Suilven from Elphin

A day of sunny sunshine with enough breeze to keep the midges away.

I dropped Apothecary7 off at Bridge House Art about 9.20am. Maeve the Deerhound and I went to Ardmair. The water was flat calm and the sky and sea blue. I watched the Stornoway ferry come in though the Summer Isles and head up Loch Broom. We had a walk round. As we were coming back to the car I noticed the convoy of three or four cars with all the painters on the course as they set off for Achiltibuie. There was much waving. I doubt they could have chosen a better day for the trip.

Maeve and I drove North to Lochinver. I parked and we had a walk along to the pier. The wind had picked up a bit and the sea was darker blue with some white topped waves. I saw a sign for a bookshop and coffee shop 3 miles South at Inverkirkaig on the coast road (i.e. the narrow single track road) which runs from Lochinver to Achiltibuie. We went to explore. It felt a lot longer than 3 miles. The bookshop was very good, with an interesting Scottish Fiction section from which I chose a book. The coffee shop was empty so I decided to give that a miss. I decided to head back towards Ullapool, so I drove to Lochinver and then went back South on the main road. I stopped in Eplhin at the coffee shop, which is just off the side of the road and up a slope. I went in and ordered then brought Maeve out of the car and went to sit at a picnic bench with the most glorious view over to Suilven. I sat there for a while. Maeve had some pieces of excellent scone and lay on the grass next to the bench. Just after I started off South again I stopped in a little car park which has a clearer viewpoint for pictures of Suilven.

We drove back to Ardmair and I parked there. I finished my book. Then we came back to our holiday house and Maeve is outside in the garden as I am writing. I'll go back to Bridge House Art about 5pm and see if the painters have returned from their day out.

Extras: Yacht at Ardmair, Maeve the Deerhound at Ardmair wondering why I am taking even more photos of Ben Mor Coigach :-)