited to cultivating mussels on ropes. If we had been here a few days ago, we might have seen someone collecting the mussels for Michael's dinner last night!
Mussels are the favourite food of Eider Ducks and there were plenty of them about. They are Britain's heaviest ducks and are really only found in marine environments, unlike other ducks which might also frequent freshwater.
Not far from the mussel ropes, there are the remains of one of the X-class midget submarines, which came to grief in the loch. The service men trained here were taken out to Norway by boat. Their submarines were towed by a larger craft and manned by a service crew. They were taken off and the three man attack crew manned the submarine, dropping timed explosives below the Tirpitz. They were actually captured and taken on board the Tirpitz, in the knowledge that their explosive charges had not yet detonated and their was every chance that they might have gone down with the enemy ship! As it happens, the ship was badly damaged by the explosion and the Tirpitz was disabled from action against Arctic Convoys taking war materials and food to Russia. The Tirpitz was eventually sunk by RAF aircraft later in the war.
It seems the local cormorants liked to rest up on the mussel buoys as well.
The Grey Seals were much too big for the buoys.
Before we got back to the slipway, the boat took us under the bridge, giving us a new angle from the water.
We were soon back on dry land and heading south. We had one more stop to make. Not too far from Kylesku is Loch Assynt. This freshwater loch is where the son of our neighbours tragically drowned in July 2008 at the age of 20. Craig's parents have had a memorial bench erected here and Sharon and I placed a geocache nearby. Within the geocache was one of Craig's carabiners - he was an adventurous climber. The carabiner was attached to a trackable dog tag which has travelled thousands of miles across the world, much as Craig might have done.
We were making a quick visit to the site to check on the condition of the bench for Craig's parents and to check that the geocache was still watertight and not needing any maintenance.
The views here are wide and empty.
Sharon, Irene and Cindy checking up on the cache, whilst Michael stands guard.
Actually he was looking at his phone!
Once we had done all we needed to do, it was back on the road south. Bruce and Irene had to go into Ullapool as he had managed to take the room key away with him. He had also left his jacket at Kylesku and had had to go back for that earlier on. He and Irene then made their way home to Fort William.
We also called into Ullapool as Michael apparently could not survive without some coffee. As it happens we sat in the warm sun at the Ceilidh Place while he had his coffee.
Finally we headed back to Inverness.
As we had been having such a hard time over the last few days, we had persuaded Elain and Iain to prepare a spread of easy food for us all to graze on and also to allow Michael and Cindy to meet the rest of the family.
Certainly there was plenty of good food to be had.
Elain had made one of her trademark cheesecakes.
Michael, Darren, Iain and I certainly enjoyed a final toast to a great little break away. I don't think we could have crammed any more into the time available and I'm pretty sure that none of us will forget what was an epic few days of scenery, companionship, food and drink.
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