Achmelvich Bay

What an absolute treat today - to be driven round my very favourite part of Scotland. We drove from Ullapool north and just went where we fancied. As I was the tour guide, I could choose and I also got to retell stories of my youth and they never complained once!! First stop Achmelvich. I had forgotten how narrow the road in is, but the reward at the end was all worth it. Such fabulous colours - white sand, blues of the sea, greys of the rocks and greens of the grasses and plants. If I hadn't taken them anywhere else, they wouldn't have minded!!
Onto Clachtoll with a hilarious traffic jam on the way. A local man refused to reverse to the passing place that he had just passed and the big lorry that he had met could not reverse as he was sitting on a really tight bend when they met! We got out for a wee look (and listen) and only when an ambulance joined the queue did the silly man move! That episode lasted over 15 minutes!!
Clahtoll was as beautiful as ever. Achmelvich was going to be a hard one to beat today!! Clachtoll was very cold and windy and a surprising amount of seaweed lay in layers on the sand. The sand was quite dark - I could tell my friends were struggling to see why I was so excited about returning, so we left and on I went with family stories about Stoer and its people - I know no-one there now but will return again to visit them all in the churchyard.
On past Aunt Mary's house where we used to stay in Culkein and onto Stoer lighthouse. From there you can usually see for miles, but today with the mist and howling winds, we could not attempt to walk to the Old Man of Stoer...we coudl just make out the lines of Quinag, Suilven Canisp, Cul Mhor, Cul Beag and Stac Pollaidh with the split rock of Clahtoll in the foreground. My friends could now see why I had ranted on about this wee corner of the globe.
On to Clashnessie with its golden sand and so blue sea. Lovely.
Lunch at Drumbeg? No chance - food for residnets only - are they mad!?? Filled roll at Drumbeg Stores? No chance - buy the roll, the butter, the filling, the napkins, the knife to assemble it - really??
Off on the tiny single track road to Kylesku where hot celeriac soup and soda bread awaited - worth the wait!
I had been going on about taking the Kyleskyu ferry as a child and how the mechanism, on the boat turned the cars roudn to let them off - and there above the bar were photos of the old ferry.
There was a passenger ferry (a rowing boat) in the early 19th century. Commercial traffic mainly comprised cattle on their way to central Scotland, and they had to swim across. Over the years, various ferries came and went, and small car-carrying ferries first appeared between the wars. The Kylesku Ferry was unusual in being free for much of its life.
The Maid of Kylesku, a two car ferry, was built for the Kylesku crossing in the early 1950s, where it served until replaced by the Queen of Kylesku in 1967. When no longer needed, the Maid of Kylesku was simply beached and lay, grounded on the opposite side of the bay....and still lies there today!!
In 1976, the Maid of Glencoul became the first vessel capable of carrying fully loaded commercial vehicles. After the opening of the Kylesku Bridge she went on to serve as the Corran Ferry.
Great fun - and tremendous trip down memory lane - returning to Ullapool we visited the smokehouse and bought dinner! We went out for drinks and then home to our delicious local fayre....yum!
I slept well - a deep and very happy sleep.