We headed south and east this morning, continuing our vague clockwise tour of Scotland. Driving down the side of the Cromarty Firth, the oil rigs stood guard in the falling rain. We finally got to travel across the bridge as Nicky had intended on the Friday previously. Our luck also held this time, finding (and keeping) the A9! and drove along the opposite coast to look back fondly at where we had come. Noticing the brown signs indicating Culloden we took a sh...

Sunday - sleep-ins and late breakfast were the order of the day. The family fry-up was well received. We were off back across to the west coast again, to Ullapool and a visit to Pauls best friend Gus and his family. The young ones in one car with Ben, and the oldies in the other, having a good old natter. We took the long way round on purpose, as the Cromalt Hills are truly amazing mountain peaks, even by Scottish standards, surrounding the road on each side, s...

Saturday morning, bundled against the chill wind, we took Ben for a run down a nearby beach. Out across the Cromarty Firth, standing forlorn against the tide, huge oil rigs stood silent like metal robot monsters, frozen in the cold. Driving past them late last night, they had been brightly lit like so many platforms of party-land in the channel. Now they just looked sad and abandoned. Grateful to be back in the cars again and out of the never-ending wind, we ...

Today was a day of mysteries galore: Mystery #1 How do you manage to pack all your belongings, empty kitchen cupboards and the fridge, empty fireplaces, strip beds, sweep and do a cursory clean, pack cars and sort out lunch supplies - and still get away half an hour earlier than the day before when you just grabbed bags and food for a day trip?? Mystery #2 How did Paul manage to get a ticket for the ferry to Oban without Nicky's assistance? Then, how did he man...

Our last full day on Mull was set to be yet another full of unexpected adventures. Although the rain was drizzling down and the chill wind still cut you to the bone, we all set off in high spirits for a big day. We were to do a west coast tour, and drove the now almost familiar route past serene lochs and fields of highland cattle and very woolly sheep. Up the road a way, we stopped to indulge Karens' love of plants at Lucy's Garden. This is set on quite a ste...