Tag: Highland Larder

North Coast 500 – Day 2

There are many of these Pictish stones in the north-east of Scotland, but the others are all in museums

Part 2 of a series – North Coast 500

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Weston-super-Mare to Dornoch – 17th June

The day began with a flight to Inverness Airport, and then a short journey north with several stops en route, ending at Dornoch where we spent the night in a traditional hotel.

We skipped breakfast as we were keen to get to the airport and could buy something there after checking in. Paul gave us a lift to Weston-super-Mare railway station where we loaded our luggage onto the Airport Shuttle bus and watched the countryside go by until turning into Lulsgate Airport. The bus service from Weston is very efficient and only £7 return, but on arrival we discovered our flight with EasyJet was running 45 minutes late because landing had been delayed at Schipol on the plane’s first flight of the day. We had more time than expected to grab coffee and choose a light breakfast.

Once on the plane (an Airbus A320), we were soon airborne and had good views of familiar local landmarks including south Bristol, the Chew Valley and Blagdon reservoirs, and Flat Holm in the Bristol Channel. After that we were in thick cloud until we got our first views of Scotland on our approach to Inverness Airport. We were soon in the arrivals area with our bags and had a rather long wait for our turn at the car hire desk. But then we were quickly on the road out from the airport and able to start our journey towards the north coast.

Heading north from Inverness

We had decided not to visit Inverness on this trip, but to get started right away on the NC500 route. We had visited Inverness briefly on an earlier holiday, and thought we might get a chance to visit again during our family get-together in the Cairngorms in August. We skirted the city on the A9, crossed the river by the bridge and visited the Shandwick Stone for our first stop. This is a Pictish carved monument encased in glass; there are many of these Pictish stones in the north-east of Scotland, but the others are all in museums so it’s great that this one still stands where it was erected, about 1200 years ago. It is a Christian monument with a cross forming an important part of the design, clearly showing that the Christian faith had reached the north-east of Scotland by 800 AD.

We drove on to Portmahomack, a pretty fishing village, well known for its mermaid sitting on a rock on the pebbly beach. We parked the car to explore on foot and take some photos, then we drove across a second bridge near Dingwall before heading on to Dornoch for our first night’s stay in a comfortable, little hotel in the town. Had we not flown we would have needed one or two nights en route to limit the daily driving. This would have been fun, and would have allowed us to explore others places in England and in Scotland on our way to Dornoch. But we didn’t have much time and wanted to focus on the NC500 route as much as possible.

Dornoch

We had time to explore a little during the late afternoon. Dornoch is a beautiful small town, peaceful and historic.

Strolling out to the coast just 1 km from the town centre, we ate at ‘The Highland Larder’, refreshingly different and with an open-sided shelter against wind and rain.

We walked around the old streets, noticed the widespread use of warm sandstone for older buildings like the little castle, and looked in shop windows as we passed. The cathedral here is the most northerly on the British mainland, only the Orkney Islands have a cathedral further north than this. We decided to look around the cathedral the next day and instead spend our time getting a feel for the town. We stayed in The Eagle Hotel which was unpretentious, comfortable and friendly.

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