And this is where the fun stopped....

As we were driving around the Kyle of Tongue this morning, a tyre low pressure warning sounded. It rapidly became apparent that (a) we had probably hit a pothole which had created a slow puncture in one of the tyres and (b) it got a lot worse more quickly if we stopped for photo opportunities. In the end, we wobbled our way to Durness, where we managed to get some air in the tyre (but found no one who could change the wheel for the dodgy spare that we like all others have these days...). So we limped onwards a further 68 miles to Ullapool....and again no one who could do any work on the car, but there was an air opportunity which we actually used twice. In between, having been advised that this was probably the best option, we phoned Dingwall Tyres and discovered that they could sort us out and see us right this afternoon, and got ourselves a sandwich, a drink and a necessary pit stop in the Tesco.

So it was another limp, although this time slightly less limping, from Ullapool to Dingwall, where we replaced two tyres (there was no point doing just one as we knew we needed two front tyres since we had the MOT on the car a month or so ago...we just hadn't got round to doing it what with all the other sh*t that has been going on....). And then back to Tain where we sat out in the garden with a beer to make all the hurt and frustration about the wonderful sights we had to drive past go away (quite successfully, I have to say).

I guess that electronic warnings of low pressure are helpful, and mainly we are just relieved it was not a comprehensive flat tyre, where we would probably still be waiting by the side of the road in the far north for someone to come and pick us up..... But after we'd had the new tyres fitted, the warning light was still firing up telling us we had low tyre pressure, so the guy from the tyre fitters came out and pointed some sort of machine at the tyres that resets the sensors, apparently. It seemed to work.

In sum, not the day we wanted, but those places will still be there for us in the future. And that's the glory of being based here. We are, literally, only 2 hours from Durness and just over 1.5 hours from Tongue, even though we spent a lot more time than that on the road today, because we were going from place to place trying to get assistance (and air). We need to take advantage of that proximity again in the near future. Plans will be made.

Meanwhile, the reveal of Loch Eriboll is the best I can do by way of a blip. It was the last place we stopped to take a photograph.