Corinne CrawfordI didn’t have to leave the bunker until midday as my train was scheduled to depart at 1:30pm. Normally, the bus to town takes about 35 minutes. For some reason, this particular trip took closer to 50 minutes and I was starting to get worried that I would miss my train. I could take another train later in the day but I didn’t really want to sit in the train station with my luggage for 3 hours. I was only going about 2 hours away to Pitlochry. My reservation at my little cottage in Ullapool didn’t start until the following day so I had to find a place to stay for one night somewhere along the route. I have found Scotland to be pretty pricey and I simply could not find a convenient place close to a train station that was within my budget along the route. So I had to go outside of my budget. Somewhere in my travels I remember someone mentioning Pitlochry as a nice place to visit so I chose that town and booked the last room at an Inn in the middle of town and only a 6 minute walk from the train station. It was a charming little town and I made a reservation at the restaurant at the Inn as I was checking in. The room was spectacular and I wish I was staying longer but alas, my other reservation awaits plus I don’t think I could afford many more nights at this place. The good news is the room included breakfast in the morning. After checking in but before dinner, I wandered around the town and popped into the several outerwear clothing stores as I realized that the weather was definitely turning from warm to cooler plus I was heading north. I was pretty sure I needed another layer to stay comfortable for the rest of my time in Scotland. I found a good deal with 2 thin fleeces for £25. I bought one that was snug fitting so that my coats could easily fit over it and then I bought one a size bigger so that I could fit it over several layers. I have no idea how I managed to fit them into my already stuffed luggage but somehow I did it. My fabulous room came with a large bathtub so I decided to treat myself to a nice hot bath before going to bed that night. The following morning, after breakfast at the Inn, I went back to the small train station to catch my train heading towards Inverness. I would have to switch to a bus to go the final hour and a half to Ullapool. Inverness is one of the largest cities in the Highlands and even then, it only has a population of about 80,000. The Highlands are pretty sparsely populated in general with only about 30% of the population Living in that part of the country even though it is probably close to half the geographic size of the country as a whole.
I arrived in Ullapool, a small fishing and harbor village on the shore of Loch Broom that emptied out directly in to the Atlantic. My cottage on the main frontage street along the harbor was just a few minutes walk away from the ferry terminal where the bus stopped and when I retrieved the old fashioned key from the lock box and opened the door, I was blown away at the size and cuteness of the cottage. It was much bigger than I expected with 2 stories, a large modern kitchen, two bedrooms and a bathroom and a living room with a working fireplace. I settled in but quickly realized that I could not make the heater work and it was a chilly 61 F in the house. I messaged the owner and she responded quickly and had me check the boiler, which I discovered had flashing a red light indicating “overheat”. So she said she would have her sister and brother-in-law stop by the following day to fill the boiler. I slept with an extra blanket that night and the next day they arrived in the late morning and got it working again. I had dinner out the night my first night but went to the grocery store on the following day and stocked up with enough food to prepare all of my meals for the next 9 days that I would be in Ullapool. My plan was simply to relax in peace and quiet, focus a lot of time on work, go for walks and drink whisky. I accomplished all of my goals during my time in Ullapool.
I hiked up Ullapool hill,
I walked along the rocky shore, I took the Riverside path several times.
I got a lot of work done and I did have a few drams of whisky at some of the local pubs. There really were only a few restaurant/pubs in town. I managed to go out and see live music two of the nights and the only other meal I had out was at the much-recommended Seafood Shack where I enjoyed a humongous fried haddock wrap. I loved all of my walks and spent a lot of time thinking about my dad as the shoreline was nothing but interesting rocks of all sizes and I imagined my dad stuffing his pockets with treasures. You probably would have had to drag my dad away from there. There were many rocks that showed very distinct layers and it was fascinating to think about the geological history of the place that showed up in the very rocks on the shore.
I took a 45 minute bus ride to a small ruin of a castle and house and then hiked up along the river through fields and the remains of an old stone wall. Scotland is wet. Ground water seeps from everywhere and even though a field looks like just tall grass, don’t be fooled. It is probably a bog with small little pools and streams hidden under the grass. My “waterproof” shoes were no match for the soggy ground.
I was still feeling the chill even with my new fleeces so I did some shopping therapy on a day that was particularly rainy and not as suitable for a walk. There was pretty much one store with clothes in town and it had an amazing selection of sweaters, or jumpers if I wanted to sound more like a local, at reasonable prices. There were neat patterns and colors but of course, I ended up with the grey turtleneck style and a matching wool hat. I always think I would love to be a bit bolder with my clothes and choose patterns and colors and I always admire the clothes I see on others and think, oh I should get something like that. But then I don’t. I buy solid grey. At least I know it will match everything.
And then three days before I was to leave, I awoke to the thermostat not working. Boiler seemed to be fine but I couldn’t get the thermostat to turn the heaters on. I thought maybe it was the batteries so I bought some replacements at the store because I didn’t want to inform the host yet because I was starting to feel like I was a curse to the heating system. The new batteries did not help so I did finally message the host. She apologized and said she would call someone in the morning and gave me a few ideas to troubleshoot. None of which worked. So I thought I would go buy firewood and how adorable to cozy up to a real fire in my little cottage in Scotland. I walked to the only gas station in town where they sold firewood and it came in a big bundle. Like almost too big to carry, but I was determined. I got my sack of wood to the cottage and got to quick work building a fire. There was fire starter here at the house so I was looking forward to soon being able to enjoy a toasty fire. Remember when I said Scotland was wet? Well even dry firewood in a bag seems to be wet and no matter how long I tried, only the fire starter would hold a flame and then it would smolder out. Time and time again. So much for a cozy fire. And now I have this huge bag of firewood. Maybe it will dry out in the house enough for the next person to use it. The next day, the host messaged me with a stroke of genius to get heat in the house again. If I switched the boiler settings to constant instead of timed, I could then turn on the individual heat registers in the rooms where I wanted it. Sorted.
I really loved my time in Ullapool and was actually feeling a bit sad to leave this very comfortable place, but I was equally feeling it was time to move on. I decided to go to Inverness to do a few more activities like maybe a distillery tour or visit some more castles and Inverness was the best place to do that in the Highlands. But as a mentioned, Scotland is expensive so the only accommodations I could justify to myself was a hostel. A bunk bed. In a dorm. In a hostel. Not my favorite type of accommodation and what a change from where I was in Ullapool.
