Our first stop for the day is called Wailing Widow falls. This is a waterfall that flows out of Loch Gainmhich. There was a narrow and quite challenging path leading to the falls from the A-road nearby, where there was also a small parking area, that took you directly to the bottom of the falls. There must have been a rock slide at some point in the past so when I say "quite challenging" there was a lot of clambering over big rocks. But we made it. This is another place that would have been good with a drone - ahh next time!
We weren't at the waterfall alone, as we met up with a guy who was there by himself. It turned out that he was an Aussie, visiting his mum and had hired a VW campervan.
The next place we stopped at was Clashnessie. We paused along the way to take a couple of photos of the little village and Clashnessie Bay from the nearby hills, then continued down to the village. We scored the last parking spot in an area just off the road and set off. We were on a walk to Clashnessie Falls, another waterfall nearby. This one required a bit more of a walk, but it was a lovely day.
You could get a lot closer to this one but the spray coming off the falls was messing up my camera lens, the ground was muddy and slippery, and so I didn't get too close. It was a lovely waterfall, though the light wasn't great for taking photos - but what can you do?!
We hopped back into the car and drove through the beautiful landscapes of Scotland. We got all the way around the A837 to Loch Assynt. There we stopped at parking to have a look at a couple of islands in the Loch. Honestly, Scotland is like another world - the island covered in trees and with trees growing out of the water was so strange to me!
It was only a short drive from there to Ardvreck Castle. This castle was built in the 16th century and is now in ruins. There is another house nearby, Calda House, that was built as a more modern manor house in the 18th century rather than living in the cold castle. A fire ripped through it in the 18th century and it is also in ruins.
There were a lot of people stopped here to go have a look, but the ground was quite boggy with only a couple of ways to go, so only a few people made the trek to the castle. I walked through the boggy ground and jumped a stream to walk up a hill nearby that looked to have the best view...
Our next stop was on my "must see" list of places. The Bone Caves of Inchnadamph. We parked and left the car on foot. It was the only time I've not taken my backpack and the only time I wish I had, it was hot work walking up to the Bone Caves and I could have done with my water bottle. The caves are so named because they contain relics of Eurasian lynx, brown bear, Arctic fox, reindeer (dated to 47,000 BC), the only evidence of polar bears so far found in Scotland, and human skeletons dated to to between 3000-2000 BC.
It seemed quite an easy walk for most of it until we started going up. And up. And up. In the end I left Josh to walk up slower while I continued on in my own pace. The view from the caves was spectacular, and I had a look inside but there was only a deer or cow bone there that someone had left there as a joke.
Then it was time to head back down again, and I caught up with Josh as he was almost at the top but had decided to wait for me. We went back down again. Nearby there was the beginning of a river, that turned into quite a gusher. We got to the source, a little water bubbling up from the ground and had a drink of the cool, brackish water. It was lovely and cold.
We left the Bone Caves parking area at about 2:30 and headed down to Ullapool. We hadn't had lunch and the snacks we had with us just weren't enough. Plus we needed some dinner and there was a decent supermarket there, once we finally found it! Then it was time to head to the campsite we'd chosen at Ardmair Point and settle in for the night. What a busy day!