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Monday 9 May, around Applecross peninsula

Scotland 2005 - part VI

Elisabeth & Teije
2006-08-27 09:54:27

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We wanted to leave early, but since it became so late yesterday, we are very late this morning, too. Our plan was to drive to the peninsula Applecross and then go to the south, in the direction of Skye. After telling our plans, Cathy knows to convince us to go around Applecross today, come back here and then leave tomorrow. When we check our maps again and the time, we realise that she is right. So, we will stay another night.

So we leave for Applecross, a beautiful peninsula on the west coast. The road to it leads us also through a magnificient region, with snowy mountains and sometimes bare, sometimes forested areas. We have driven around Applecross before, but this time we take the other way around.

We enter the peninsula going up the Bealach na Ba, the cattle pass; in the beginning the road is narrow and twisting, nut later it goes steep and straight on up to the highest point at about 700 meters. It is a breathtaking climb and it snows when we reach the summit. When we ahve descended a bit we see the misty island of Skye in the distance.

In the town Applecross, at sealevel, we are happy to feel that it is much warmer, almost 10 degrees. But not warm enough to sit outside, so we go in for a cup of coffee. Most people are already having beer or even something stronger, but we still have a long way to drive.

And for driving on these twisting narrow roads one has to have a clear head; sometimes we have to bend our head over the steering wheel to see if there are any oncoming cars on the road. We often feel our necks after a long day driving on these roads with so many blind summits. But the wonderful views we see are worth a sore neck, we think!

Just posing for the camera with bare arms, but we are glad when we are back in our warm car. At least it is dry and very sunny, which is more important than the temperature. We realise every time again that it is the sky that makes the country so pretty: it colours ...