#firsttimeblogging

Day 8:

We woke up and quickly packed up our stuff not wanting to spend another second in this airbnb especially since the bf got such a bad kink in his neck. We headed to Bournemouth as soon as we bought lunch and there we relaxed on the beach and ate it. The city centre of Bournemouth was unexpectedly busy but it makes sense since the beach there is so nice. We walked around for a couple of hours and played with the new feature on Pokemon go. After leaving Bournemouth, we took a detour to our next campsite and stopped at Lulworth Cove. This area was gorgeous and relaxing to sit and watch the waves at the top of a cliff but it was also packed and after an hour we decided to pitch up at the Osmington Mills campsite. This was the most beautiful campsite we had been to by far It had amazing views of a valley and rolling hills so it was understandably full of people. We pitched up and then drove into the nearby town of Weymouth for burgers. We enjoyed the beach views after dinner while writing a scathing review of our previous airbnb and then headed back to the campsite to tuck in for the night since we were exhausted.

Day 9:

Today I woke up feeling super excited because it meant that I got to see Kevin, the bf’s grandparent’s dog! I have been really looking forward to it! I got up at about 6:30 after having the most uncomfortable sleep by far (was tossing and turning all night) in the tent, got refreshed, looked in amazement at the gorgeous beach with a mini waterfall and there was hardly anyone there, win-win!! We explored for awhile and let the sounds of the ocean waves relax us. At about 11 we decided to head off to the Isle of Portland after getting the bf’s starbucks, we only had about 4-5 hours to explore and sightsee before getting to the airbnb cottage outside of Yeovil where I would be staying with the bf and his family as they prepare for his cousin’s wedding. We drove to the very top of a hill/cliff at the Isle of Portland and it was just fantastic, the sky was mostly clear with nothing but a few pure white fluffy clouds. There were also olympic rings up there since apparently this was the sight of the 2012 London Summer olympics. There was even an old torch which was cool. We explored the cliff area and found a rocky area that seemed to be the remnants of a Roman fort, it had a mysterious and intriguing atmosphere and felt like a rocky canyon of sorts as we walked through it before deciding to scramble up the rocks. The bf and I agreed that we both love a good scramble and talked about possibly doing a climb in Italy together called a via Ferrata which I’m very excited about. We decided it was time to head to the cottage which would be an hour and a half drive away. The cottage itself was beautiful with many rooms and washrooms and a lovely garden, i don’t know about you though but when family photos are up everywhere in a place you’re staying just staring at you, it can make you feel a but unnerved. When the rest of the bf’s family arrived we ended up having to settle for a room with two single beds because the only other option had a sofa bed which was too uncomfortable. The bf’s grandmother thoroughly disliked the cottage because of all the rules, I was just bummed because I couldn’t wash my clothes since apparently the washing machine was off limits. Oh, I forgot to mention Kevin, yes the moment I saw him I was so happy and couldn’t wait to play with him but he was much too energetic to focus on me and just wanted to run circles around the garden but who could blame him after spending four hours in a car. For lunch, the bf’s grandmother made a very carby, delicious assortment of foods. There was a potato salad, a rice salad, boiled potatoes, breaded chicken, and a trifle for dessert. After lunch, the four of us, the bf, his sister (R), and her husband (S), and I went grocery shopping, The bf and I were complete goofballs and had too much fun just messing about and being silly while getting cereal and milk. When we got back we all just talked for awhile in the kitchen and I thought we’d play games but by 21:30/22:00 i was super tired and the bf, R, S, and the bf’s grandad had all gone to the living room from the kitchen and were looking at Netflix while their grandmother and I stayed in there. i’m not sure why but I didn’t want to join them and I was so tired that I just wanted to be alone so I went upstairs, listened to some ASMR and fell asleep. I woke up about an hour later and noticed that the bf had moved some stuff around the room so I decided to get up and brush my teeth, properly say goodnight to everyone and then return to the land of sleep.

Day 10:

Today started off with a rush of excitement as I woke up early and I thought to myself that I needed to be productive and get all of the little things I wanted to get done like planning my blog and reading before going on our hike to Cheddar Gorge which I thought would earlier on in the morning than it ended up being but well everyone else seemed to be taking their time which I mean is understandable but I was just very keen to go and we didn’t end up leaving until 11. When we got there it was packed full of people which made me remember that it was a Sunday so of course it was busy. I had gone in S’s car, R’s husband, so I could sit with Kevin the dog but we got there too fast so we had lost sight of the bf and R and spent a good half hour trying to find them via phone and text but with poor signal all while defending a parking spot for the bf in a layby parking area that we found. I say defending because people were being very aggressive and trying to take it and I know it’s a faux paus to hold a spot but where else was he supposed to park in this madness. We eventually started the walk at 13:00 after finding them and boy was the beginning steep! But what a great butt workout! It was Kevin’s first time in this kind of situation so he refused to have anyone walking in front of him from our group otherwise he’d give out a very nervous sounding, high pitched sort of bark. He needed to lead the pack. Once at the top, the views were spectacular and the winds refreshing. The walk was supposed to take 1hour and 30 mins but we took our time and the 4 mile walk took about 2 hours and 30 mins. We hurried to the cheese shops before they were to close and bought a nice big chunk of extra mature cheddar cheese as a souvenir before heading back. Once we got back, i was delighted to see that the sleeping mats I ordered had arrived. I opened one up to test it out and then the 4 of us, the bf, R, S, and I sat around the table to play card games until dinner and afterwards until the evening.

Day 11:

Today I woke up knowing that it would be an uneventful day because the bf and his family were going to his cousin’s wedding. It was an easy going morning with them leaving at about 12:30. I spent the rest of the day with Kevin and got some things done from my to do list including uploading the first week of my blog! I read my book, had dinner and then took Kevin out for a nice long walk, so just a chill solo day.

Day 12:

Barely slept and woke up feeling exhausted at 6 in the morning because the bf came back drunk from the wedding at midnight yesterday and this was the most drunk I had ever seen him. He inevitably spent the night vomiting so I did what I could to help him and then spent the rest of the morning packing up both of our things while he rested but then I also got my period and felt just as crummy as he did because I was always have the most painful cramps. We had breakfast with R and S after leaving the cottage and then the rest of the day was a struggle for us both until we got to our campsite.

Day 13:

We both woke up freezing today, the weather seems to have turned it’s back on us. Our trip started off very warm, day or night, but the rain has been following us since we left the cottage which makes the nights cold and the days hot and humid. Today the weather wasn’t too good for sightseeing so since we had to anyway, we stopped in a Starbucks to plan the next portion of our trip. We unfortunately had to take the whole of Ireland out of our plan because the costs of this trip are starting to add up and truth be told, a month and 3 weeks isn’t enough time for us to do all that we want to do in England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and The Republic of Ireland and we were foolish to think it would be enough time. I’d say more like 2 and a half months to 3 months would be enough time to really see everything and take our time but we just don’t have that or the savings to be able to do so. So we’ll explore England, Wales, and Scotland this time and dedicate an entire trip for Northern/Republic of Ireland later on...once we had wrapped up our planning, we headed to the lush and filled with rolling hills Dartmoor National Park to camp for the night.

Day 14:

Hello! My name is Danielle and I’m finally using my page to talk about traveling, it’s certainly been a long time coming that’s for sure! I’ve said it in my bio but I am a horrible procrastinator and even though I love traveling and I try to make a habit of going to as many places as I can every year, but I hardly ever document it other than in the form of instagram or facebook really which I am ashamed to say...even though I have three journals that my friends have bought for me specifically for this purpose. Well no more! I’m going to slowly try and make a habit of documenting my travels in the form of tumblr or in my journals and eventually start a youtube channel since I am so inspired by youtubers like Sharmander or Sharla in Japan, Tokidoki Traveler or Abroad in Japan and even lovelyzkelly and I want to be able to share my story and my travels like them!

Eventually I’ll also post about about my past trips and how they have shaped me as a person because I have tons to say on the matter but for now let’s start with the present!

It has officially been a little over a week since I started traveling around the UK with my boyfriend. i’m so happy to finally being able to do this, ever since I moved to Cambridgeshire last September I have been itching to travel again and now I can see all that this country has to offer! We started the trip on July 19th and I decided that I would log each day in my small notebook since I don’t always have access to wifi and then just relay it all here so without further ado! ...By the way follow me on instagram at Danielle.bay to see all the photos from each destination of our trip! (I also have twitter @daniellebay24)

Day 1:

Today started off full with jitters and excitement because we had only just moved into our new place and were now headed off onto a road trip/camping adventure--which would be my very first time doing both and I did not know what to expect. After two hours on the road and eating a delicious chicken mayo sandwich prepared by the bf we arrived at our first campsite. Hilariously our camping neighbours who were in a camper van had set up a washing machine and were hooked up to the communal water area and it was just rather ridiculous and excessive; they were full on glamping. We had a fun albeit confused time setting up our tent then decided to grab dinner at the pub that was on the campsite. My first time sleeping in the tent was rather rough especially with the heavy rain all night, but it was still a fun experience and besides I’m no stranger to sleeping uncomfortably after my experience with couch-surfing.

Day 2:

Woke up surprisingly early on Day 2 without an alarm or anything at about 6:30, i was pleasantly surprised. I hope that camping will fix my internal clock so that I can go back to being an early bird. We quickly packed up after having a coffee and experiencing weather mood swings and then hit the road for the Isle of Sheppey. During the drive I was finally able to finish six more chapters of Harry Potter (don’t judge me, I’m reading the series for the first time and loving it) and we also experienced a very cool, local thunder shower. Once we arrived at the campsite, the bf took the liberty of setting up the tent. It was lovely and warm so he insisted on having a bbq, I objected at first because it was getting late in the day but we ultimately did it only to have it not turn out so great in that it took over an hour for our meat to properly cook and by that time it was dark and cold and the bf was looking a bit sheepish.

Day 3:

Slept slept in a bit to about to 8:45 because I had a very uncomfortable sleep on the hard foam sleeping mat. Eventually we had breakfast which consisted of just strawberries for me, the bf really wanted to make eggs but I told him it was no use unless he had oil to fry with and salt/pepper, he did it anyway and then saw the error in his ways. Later, we decided to go buy some supplies (stuff to fry with) and then charge up. An unfortunate amount of our days have been taken up by going to shops and charging our electronics; each time we’ve spent about three hours...so we’re going to try and remedy that by buying a car gizmo thing that allows us both to charge our phones in the car. After charging up we finally explored the island a bit and went to the edge which was super cool. We saw a horse that looked like a cow, a donkey, two very happy dogs, a snail hanging out on a leaf, and a B&B called “Hogwarts”--all in all a pretty chill day. Oh and we got Chinese takeaway, yum.

Day 4:

My sinuses were really bad when I woke up, I think because of the older couple that decided to pitch up right next to us and smoke until late last night and early in the morning. I woke up at 5:30 because it was just a very uncomfortable sleep and I honestly can’t wait to get a sleeping mat. Anyway I didn’t actually get up until 6:30 and so did the bf. We slowly packed up everything and had our  coffees and then were off by 9. Today’s drive was wonderfully scenic and we hugged the coast the whole day. I just regret not transferring my photos on my phone’s storage or deleting some things earlier so that I could have taken more photos and shot more videos...luckily the bf took some for me on his phone. Southern England’s coast is beautiful and I don’t know why it isn’t advertised more. It felt like we were in a different country or somewhere in Italy, Spain or even Southern France. Many coastal cities are much like Santa Monica but cleaner in that each of them have a lovely view of a ferris wheel on the pier and everything seems more chill. From the beautiful coast of Herne Bay to the stunning white cliffs of Dover and all the way through the South Downs AONB to Portsmouth it was a fantastic drive. Unfortunately once we arrived in Portsmouth our Airbnb was less than ideal. The couple in the room next to us were loud through the night and the walls are just too thin. The place is filthy, the shower is covered in mold and it just isn’t the best place to get refreshed and have a good sleep after camping.

Day 5:

Woke up to the obnoxious couple playing rap music at 6:30 and with the guy literally exclaiming that he doesn’t car if he wakes up the rest of the house because he is too “hyped”. We ended up having a chill morning since we had to wait for the bf's radio mp3 transmitter to arrive from Amazon, it’s great because it doubles as a charging station for our phones. We left at around 1:30 and began a lovely stroll in the warm sunshine exploring Portsmouth and it’s coast while also catching Pokemon. We unfortunately had a disappointing lunch that seemed deceivingly good from the menu which was also more expensive than it should have been but after getting the bf’s obligatory Starbucks of the day and reading for a bit we had a delicious beefy poutine and Mr. Whippy and then continued our stroll all the way along the coast and then back to the Airbnb.

Day 6:

Slept in a tad today, suppose I’ve gotten too used to the bed but then again we did walk a lot the day before so we were both really tired. We were out of the place by 11 and then set off to Exbury but not before making a stop at Aldi for a cheap and healthy lunch. The gardens of Exbury ended up being too expensive for what it was worth so we explored the Bealieu village before heading to Hurst Castle near Milford beach. It was so beautiful there on the beach and the walk to the castle was nice albeit tiring, about a 45 min trip each way on a sandspit that was very rocky. After arriving back at the place, we settled in with some iZombie and Dr. Who before bed.

Day 7:

Yay seventh day! I can’t believe that I have actually written everyday, proud of myself. We left the Airbnb earlier today and headed backwards towards the South Downs AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty) to a beautiful valley called “Devil’s Dyke”--well, not exactly there, we parked about 3 miles away next to a water tower and then ate our deliciously cheap lunch from Aldi. We set off walking among gorgeous rolling hills and fields. I had always wanted to do this but because it was so humid and because we had foolishly neglected to bring our water, the hour long walk to Devil’s Dyke was harder than I anticipated. We got there in the end after stopping a few times for photos and to catch my breath and only really by cheering myself on internally. The valley was beautiful and vast but because it is considered a tourist attraction, there were more people than I would have liked. We got some water at the pub there, relaxed for a bit and absorbed the views before heading back. The journey back was much easier and faster partly because it was downhill and partly because it was cooler now. Unfortunately it was still equally as painful for my feet. It’s a shame I hadn’t realized sooner but my new sandals have a thing sticking out that irritates the arch of my feet and gives me blisters; still working on how I’ll remedy this. Once back at the car, we set off to Arundel to see the pretty castle and pretty it was, very Hogwartsesque. The town of Arundel was very cute and old timey and I felt it was a nice end to our day. The bf on the other hand regretted not just spending the day in Arundel instead since by the time we got there (18:30) everything was closed. We played Pokemon go for a bit and then headed back to the Airbnb. Once back, we opened our books and read for a couple of hours and then at about 23:30 got ready for bed but that’s when new guests started checking until late into the night, I don’t think they stopped until about 03:00 and were so loud, would turn on all the lights, leave them on, and then head to their rooms. One guest in particular would go in and out of his room constantly leaving all the lights on and talking loudly on the phone in the room next to us. It was really hard to fall asleep, especially because I had hunger pangs but I got there in the end. As for the bf, he’s such a light sleeper that he sadly barely got any sleep...

Hi Guys,

Hi, I’m new here. I honestly don’t know where to begin. I could go on and on about my life story, but it’s too long and too confusing to write all in one night. So I will just start with a bit of the beginning. My life is kind of difficult, but honestly who’s life isn't... right? Everyone has a life story some worse than others, but mine out of most people that I know seems to be a bit worse. Let me know if me rambling about my life seems like something you would like to read. At the same time it will help me heal by talking about it. 

Day 29:

Had a really easy morning and took our time leaving because we really wanted to savour having a bed and a room a bit longer before hitting the road again. Don’t get me wrong, we weren’t dreading getting back onto the road to continue our adventure, we just wanted to make sure we were fully charged up and ready to go. Before setting off we made sure to play with the host’s dogs some more. We stopped at Lidl for some snacks…that we really shouldn’t have bought in retrospect, we’ve been eating a lot of junk on this trip. We set off to Stirling from there. During the drive I noticed that I had a mosquito bite on my face, I had been so successful so far in avoiding those damn things but somehow it got my face and now I have a horribly itchy spot that looks like a pimple, it’s pretty annoying but oh well. We only really just quickly drove through Stirling which I thought wasn’t so bad, it was really crowded and raining, after all, we were able to get a good look at Stirling castle which was interesting. It was a very odd old looking castle. The walls were that of a regular castle but the actual building looks like an old manor of some sort. We drove straight to Loch Lomond after Stirling as per what we had originally planned but when we got there we realized that was kind of senseless and that it would make more sense to drive straight up to in Inverness so as to do the North Coast 500 road tour for the next 7 days and then just explore Loch Lomond on our way back down through Scotland. We drove through a pretty spectacular motorway on the A9 road to get up to Inverness which I recommend to anyone that wants to do a road tour of Scotland; such glorious sights, it was a stunning mountain and was very reminiscent of my home province of British Columbia, Canada. We were even lucky enough to see a rainbow going over the mountains. It made me wish that we could live in Scotland so that we could do this sort of drive on the regular. We chose to stop in a retail business park just outside of Inverness to relax and stretch our legs after having just done a 3.5-hour drive straight. Scotland really does seem much more laid back about things in general in comparison to England. For instance, if you’re in literally any place other than a big city in Scotland then pretty much every car park is free which is amazing when you want to just leave the car and go explore. We thought for sure that the car park at Loch Lomond National Park would cost money but nope, free. Another awesome thing about Scotland is that you can pitch up your tent almost anywhere in the wilderness as long as there are no cows or sheep around and not have to pay a thing. It can only be for a period of 2 or 3 days but that works just great for us since we won’t be in any one place for too long. There was a cinema in the retail business park showing any movie for £4.99 so since it was still only 8 and the movies were so cheap, we thought why not. We saw Once Upon A Time in Hollywood, which I recommend. Afterward, we drove to a lay by out near Loch Ness and parked up and pitched up with the rain coming down horribly.

Day 30:

Woke up to the bf wiping the windows, when you sleep in a car, a lot of condensation forms on the windows if you’ve had them closed all night. I had actually slept in till 9 which is unusual for having slept in the car. We had breakfast and organized the car and I decided to read the last couple of chapters of Harry Potter book 5 when suddenly the car made an alarming beeeeeep! The car battery had gone flat. We tried to flag a few cars down to help us jump-start the battery but then resigned to calling AA. The bf has a membership with them anyway but we figured it would take them a while to get there. While we waited for them to come we went down to the lakeside/lochside of Loch Ness to explore for a bit. It’s quite sad that Scotland has opened its country for people to camp anywhere they like and yet people still litter everywhere. On the lakeside/lochside we saw several littered disposable barbecues, a shopping bag, and a bucket. Well, we didn’t finish with the AA until about 1:30. From Loch Ness, we drove into Inverness to the tourist info centre to see if we could get a map of some sort. Once that was dealt with we began the drive of the North coast 500 but counter-clockwise, just because we felt that suited us more. There are so many small-town/villages along the route, it’s quite funny how small they are - we were able to drive-through some, in and out, in under a minute. We stopped at Dingwall and had some instant noodles for a late lunch. Through the course of this trip, I’ve gotten the bf to actually enjoy and crave instant noodles and afternoon tea (of course he still doesn’t like to drink tea). He used to always avoid noodles in a soup because he’s not much of a soup person but will now eat them with me so I feel quite happy about that. From Dingwall, we drove through Loch Fleet National nature reserve, past the gorgeous, tropical-looking beach of Embo by Carn Laith, a remnant of the iron age, and finally arrived in Helmsdale where we would pitch up at a high off lay by with a beautiful view of the sea for the night. We didn’t cover as much road as I thought we would but I feel pretty content with our 1st day of route 500 ….

Day 31:

Have you ever woken up randomly, early in the morning but then realized you were still really tired so you went back to sleep and told yourself that whatever you want to do can wait until later? That’s me every day recently but what’s unfortunate this time was when I woke up randomly I saw the sunrise peeking out through the window. I thought “Oh how pretty…I’m just gonna sleep in a bit more and watch it later”. Well, when I woke up later I realized what I had done and felt like crap especially since it was the last time we were going to be on the east coast and in such an opportune spot for a little while. That’s fine, I’ll make it my mission to wake up in a good spot for the sunrise soon enough, mark my words. Anyway, today we managed to cover a lot of ground although I didn’t feel like we did. That’s because although it’s a beautiful drive there are not many points of interest for us to stop at on the east side of the NC500. We left Helmsdale and drove to just outside of Lybster to a place called “Hill O’Many Stanes”, which is a historical landmark. Many hundreds or thousands of years ago, it is not for certain why but maybe 30 to 50 stones the size of footballs were planted on a Hill and dotted around in a circle. There are a few theories why like they were possibly put there as memorials of the dead. I don’t know what it is about the UK and their historical landmarks surrounding stones. First, there was Stonehenge in England, and now this and I’m sure there’s another landmark coming up on this trip to do with stones being erected on the ground. Actually, now that I think about it, there is a place similar to Stonehenge on the Isle of Portland, but it certainly isn’t as heavily regarded and I’m not sure if it has a name. After admiring these stones for a bit, we then parked up down the hill and made some coffee. We then drove to the Castle of Old Wick just outside of Wick, where we saw the spectacular view of a cliffside and a horrifyingly scary view of how far the sea was below and then we walked around and imagined what it would have been like back then for people to have built a castle on the edge of a cliff. From there, we drove to Duncansby Head and John O’Groats, the most northern tip of mainland UK. This is also a very small town but because of what it is known as it was very crowded with tourists from all over. It was pretty cool though because we could see some of the Orkney islands from there and to be honest, it looked mostly like it is farmland, barely inhabited. After a few obligatory photos, we set off to somewhere in between John O’Groats and Dunnet Bay, where we parked up at a nearby Tesco and had instant noodles for lunch while listening to the Abroad in Japan podcast. We then checked out Dunnet Bay, we fooled around a bit there, skipped stones in the water and just had a good time. I love beaches, especially deserted ones, they’re relaxing and even better when there is the view of mountains in the background. This was probably 1 of 3 beaches that we stopped throughout the day just to explore and walk around. I found a really pretty shell at one of them too. I think the other beaches we stopped at were Strathy Bay and Torrisdale Bay. From there we drove without stopping too long to Durness, where we parked up and made a sort of spaghetti soup for dinner. The drive there was - you know I’ve been saying it a lot, so from now on when I talk about something, you just gotta assume it’s pretty freakin awesome! We drove around lush valleys and lochs, it felt more like we were somewhere in Iceland or something. I honestly thoroughly recommend this drive to anyone and everyone to do in the future. This part of Scotland actually reminded me a lot of Canada as well,l which makes sense because an info sign along the route said that Scotland was its own island for a while and joined up with Wales and England about 430 million years ago but before then it is thought to have been a broken-off bit of land from North America! That’s definitely something. I’ll never forget this drive and I only hope some of the footage I have taken has captured even 10% of its beauty.

Day 32:

Soon after waking up and driving somewhere to freshen up, the bf and I both seemed to be craving chocolate and we were in luck because there happened to be a popular albeit expensive chocolate cafe nearby called “Cocoa Mountain”. The bf and I both ordered a large hot chocolate that was simply delectable and probably the best hot chocolate I’ve ever had. We accompanied our drinks with two treats; a chocolate fudgy brownie and a cheese and spring onion tart that were also very good. Once we were done savouring that little treat, we went to the heavily populated with tourists Smoo Cave. We had visited caves in Wales but this cave was huge! It really had a mysterious vibe to it and even had a waterfall in it. It was very cool and well worth a visit again, I just wish there weren’t so many people. Apparently, on good weather, they do inner cave tours on a boat, but after so much rainfall, the waterfall and stream were too strong to venture further in. Later on, we drove to Oldshoremore beach. We stopped a lot along the way for photos though. The NC 500 is very scenic drive and I wouldn’t mind driving it again but next time it will be when we’re sure the weather will be good and if and when we have a camper van. All the beaches along the route were just so beautiful and I loved stopping at them. We walked for a bit along the water but I accidentally stepped too close and got my boots soaked. My Salomons are supposed to be waterproof but I put them in the washing machine once and I forgot why but that may have damaged the integrity of the waterproof material. Anyway, we went back to the car park to clean my boots and apply more waterproof spray and then made instant noodles for lunch. From there we drove to two more viewpoints called the Assynt and Drumbeg viewpoints. They were similar in that they both had a view of lochs, mountains, and the surrounding small islands, but the atmosphere at them was different from one another. We had overcast at one and sunny skies at the other so that could have been part of it, but it was also the quality of nature. One was more lush and green than the other but they were still just as breathtakingly sunning. My blog entries come out after I’ve posted photos of the places we’ve been to on Instagram, so please do give those a look. On the way to our final nature stop of the day, we chanced upon a herd of Highland cows that were just gorgeous and there were two that were just pleasantly sitting right next to each other so I had to grab a photo of that. They were so lovely. Afterward, we drove to Clashnessie Falls which was a magnificently big waterfall, but because it had been raining in that area, the river leading up to it had overflowed its banks which made the path to it muddy and hard to walk in and since my boots were still drying I was walking in my sandals. We figured it was for the best to just admire it from afar, although it would have been an amazing shot up close. We ended the day by stopping in Ullapool where we would grab some reduced dinner from Tesco’s (wasn’t the best idea) and pitching up just outside of the town for the night.

Day 33:

Today we had a load of gorgeous and scenic stops and the weather was on our side for most of the day, yay! We started off our day by taking in the sights of the Loch Broom which the town of Ullapool was situated next to. It was a great way to start the day because you had the sun shining brightly and all these gorgeous mountains in the background. From Ullapool, we began the penultimate leg of the route. This route will probably take us 6 days although online they say it should take you anywhere from 7 to 10 days if you really want to explore and do a bunch of hikes and stay longer in some places. Some people even think doing it in 12 to 14 days is better, if you have the money and time to do all the islands off the mainland as optional detours of the route, but we neither have the time money nor the transport (this route would have been way better with a camper van or RV, but we only decided to do it last minute while doing our main road trip. As I said before, we had many stops today and took so many photos on our way to Kyle of Lochalsh, where we would be ending today’s leg. I can say for certain that this portion of the route is absolutely the most scenic but I probably also feel that way because it was sunny most of the day, albeit cold (too cold for August if you ask me, but we are up north). First, we stopped at the Corrieshalloch Gorge and national nature reserve. There was a very cool suspension bridge there, but the gorge was indeed pretty far down so my fear of heights was activated a bit. There we also had a view of lovely, big waterfalls called the Falls of Measach. I’m surprised at the number of tourist areas that are free, well actually pretty much all of the spots along this route have been free whereas in Vancouver you can be sure that you’d be charged an arm and a leg to enter them. After seeing the falls, we made some coffee and then set off. I felt like every couple of minutes we were stopping and getting out of the car. To be honest I felt a twinge of annoyance about it but couldn’t really complain because there were just that many gorgeous and breathtaking sights to behold whether it was the lochs or the mountains. I don’t know what to tell you. If you haven’t got time to do the whole 5 to 7 days of the route than just spare one day to drive the stretch from Ullapool the Kyle of Lochalsh and you won’t regret it. Especially on a sunny day. Of course, you’d need to get up to a Ullapool first… but seriously we stopped so many times that I’m not even sure where exactly we stopped because the whole stretch made our jaws drop. I mean the days leading up to today we also saw a lot of amazing sights on the NC500 so I’m not selling those short by any means but I guess even though the rain did give those views a cool atmosphere, I didn’t enjoy them as much I enjoyed the views today because we had the luck of having the sun on our side. After the gorge, the plan was to stop at Ardessie Falls, Mellon Udrigle, Fire more beach, Gairloch then Redpoint and then Sheildag and Torridon and finally end off in Kyle of Lochalsh because those were the tour suggestions that I found online but for the most part we made our own stops along the route and it was awesome. I mean we did drive-through most of them. We made a detour through Torridon village, then stopped at a viewpoint in Shieldag and had lunch but finally, after a very eventful day at so many sites we got dinner in Kyle of Lochalsh and found a lay by to pitch up for the night.

Day 34:

Today didn’t really go as planned. Overall this trip has had a bunch of highlights and I’m so thankful to the BF to have been able to do this. I’m also thankful to his friend T, and my friend V, for being able to make this trip great. This trip isn’t over yet with 10 more days to go, but it’s just a shame that ever since we left the South coast of England our days have been heavily influenced by the rain. Today is one of those days. It still turned out alright though and the bf and I had a laugh. So originally the plan was for us to take a detour from the NC500 and spend the day in the Isle of Skye. I had been really looking forward to this as I had heard many good things. But from the moment we woke up the winds were so strong and the sky was heavy with overcast. Very foreboding. Actually, it made me wish I was back in Cambridge, at home, enjoying the sunny weather. Nevertheless, we drove across the long bridge from Kyle of Lochalsh to the Isle of Skye and what awaited us there were torrential rain and heavy winds. Our first stop was supposed to be a place called “The Storr”. Which is a 674 m tall landslip with a rocky face on one side and a grassy slope on the other, it was supposed to be a very dramatic sight, but because of the low cloud and rain, you couldn’t see a thing. Didn’t stop a bunch of tourists from getting out and trying to take photos, but we carried on since we didn’t think it seemed worth getting wet for. After that, we drove by another tourist stop that I hadn’t accounted for, at a waterfall called Kealt Falls. We thought about carrying on but the bf though the weather might add some drama to the falls. Since I was the only one with boots on and what I thought was a decent rain jacket (it’s old and worn), I went off on my own to see if it was worth both of us getting out for. Big mistake. The rain and winds were cruel and it felt like I was being blown away. The view was pretty but not really worth getting thoroughly soaked for. I went back to the car and I was shivering and had a headache from the cold winds. I am glad I tried though because now I know that I don’t want to be out in that weather. We spent the rest of the day in the car which wasn’t so great for our legs. They were both swollen and achy by the end of it. At least I learned from this experience that I need a new rain jacket and should definitely buy some waterproof trousers. We didn’t stop anywhere else in Skye unfortunately so I would like to think I would go back one day. We drove to the northernmost part of the island and then all the way back down to Kyle of Lochalsh while enjoying the views of the dramatic weather over the dramatic mountains. On the drive back down to Kyle, we saw two beautifully pronounced rainbows that were really quite the sight. Once back, we got Chinese takeaway and then agreed to leave early and drive to the next village of Strathcarron and stay there for the night. Except that didn’t happen. The bf and I were so into our conversation about tons of random crap that I hadn’t been paying attention to the map and he missed the turnoff on the road. We were so deep in conversation and that an hour had passed and neither of us noticed! The drive was only supposed to take 30 minutes, I thought it felt like a long 30 minutes….xD we weren’t even at the end of the NC 500 route anymore. He had taken a southbound road that would still get us back to Inverness, but on a completely different route. It so wasn’t so bad though, we were essentially driving through Woodland forests that took us along the other side of Loch Ness that we were originally on before we started the NC500 route. This side had all the Loch Ness monster tourist stuff; I was wondering where they all were! Eventually, we got back to the same retail business park we had begun this mini-adventure, and then the bf got out to stretch his legs while I stayed inside to keep warm and write. By the time we found a layby we were both exhausted and ready to call it a day.

Day 35: