When we moved to Scotland, we started asking everyone we met for travel recommendations. “What’s your favorite place to visit?” “Where should we go first?” Often the answer ended up being something along the lines of “just drive up and down the whole west coast of Scotland.” The first chance we got, we did just that. Our first destination (after a spontaneous stop for a tour of Dalwhinnie Distillery) was Ullapool.
Ullapool is a small seaside town on Scotland’s west coast, and it made for a perfect first stop on our tour. In summer it’s quite popular with tourists, but by September it quiets down considerably.
We checked into a quaint room at the Waterside House B&B, and then headed out for a night on the town. Our first stop was The Seaforth, where we enjoyed fresh seafood and local beers in their bar.
Afterwards we wandered over to the pub at The Argyll for more ale and cider. We ended up taking part in a pub quiz, proving ourselves to be comically inept at British pop culture and football questions (though proudly nailing one about Italian cheeses).
The next morning we tucked into a big, traditional Scottish breakfast at our B&B before venturing out for a short hike. Western Scotland’s weather is notoriously dramatic, so we were thankful every time we had a nice window of not-rain for hiking or driving.
Brambles are everywhere when you hike in Scotland in August and September, and Scott enjoyed stopping along the way to eat their blackberries.
Our hike took us up high enough to enjoy some sweeping views before winding back down and along the coast a bit, finishing with another walk along Ullapool’s seaside main drag.
We decided to return to The Seaforth for lunch, picking up some fish and chips to eat at a picnic table by the water.
We soon found ourselves surrounded by Ullapool’s not-so-merry band of obese seagulls, one of whom loudly begged for some of our lunch. We took pleasure in denying him any.
Edited to add: We also made a quick stop in Ullapool on our way back down the coast, where we enjoyed a big pot of muscles by the water at The Arch. Always nice to make use of those little bits of sunshine in the Highlands.
Up next on our Western Highlands road trip: the coastal drive north to Durness.
Lovely pictures, as always. I’ve a question for you: I know you admirably refrain from writing about politics, but I’m curious as to your perspective on the upcoming referendum? Not necessarily the rights or wrongs of it, but the possibility of going to sleep in your fifth(?) home country and waking up in your sixth?
Ah yes, I’ve been thinking about writing about the referendum, but it’s just so gigantic and wormy I almost don’t know where to begin. It’s all we hear about these days. Things have really intensified with the latest poll showing independence in the lead for the first time. The Yes campaign seems to be based on emotions and pie-in-the-sky promises (free unicorns for everybody!), and has no good answers when pressed about concrete items such as monetary policy. So, I’m nervous about what a Yes vote would bring. Exciting times in Scotland.
The langostines in Scotland are so, so, so good, but darn it if they aren’t also dangerous. My fingers hurt for a week after sampling them in Islay.