964 Day 6 – Kirkwall to Ullapool – Monday 20th May 2019
- Sophie Carter
- Aug 18, 2019
- 3 min read
Day 6 – Kirkwall to Ullapool – Monday 20th May 2019
Today was the last night at the Kirkwall Hotel. That means it was back to packing everything again. We had breakfast, packed up and checked out. We had to get lunch at the local coop for the ferry. Some road works were going on right outside the Coop we stopped at. Everyone was doing a terrible job of turning around but when the cars got out of the way and it was Nick’s turn, he showed up the cars big time, and everyone cheered and clapped.
Our first stop was The Group, a sea cave with no roof but the roof had collapsed. Making it a hole in the ground with sea water coming in a small gap towards the end. It is massive and quite cool. I don’t know too much about it, I purposely didn’t research anything we were visiting on the trip, I didn’t want it to feel like school.
Then we did a walk to a beautiful cliff side, the walk was a bit rough, rocky, and uneven. I tried to walk back quickly, but that was a mistake because it was hard work. After that, we had the 1-hour ferry crossing at 11:30. I got a lemon Fanta on the boat (if you know me, you will know I am allergic to Lemon Fanta, so I literally drank a few sips and then threw it away because I love it so much).
Once we got on the ferry, we stopped at a coffee shop. They did a really good hot chocolate. I couldn’t drink it all, but I wish I could get another one. On our way to Ullapool, we drove through a town called Tongue, strange right? Next was Smoo Cave, what a name. I love the names in Scotland they are so literal, The Green Welly Shop, The Mortgage Shop, Screw It (the tool shop). Smoo Cave had huge steps, they were about a foot and a half for each step, and it felt like a workout. It was amazing though; they even had a boat in the cave. Our next little picture stop was Loch Erilboll, which is just pure beauty. Once we all got our pictures, we moved on to Kylesku Bridge, well-built to match the surroundings because it blended in perfectly.
We did stop at Ardvreck Castle although it doesn’t look like a castle, more of a ruin. I don’t think even one full room is left standing. I would love to know what it looked like when it was a full building. It would have taken years to build, I don’t know how old it is but to be ruined it must be pretty old. I never understood the purpose of a castle, but they were built to defend the area. The taller it is the further you can see and the bigger defence you have.
We finally got to Ullapool just after 19:00. We stayed at The Royal Hotel, in rooms 9 (mine) and 16. The view was astonishing, looking out at Loch Broom with a balcony! The room was also ENORMOUS! The only downside was that it was a single bed and the floor was a little creaky (I felt sorry for whoever was below me). We booked into the hotel restaurant, so we dumped our things and headed down to have a drink and look at the menu. Dinner was really lovely, I had carbonara.
On a side note, I can’t remember when Nick talked about it but there is a story called The Silkies. I am not going to go into it too much, but the story involves seals, love, family and a happy ending. I am planning to do a separate post as I want to try to give it as much justice as the tour guide did. I doubt I will get there, but I am going to give it my best shot. He was great at telling stories.
One downfall with Orkney is it is windy, so much so that it is almost impossible for trees to grow unless they are between hills where the windy is a bit weaker. There are a few trees here and there, where they are sheltered by buildings or hills, but they are very few and far between. On the subject of trees, Scotland doesn’t have a lot of their native trees growing. If you get the chance to drive through the Highlands, you will notice there are big blocks of land where the trees are tightly packed, so packed that the land between them dies off. These are called commercial forests; which are planted for their wood. That’s why they are so tightly packed, the more trees, the more wood that can be sold.
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