We had been at the mercy of the weather for a few days but, on the plus side, the enforced relaxation of the past couple of days had been a nice change of pace and had the added benefit of finally allowing my lower back to rest and heal. The forecast for Friday however was much improved with promises of sunny intervals. That was enough! Time to go walking. We chose a hike starting near the harbour in Gairloch and following a marked trail through Flowerdale Glen ...

It's now seventeen days since we arrived in Scotland yet it feels as if we have been here an age; not in a bad way but for possibly the first time ever on an overseas holiday, I have learned to relax. Of course, places such as Wester Ross have that effect on you. Remote, wild and beautiful Wester Ross is dominated by it's harsh and rugged landscape. The main road skirts the edge looping around mountains and lochs and any digression leads straight to single track...

Taking advantage of the fine weather we made our way south, driving past Poolewe and Gairloch to the shores of Loch Maree where we entered the Beinn Eighe National Nature Reserve. Parking at a the lochside carpark at Coille na Glas-Leitire we had chosen a relatively straightforward but deceptively named Woodland Trail for our trek having decided the Mountain Trail was a bit too much for my troublesome lower back (this courtesy of a slip downstairs at Lower Towie ...

After a lovely week at Torran Cottage in Lochinver we were on our way again, this time just a little further south and a bit further west to the tiny settlement of Mellon Charles on Loch Ewe, the only north facing loch in Scotland. I had received an email for the owner of Shore Croft cottage, our next accommodation, saying the cottage was available for us at any time so, after stopping for fuel and supplies in Ullapool, we drove straight to Mellon Charles rather...

After spending yesterday have a relaxing day doing nothing more strenuous than visiting the Lochinver Larder for lunch (and a fine lunch it was too if being still too full to eat dinner is any indication!), we kitted up to tackle Stac Pollaidh. Crossing once more into Wester Ross we drove towards Ullapool and then turned off to Achiltibuie to get to our starting point. This is a very popular climb and the dedicated car park was almost full when we reached it ju...