I'm aware that I'm a few days behind with the blog.... No phone signal or WiFi at our last campsite, so there's also a lack of decent photos for this one too! :( I'll update later with pictures!
So tody has been fun! When I decided on the title of Gone With the Wind I really wasn't kidding! The part of Scotland we were in was experiencing some seirosuly windy conditions! Pitting the tent down in the morning was definitely a two person job as we were warned by the friendly campsite owner "careful putting your tents down, I've seen a few fly into the sea and you've really lost them then!". No kidding either! Left the guy lines down until the last minute for those!!
All packed and ready to go, we headed out of John O'Groats and down towards Furness. Our campsite was in Clachtoll Beach, which was a fair drive, but we were prepared for that. We drove through some pretty desolate scenery to be honest. Melvich, Strathy, and Armadale all looked fairly miserable and a bit dull. We were beginning to wonder why they bothered promoting the North Coast 500, then we stopped in Bettyhill.
At Bettyhill there is a café and a tourist information in a small cottage, over the road there is a 17th Century church that has been converted into museum. It was this museum that really changed my mind about the landscape we had just driven through. The museum taught us about the highland clearances, when tenants were evicted from their little black houses to make way for sheep, if they didn't leave then the cottage was set light to. The museum had a video that interviewed some of the Makay clan who were discussing the ceilidh and how having a ceilidh has really brought people back together and me;t the culture alive. There were times when speaking Gaelic was banned and traditional music was shunned, this really sounds dreadful and I'm pleased to see that it's become history now.
Upstairs in the small museum was a room dedicated to clan Makay, this was amazing and lovely to see the price as well as the heritage. I must ask dad how he's doing with our family history and take a bit more interest.
Moving on, I found myself looking at the landscape and abandoned dwellings through new eyes. It's both sad and poignant, I can't see how the lifestyle as it was could have survived, but at the same score it seems wrong to just evict people with no other options.
Next stop was onto Durness for Smoo Cave! I love the name of this place and I've got style brilliant pictures but sadly my tablets and phone are the only devices that can get the super slow WiFi and the pictures are on my -weatherproof, thank goodness- DSLR SD card, so you'll have to check them out later! Smoo Cave was really cool though and had a huge waterfall across the road that looked fierce, then we walked down the cliff side to the cave where the waterfall landed. Prince was a bit scared of the loud waterfall but we went into the cavern to see it and s it was awesome. Not the silly American version of awesome, but proper awe inspiring awesome! It's surprising that a waterfall with that much ferocity ends up just a small stream out to sea! Nate is pretty amazing!
Last stop was our campsite at Clachtoll Beach. This is where I have to have a little moan. It was £21 poer night fur 2 adults, 2 tents, 2 dogs and 1 car. For that you got a bit of soggy grass and cabin toilets and showers. Our campsite at Stroma View was tiny but we had spotless toilets and showers, a washing up area, soggy grass (think everywhere has soggy grass!) and electric hookup, for £10 per night. The campsite at Clachtoll was very nice but had no phone signal at all, and the guy buggered off without telling us the WiFi password, WiFi that was weak at best. Just feel a bit ripped off and won't be giving them great reviews on TripAdvisor.
We did, however, get a chance to go to the beach (Prince had his life jacket on, obviously!). Prince didn't really like the sea to be honest but I'm hoping he will come round when we go to Skye :). Sunset was gorgeous!
Day 7's plans are Achmelvic beach, a castle I can't remember the name of, Lochinver, maybe Ullapool and onto Gairloch.
See you tomorrow! Xx
So tody has been fun! When I decided on the title of Gone With the Wind I really wasn't kidding! The part of Scotland we were in was experiencing some seirosuly windy conditions! Pitting the tent down in the morning was definitely a two person job as we were warned by the friendly campsite owner "careful putting your tents down, I've seen a few fly into the sea and you've really lost them then!". No kidding either! Left the guy lines down until the last minute for those!!
All packed and ready to go, we headed out of John O'Groats and down towards Furness. Our campsite was in Clachtoll Beach, which was a fair drive, but we were prepared for that. We drove through some pretty desolate scenery to be honest. Melvich, Strathy, and Armadale all looked fairly miserable and a bit dull. We were beginning to wonder why they bothered promoting the North Coast 500, then we stopped in Bettyhill.
At Bettyhill there is a café and a tourist information in a small cottage, over the road there is a 17th Century church that has been converted into museum. It was this museum that really changed my mind about the landscape we had just driven through. The museum taught us about the highland clearances, when tenants were evicted from their little black houses to make way for sheep, if they didn't leave then the cottage was set light to. The museum had a video that interviewed some of the Makay clan who were discussing the ceilidh and how having a ceilidh has really brought people back together and me;t the culture alive. There were times when speaking Gaelic was banned and traditional music was shunned, this really sounds dreadful and I'm pleased to see that it's become history now.
Upstairs in the small museum was a room dedicated to clan Makay, this was amazing and lovely to see the price as well as the heritage. I must ask dad how he's doing with our family history and take a bit more interest.
Moving on, I found myself looking at the landscape and abandoned dwellings through new eyes. It's both sad and poignant, I can't see how the lifestyle as it was could have survived, but at the same score it seems wrong to just evict people with no other options.
Next stop was onto Durness for Smoo Cave! I love the name of this place and I've got style brilliant pictures but sadly my tablets and phone are the only devices that can get the super slow WiFi and the pictures are on my -weatherproof, thank goodness- DSLR SD card, so you'll have to check them out later! Smoo Cave was really cool though and had a huge waterfall across the road that looked fierce, then we walked down the cliff side to the cave where the waterfall landed. Prince was a bit scared of the loud waterfall but we went into the cavern to see it and s it was awesome. Not the silly American version of awesome, but proper awe inspiring awesome! It's surprising that a waterfall with that much ferocity ends up just a small stream out to sea! Nate is pretty amazing!
Last stop was our campsite at Clachtoll Beach. This is where I have to have a little moan. It was £21 poer night fur 2 adults, 2 tents, 2 dogs and 1 car. For that you got a bit of soggy grass and cabin toilets and showers. Our campsite at Stroma View was tiny but we had spotless toilets and showers, a washing up area, soggy grass (think everywhere has soggy grass!) and electric hookup, for £10 per night. The campsite at Clachtoll was very nice but had no phone signal at all, and the guy buggered off without telling us the WiFi password, WiFi that was weak at best. Just feel a bit ripped off and won't be giving them great reviews on TripAdvisor.
We did, however, get a chance to go to the beach (Prince had his life jacket on, obviously!). Prince didn't really like the sea to be honest but I'm hoping he will come round when we go to Skye :). Sunset was gorgeous!
Day 7's plans are Achmelvic beach, a castle I can't remember the name of, Lochinver, maybe Ullapool and onto Gairloch.
See you tomorrow! Xx
