Roaming with The Robertsons

There's not really much to say about our final day of our NC500 trip. We had planned to spend the morning enjoying the views in St Andrews. Unfortunately, we managed to choose a very foggy day. We walked along the coast from the golf course to St Andrews Beach. The weather started to clear as it got towards lunchtime, however sadly we couldn't stick around too long as we were conscious of the very long journey we had ahead. We managed to find time to pop to The Cheesy Toast Shack to try their famous cheese toasties. I opted for their classic Mac 'n' Cheese toastie, and Nicole had the vegan haggis one. I would like to say mine was delicious, but a few bites into the first half the seagulls decided that they fancied to finish this half off for me. By the time we then walked the 20-30 minutes back to the car, it was cold so this detracted from the taste. St Andrews is definitely somewhere we will have to think about going back to, but will learn from this lesson and ensur...

Today was part of our long journey back to England. We opted for a stopover in St Andrews on our way back down as neither of us could face the journey in one sitting and we wanted to stop off the Highland Wildlife Park. When we were planning our honeymoon, we kept throwing around the idea of visiting the wildlife park, but we were hesitant on whether we would be able to fit it in alongside the other things we wanted to see/do. After much debate, we decided we wanted to see it, and seeing as we were stopping of in St Andrews it was practically on the way there. We set off early and got to the park mid-morning. The only drive through ‘zoo’ I had visited before was Knowsley Safari Park in which the driving area is great but the foot zoo is a little disappointing. We were worried that this would be the case here, and after the day, we both discovered each of us had the same fears that we would both be greatly disappointed. But I am pleased to say, I would rate this zoo very highly. The dri...

We had an early start on day 10 of our adventures as we booked to go and ride the Dolphin Spirit Cruise. We were extremely hopeful to catch a glimpse of some wildlife, but unfortunately we were not so lucky. However, this was a theme for the holiday. We had missed out on other wildlife cruises in the trip too because we were a little outside of the tourist seasons. The Dolphin Spirit cruise is a 90-minute boat trip out onto the Moray Firth. Although the most we caught a glimpse of was some more birds, I would still say it was worth our time. There is something about being sat on a boat with the most special person that is quite heart-warming. Especially, if you are slowly turning into a ice cube! Our only warning is to be careful when driving to the location as your satnav will try and take you somewhere else! Next on our list was the Loch Ness Centre and Exhibition. For anyone that likes to learn about the history and myths of Loch Ness, this is a must see. The exhibit explains the my...

 Waking up on day 9, I was very disappointed at the level of ‘fog’ that was seen out of the window of the hostel. It was going to make the drive of the Bealach na Bà a little harder and the views at the summit little less spectacular. We set off promptly (as with most of the guests in the hostel) as we wanted to make it into Inverness with plenty of time. My planning had left us short of time on a few too many occasions so we thought it best to try and get ahead. When you leave Applecross, you are pretty much straight onto the Bealach na Bà. We had a good laugh as the song that was playing in the background was American Pie by Don McLean and the lyrics that kept ringing out to us were “this will be the day that I die”. After reading how treacherous this drive was, was this an omen? The higher up the pass we got, we debated whether this was fog or in fact we were just driving through the clouds! We opted for the second option. As Nicole was dubious about driving this part, it was ...

The journey to Applecross was spectacular. There was plenty of single-track roads to contend with, but single-track roads usually means breath-taking views. We didn’t take a direct route to Applecross because this would have been missing some of the stunning scenery, and there were places that we had planned to see on the way. There are numerous lochs to cast your eye over, including Loch Broom, Little Loch Broom, Loch Maree and Loch Torridon. Each have their own beauty, and if you want to see it you will just have to take a journey up there and view it yourself. There is a viewpoint at Loch Ewe which looks over the Isle of Ewe. As we were travelling south, this would be easy to miss as the view point is a little way after you pass by the Isle. It was a very popular stop and many people joined us in the parking bay. There is a lot of history here as Loch Ewe played a pivotal role in WWII as the base for the Artic convoy, and provided essential resources to Russia. Our next stop was Bei...

Today was the day that we planned to climb the Stac Pollaidh, but with the amount of snow on the hills and the scramble that would be needed to get to the top, we decided to make alternative arrangements. When we stopped off at the Knockan Crag the previous day, we decided that this would be an interesting place to go back to when we had more time, so this became the first place that we visited. Knockan Crag is a place seeping with history. There is a gallery at the bottom that describes how the hills of Scotland came to be, and as you walk around the Crag you learn more about the different types of rocks found. This is another 2km walk, which isn’t quite as strenuous as the bone caves, you are much less likely to get lost, and the path was a little easier underfoot. It can get a bit windy at the top, so make sure you wrap up warm! The walking route is clearly marked out, and there are two different routes which you can take. There is a walk that takes you up to the top of the Crag, wh...

Our next stop was Ullapool. We had a couple of nights planned here to allow us to have a chilled journey down from Durness and enjoy a few walks on our way. Ullapool is located 69 miles south along the west coast. Although there aren’t as many beaches to see, there is still beauty in the rolling hills and the geology offers a huge amount of history. We had marked a few places we wanted to see and we looked into a few places whilst we were in Durness. We made a quick pit stop at the Kylesku Bridge. You will see why in the photos. There are stunning views to both Loch Gleann Dubh and Loch a’ Chàirn Bhàin. We stopped on the north side of the bridge, and hopefully the pictures will do the view justice. However, there is parking on both sides of the bridge so you could take your time and stop off for a view from both sides if you would like. We continued along the A894 for 3.4miles to find the next hidden gem. Technically, at this stage, we broke the NC 500 route. However, bear with us as...