Let me start by saying: Rhiconich is not a typical destination for most travelers on the North-Coast 500. Most people will either stop at or around Ullapool or end up in Durness. But for practical reasons, we ended up in a lovely Bed & Breakfast there, with a lovely hostess who still warms my heart when I think of her.
LEAVING LOCHCARRON
In Lochcarron we had stayed in a family run hotel with a very well-cooked breakfast and a lovely restaurant. You get used to a place easily, so there is always a moment if sadness while getting back on the road, leaving memories and people behind. (But of course, taking them with you at the same time :-))
Since we had done a few day trips from Lochcarron, the first part of today's road was familiar and relaxed driving. At this point of our travels we had discovered: If Google Maps says the distance can be done in 1 hour, take 1,5 hours on regular (two-lane) roads. Are the roads extremely small, single track even? Then 1 hour will take 2,5 hours.
At least, for newbie drivers. Locals might actually be able to make it in 'Google time'.
However, with this information in mind, we knew it would be a long day, but with a lovely drive ahead. The West Coast of the North-Coast especially is loved by most people for its rugged beauty!
DRIVING THE WEST COAST
This part of Scotland is truly magnificent and exhilarating. You will be bombarded with a diverse amount of different kind of landscapes that might be hard to define on a map but do show up in your picture series.
From lush and green to rocky and almost barren - diversified even more by Lochs or views on the sea. From a lovely old harbor at Ullapool to a tropical (!) garden halfway up Rhiconich.
[Just a view. Literally alongside the road. Can't believe the abundance of amazing places.]
[Just another view.]
[All the lovely fragments of landscape you just drive along and aren't able to take a picture of.]
[Random house ruins along the way. This was very close to the little castle ruin I already posted about a while ago.]
ARRIVING AT RHICONICH
Arriving at Rhiconich happened right after we drove to a national park with views like this:
We had booked the Bed & Breakfast from Lochcarron, but we couldn't find a really good reference point online (most B&B's in Scotland don't have a website...) for us to mark on a map. The B&B was not a house on a street in a village, but rather a random dot on the map in the middle of nowhere.
I had used an offline map to create this reference point by zooming in and out an trying to match my offline map with the low-quality map on a B&B registry. The owner of our B&B had called us to confirm the place and had given us some additional info. "Google says it is over there, but really it is over here if you drive along this and that and then go left and you will see the house." I had cross-checked my pin with her information, but had to hope the pin was indeed in the right place on the map.
The offline map told me: in 900 meters you will arrive at your destination. But I saw nothing but empty surroundings. Hills? Yes. Roads? Yes. A village or house in sight? No.
The map counted down. Now we should arrive in 600 meters. 500. 400... I told my boyfriend: "Ehm, we're arriving, basically... NOW, but do you see a white house?" Right after I said it out loud we made another turn on the road and tada suddenly a little white house appeared alongside the road that I recognized from a picture I had seen online.
It is the magic of driving through Scotland.
We had arrived. Another leg of the North-Coast 500 done, many more adventures to come.
OTHER STORIES ON THE NORTH-COAST 500
- Put this on your bucket list: Driving the North-Coast 500
- The North-Coast 500: from Inverness to Lochcarron via Applecross [First leg]
- The North-Coast 500: a detour to the Isle of Skye
All photography on steemit.com/@soyrosa is created and edited by me, Rosanne Dubbeld, 2005-2018. Contact me if you want to discuss licensing or collaborations on creative projects :-)
Return from The North-Coast 500: from Lochcarron to Rhiconich [Second leg] to Rosanne's Web3 Blog
