Friday – traveled by EasyJet from Gatwick to INV having spent a night near the WWT reserve at Slimbridge. Early start needed. Spent the night at a B&B in Inverness. Nice restaurant called the Mustard Seed. It’s near the river.
Saturday – Jesper had kindly offered to share his car with us and we arranged to meet at our B&B. As soon as he arrived we said our goodbyes at the B&B and headed to Tesco to buy groceries. Betsy was buried by provisions in the back of the car. Then we were off to KLB with a stop for soup at Invershin Hotel. A rather moth eaten place run by some old ladies – musty and barely open for the season. The soup was OK and we were back on the road using Jesper’s fancy on-call navigation system. We were cooking that night – vegetarian haggis. Dry, but OK. Gordon dropped a tray on the floor. Betsy glared menacingly at him, but it was rescued and all was OK.
Shared a cottage with Jesper, Heather and David
Sunday 23 March – Sandwood Bay. The weather was pretty miserable, but we all set out for the remote beach at Sandwood Bay anyway. The splendid unspoiled sandy beach is one of the areas associated with the John Muir Trust. It’s about a 4 mile walk from the road and so is devoid of usual holidaymakers that inhabit nice beaches.
As I was walking along a gentleman came past and said “is Richard there?”. He looked familiar and said something about having passed Gordon Cooper. It was none other than my boss and dedicated peak bagger from ICL 30+ years previously – Gordon Adshead (aka +Z). He was with his wife and they were staying at a youth hostel. I had not seen him for years. Amazing. He had completed the Munros many years earlier
Monday 24 March – Smoo Cave and Durness area on the North Coast. Ardmore later.
The morning was miserable with sleet so we set off with Jesper and, Heather and David for Durness; the most northerly town in the UK and the only serious settlement that can still only be accessed by a single track road.
After exploring the cave we looked around a bit and took photos.
In the afternoon, we went to the small hamlet of Ardmore. So small that it does not show in the OS map and is accessed at the end of a foot path that leads from the terminus of the road through KLB westwards. It can also be accessed by sea. It was a centre for sailing, kayaking, climbing, etc. It’s a few houses, many of which seemed to be unoccupied.
Tuesday 25 March – The weather was chilly, but there was no precipitation. Time for our first big adventure of the week; Ben Hope. I had climbed this back in 1985 with Phil and others. on that occasion we took the northern, steep and direct ascent. This time we took the more gradual southern route. We went in Jesper’s Jag. Heather and David came along in their own car. The drive took us along a very narrow road with a rough surface. Not normal Jaguar territory, but the car was fine. Birds seen – 2 ptarmigans on Ben Hope.
We were late for dinner after showering and missed soup. However there was time to take pictures of the others.
Wednesday 26 March – John O’Groats. It’s a 3-hour drive from KLB along the north coast. Jesper had lent us the car for the day, so Betsy and I made our own way. I was the named driver on the insurance, so Betsy could take pictures as we traveled. The weather was much the same as the day before; chilly, but no precipitation. Views were good in all directions. On the way we passed the now closed Dounreay nuclear power station where there is a museum and visitor centre that would be a place to visit on another day. This was famous in the UK during the earky 1970s because it was the site of the first “fast Breeder reactor”. Soon afterwards of course nuclear energy fell out of favour. On the return, we saw some familiar hills like Ben Hope and Ben Stack.
Thursday 27 March – Conival and Ben More Assynt. Now this was a superb day. Two terrific Munros covered in snow and looking their very best. Everyone is our cottage set out for the car park at the Inchnadamph Hotel; Christine and Dave W joined us. Up a dirt track, past a few cottages, then following a watercourse to the col between Conival and Beinn an Fhurain. Lunch in the sun by a big boulder. Then we donned wind pants and took out ice axes for the ascent of Conival. Later we used crampons. We chose an out and back route to Ben More Assynt and walked the narrow, corniced ridge to its rocky summit.
Back in time for salmon dinner. A complete fish that we called Walter after the fish in “On Golden Pond”. That evening the Hamer children played with the dogs in the gym attached to the village hall.
Friday 27 March – A leisurely day near KLB was all we could do after the previous day’s climax to the week. So we ate a very filling cooked breakfast, did laundry, cleaned gaiters and boots then started packing and did some thinning out of extras. The KLB chandler’s store sold souvenir mugs and of course we bought two of them. It wass a disappointment that the fish and chip restaurant was closed (the Rough Guide had labeled it the “country’s best fish and chips”, but it smelled good so was not closed permanently. We went south to Tarbet and had a very good repast at the Shorehouse restaurant near the pier for ferries to Handa Island.
Saturday 28 March – There was the usual food frenzy, this time in the gym. As was often that case we coukld not take much because of flying south. Jesper didn’t miss out though. Afterwards we were into Jesper’s car for the drive back to Inverness. There was a stop at Culloden; time was limted, so we didn’t spend the money to visit the site, but we did visit the shop and I bought a book about St Kilda. Then off on EasyJet to Gatwick followed by a bus to Heathrow. That night we stayed with Alex in Ashford, Middlesex .