By Garvie Bay

   Don't tell my kids about this. I wouldn't want them hitchhiking. And don't tell my mother either.  She wouldn't like it. 

     The map is a snippet from an OS map. You can buy them covering every square inch of the UK and the level of detail is amazing.  Here you can see the Garvie River, Loch Garvie and lovely Garvie Bay, located in an unpopulated area about 20 miles north of the melodically named  Ullapool where we are currently staying. Without a car. 

     Now the first thing you have to understand is that on Sunday, it's completely dead here. Nothing moves. And Saturday is about half dead. So today, being Saturday, there's a bus to Achiltibuie (pronounce that!) but there's no bus back. Still, being this close, it seemed we ought to go see the old place. 

    " Ah, now don' worry; someone'll pick you up," said Mrs MacKenzie, the landlady. And the tourist info lady said the same thing.  But just in case, she gave us the taxi number to call. But she laughed,  knowing it wasn't likely  there'd be any phone service out there on the road from Garvie Bay.     

     

      The bus dropped us off at the cattle grid and drove away down the single track road. ("Single track" means that although its a two way road, there's only room for one car.)  Did you notice whats amazing about the sky above the departing bus in this photo?   It's blue!  We've been in the UK six weeks and I can count on my fingers (of one hand) the number of fine days we've had. Today was beautiful.  

       So we followed the rushing Garvie River, admired Loch Garvie, and walked the beach of giant round stones along Garvie Bay, observed only by a curious seal.  We found the ruins of a fisherman's cottage on a nearby cove. The OS map shows the ruins of two cottages above Garvie Bay proper,  but we couldn't find them. If they were abandoned during the Clearance of the Highlands, then the heather and lichens 
have had plenty of time to cover them over. 

     

And after a long circuitous trek, we made it back to the road. Just 20 miles left to walk home and a car passed by about once every 20 minutes. But I won't leave you in suspense; Mrs MacKenzie was right! The second car to go by, an older couple from Inverness out for a drive, picked us up and drove us to Ullapool, chatting amicably. 

      And so, a Garvie went (back) to Garvie Bay today.