Shetland to Inverness: with a wee bit of a day trip to Ullapool …not Liverpool

Brant did a great job of driving. I loved how locals gave him a quick… toot..toot to say thank you. At least I think that’s what they were saying. Would we come back? I would love to. Way more to explore and a beautiful place to relax in a seaside Croft.

And clearly we need to get a clothes dryer like this for LB.

… approaching Inverness. (I love how the flight attendant on our propeller plane told us in a “in a hosh landin I will be a sayin to breeze” what? Oh “to brace” … by the second flight I understood Scottish a wee bit better).

Our cab driver who came to Inverness 30 years ago from Poland, gave us a quick run down of the city of Inverness with all the usual: too expensive, growing too fast but a good healthcare system etc. He had a trip planned to visit his wife’s family in Detroit Michigan. Then they were going to drive from Michigan to Miami Florida to visit family. Hmmm Covid may have been lucky for him!

I believe the lines on the road are to help those who overindulged at the pub.

We had no real plans for our 2 nights in Inverness and a group bus tour did not appeal to us . So while we lunched at the Victorian Market, I decided to ask the group of women sitting next to us and were clearly locals what we should do. Almost immediately she said we should do a bus trip to Ullapool! Everyone agreed wholeheartedly. They went on to plan the rest of our day and filled us with all the details on how to do it. I thought the Market would be a rip off tourist lunch but it turns out everyone eats there. Great food… Brant had a venison burger and I had a falafel salad. The women next to me owns a vegan restaurant in Scotland and said the booth at the market was very well known. It was food and drink from everywhere and the clientele was equally diverse.

Roots and Rituals…. What a great name. And I love this reflection.

Inverness was a nice town but a clash to the senses after remote Shetland. And many tourists…. At least compared to Shetland .

Before and after. We amused ourselves by watching them move the scaffolding while they stood on it… like a Lego set. And what was the clerk saying about sooo boring?

My new favorite artist. William Gilles I think? This reminded me of LB when the first rains start in the mountains. Summer in LB

Also his work. This was a terrific and free museum that really helped me to understand the history of the area.

So off we went to Ullapool in a spacious comfortable bus with a blissfully quiet driver through surprisingly mountainous scenery. oh so tempting to ask for a photo stop.

The reflections in this lake were amazing. In fact it looked like another great hiking spot. The bus driver seemed amenable to stopping anywhere but we were not brave enough to catch the next bus.

Maybe that’s why they had signs like this. (Actually there were quite a few signs like this).

Brant questioned the wisdom of getting dropped off in a small town for 8 hours with no real plans. I think he especially felt that way after the 20 something hotel clerk said, “why Ullapool? it’s soooo boring … absolutely nothing to do. “(Scots like the word absolutely).

Lots of benches… and the second bloom of heather which they consider a weed as sheep can not eat… much like our star thistle except prettier.

We started with the hike up the hill of Ullapool which at 300 meters felt more like a small mountain. . It started in a residential neighborhood but quickly became a fern carpeted fir forest then turned to rock studded heather fields. As on all our hikes we met dog breeds we have never heard of… German Quail dog on this hike.

As always it seems in UK and Europe we were impressed by how well maintained the trails were …

… and clearly this was a well loved trail by the community.

We were constantly surprised by menus filled with diverse offerings. Definitely the best food offerings of any UK country.

After that it was a terrific lunch at the highly recommended sea shack which I thought would be fish and chips but was actually gourmet seafood served outside. I’m glad we ate there because since then when we tell Scots we went To Ullapool they ask: “did you eat at the sea shack?”. So then a museum in yet another abandoned church, a bookstore, ice cream (tablet flavored), gin tasting with yet another Scot who has visited Mexico. She loved the food and wants to go back for more …. And what do you know? Time to board the bus with no time to read or knit. A perfectly pleasant visit just an hour and a wee bit back to Inverness. (They say wee bit a lot too).