Ullapool and the Applecross Pass - Monday 10-7-23
As we left Ullapool the weather was still reasonably pleasant. No sign of rain yet, but the clouds were building up, and it looked like we would be getting some later. We drove south past Loch Broom then a while later went north again back up the other side of the Loch to Little Loch Broom.
Up past the loch we carried on through Mungasdale to Gruinard Bay. Stopping at a little carpark giving a great vantage point over the bay, we had a brew up and took a few photographs
Back on the road we headed inland accross to Poolewe, passing Loch Ewe and the Isle of Ewe on the way. Stopping a few times to admire the scenery we arrived at The Victoria Falls, on the river which drains Loch Garbhaig further up the mountain into Loch Maree. We took a short walk up the mountain to see the falls, which also gave us a great view of Loch Maree.
Retracing our steps back to the van we headed back the way we had come for a bit then turned off towards Badachro, where we were to stay the night at a pub parkup. Unfortunately the carpark was quite small, and full up. As it was still early, we carried on past Badachro and found another fantastic beach where we stopped for a few hours before returning to the pub.
There was room for us to park this time, so we set up and headed into the pub for dinner and a few bevies.
Badachro Inn beer garden.
We had quite a lot of rain during night, but next morning it had stopped, though there was a lot of cloud about, and it seemed quite low.
This was a little dissapointing, as we were due to do The Applecross Pass today, which is over 2000 feet above sea level at its highest.
Passing The Victoria Falls again, we turned west again toward the Applecross Peninsula and just short of Torridon saw this impressive young stag, conveniently posing near a car park.
I think he is a regular visitor here as many tourists were hand feeding him apples. Further on we stopped at Sheildag for a coffee and a walkabout.
From Sheildag we then drove around the coastline of the peninsula to Applecross, by which time the weather had closed in even more.
The pass, named Bealach na Ba was an old cattle droving route, connecting Applecross with Lochcarron, and rises 626 metres in about 5 miles. At roughly 11 miles long, this single track road has fantastic scenery and alpine like hairpin bends.
Unfortunately we did not see much of it, as soon after we left the coast we were enshrouded in fog or low cloud for the whole journey, emerging out of the cloud only when we started to descend at the other end.
The hamlet of Kenmore, overlooking Loch Sheildag.
