Driving Around the Northern Highlands

 Road trip!

Bet you've never seen a sign like this before. Neither had we.

Road trips on a rainy day can be a bit of a challenge.  Armed with a map of north Scotland, we headed northwest in our rented pickup truck, planning on a few hours' drive to a 9-hole golf course Herb was convinced he just had to see.

But wait. What were those dotted lines on the map?  Could they mean... the dreaded one-lane road?

If you thought driving on the "wrong" side of the road was a challenge, that's nothing to playing chicken with oncoming cars.

This parade of sports cars decided they needed to get by us, even though our relatively sizable pickup truck didn't have a handy "passing place" to dive into.  Passing places are like little semi-circular pieces of extra asphalt, alternately on the left or the right side of the road, every 100 yards or so.

Still, we enjoyed the scenery, like the many waterfalls cutting through the hills,

and the occasional slow lambs dotting the hills, 

although we could have done with fewer oncoming campers.

Once we reached Durness, Herb could not wait to dash onto the golf course, undeterred by the very brisk wind, rain, and salt spray.  I wished him well, as did this observer, who was equally convinced of Herb's insanity.

Despite the remoteness of Durness's location on the upper edge of the Scottish mainland, I quickly found a warm spot out of the elements in my second Cocoa Mountain location in two days. I did NOT, however, order "THE BEST hot chocolate" again, fearing a sugar coma. This is a harmless cappuccino.

The chocolate shop was conveniently located at the entrance to an artists' community which I could explore at my leisure while insane golfing was happening elsewhere.

One of the first galleries I approached had some cool art displayed on the walls outside, but when I approached the door, I changed my mind about going in.

It so happened that I wasn't wearing a mask, given the brisk wind and remote location, but this was just too annoying.  How many women want to be told to smile by random men? I decided to bring my pounds sterling to other, more tolerant artists.

The community was in an old military base full of low-slung, rectangular buildings that the artists had eventually purchased. Although some of the residents are now retired, others have art galleries or craft shops in part of their buildings and welcome visitors. I saw some beautiful glass work, metal sculptures, paintings and photography, as well as some cute crafts.

It looks pleasant enough in the pictures, but I assure you that the rain was blowing sideways, making me huddle under my rain jacket while scuttling between shops. There were lots of unique souvenirs to take home, mostly along the lines of Scottish themes like sheep, fish, cats, puffins, and coos (those cute, hairy, reddish brown horned cows they raise here).

My return to the golf course was perfectly timed to catch Herb teeing off on the last hole.

(P.S.  I actually drove the truck on the wrong side of the road for about a mile to the shops, and back again. That's a first for me!)

His first tee shot on 9 went pinging around the rocks you see on the right, down to the sea, so I was treated to a few more shots, enjoying the view while sipping hot mint tea from the snug clubhouse. 

Triumph! Conquered the elements and the course.  A tale to be shared at the 19th hole for years to come.

Now comes the next challenge. Driving back. Two-thirds of it on one-lane roads. That's all Herb's job!

Turns out we hadn't left ourselves enough time to visit the nearby Smoo Cave (where an unfortunate tourist from England stopping by the golf course told us he'd lost his phone and wallet!!), 

which sounded pretty cool, but Herb was thrilled with his golfing adventure, so we headed south.

We saw a lot of stone ruins across the north country.  

The scenery looked like it might be interesting, like this aquaculture farm (we guessed), some naval-looking installations, and the mostly treeless mountains, but the big rainclouds kept sweeping in and obscuring most of the view until we got much farther south.

But we were a LOT more comfortable than these four cyclists!

After a lot of braking and dodging, we finally reached a small, two-lane road that felt like the Autobahn. 

Back in Dornoch, where civilised people grow beautiful roses, we ended our day with two beautiful sights.

Rainbow over Royal Dornoch Golf Club

and

sticky toffee pudding!!  It was sooooo good 😋

Slainte!

- Christine