Scotland 1971

Sat June 12th

Hassocks to Derby, Overnight at my Mum’s house on Walton Road

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Sun June 13th

Derby to Perth.

Left Derby early. Joined the M1 northbound and were amused to see a group of people playing football outside a factory, wearing what looked like space suits! Left the M1 and took the A1… a scary road with sections of dual carriageway where you could do motorway speeds, only to suddenly find a tractor or a milk-float in the fast lane turning right!

We also hit a couple of crows that were dining on crows killed by other cars. We speculated that there might be 200 miles of crow carcasses as a result of one crow being hit in Edgeware at the start of the A1!

We detoured to Lindisfarne on Holy Island. We wandered around the castle ground and had a cup of tea at the tea-shop where the old lady charged us 1/6d because she said she was too old to bother with decimal currency, introduced some eighteen months earlier.

Suitably refreshed, we continued north and by the time we reached Edinburgh, we were ready for a late lunch. So we drove into the centre, spotted a ‘Golden Egg’ restaurant on Princes Street, and parked right outside while we had a leisurely lunch. Afterwards, we took the Forth Road Bridge over the Firth of Forth, and up the A9 as far as Perth, where we found a guest house for the night.

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Mon June 14th

Perth to Dornoch

First thing was to find a branch of Lloyds bank so I could cash a cheque. Of course, in those days, before bank cards and as I was unknown to them, this meant meeting the manager. We had a nice chat, where we talked about our preconceptions of the Highlands as being mountains, lochs, and moorlands, with the occasional crofter’s cottage. It turned out he was from Dumfries, and this was his preconception too!

We continued up the A9, and took the turning to Loch Tay. Lovely, lush and verdant scenery, and in fact there was snow on the sides of the distant Ben Lawers. We circumnavigated the loch and picked up a large piece of schist complete with garnets, which sat on various hearths and shelves, gathering dust for the next 20 years – I wonder what happened to it! We then drove along the north shore of Loch Tummel to Queen’s View, with it’s huge vistas over the loch.

We spent the rest of the day pushing north through the Cairngorms, and getting caught in several bouts of heavy rain. And yet everywhere we looked, the ground was cracked and parched. We fetched up on the coast at a place called Dornoch in Caithness, and found ourselves a small hotel. We had dinner at the hotel, and then watched Hitchcock’s ‘The Birds’ in the hotel lounge, and then had a wander around this fairly unprepossessing town before bedtime.

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Tue June 15th

Dornoch to Durness

Grey skies, but not actually raining, we followed the coast road all the way up to John O’Groats, with views across to the Orkney Isles.

Then headed west along Scotland’s wild and rugged north coast. Saw some world-class beaches of white sands and turquoise seas, with not another soul in sight. I imagine things are different now.

We ended up at the Smoo Cave Hotel near Durness, and found ourselves a nice room. Lin had a bath in some rather brown, peaty looking water, before we headed down to see the actual Smoo Cave.

After watching The Birds the previous evening, we found the huge sea cave was more than a little atmospheric with gulls wheeling around the skies, apparently disturbed by our invasion. We had an indifferent dinner on hard chairs and Formica tables in the attached cafe.

Then back to our room to sleep… With sheep baa’ing outside the window! And in broad daylight! We knew it was close to summer solstice, and we knew we were about as far north as you can get on the UK mainland, but we were unprepared for how light it was through the night. At it’s darkest, you could easily read a newspaper, and it was possible to follow the progress of the Sun from west to east along the northern horizon.

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Wed June 16th

Durness to Elgol

Stunning scenery all the way, but patchy weather. And wherever we stopped for lunch, or to fill up with petrol, people would tell us that the weather had been fantastic “until yesterday”. We were doing the Scottish Highlands in an anti-clockwise direction, and we were constantly one day behind the good weather!

Got to Kyle of Lochalsh across from the Isle of Skye, and tried to get in at the posh-looking Lochalsh Hotel, but apparently they had no rooms. I still wonder if we looked a little disreputable for their tastes. Anyway they suggested that there would be accommodation on Skye, so we took the ferry across, and followed their directions to the tiny hamlet of Elgol, where we did find a B & B that had a spare room.

The owners made us a dinner, and I remember hoping we could eat with them so we could chat about life somewhere isolated like Skye, but “Oh, no… it would’nae do to eat with our guests”!

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Thu June 17th

Elgol to Loch Lomond

Next morning, a clearer but breezier day, and rather than retracing our steps and returning to the Kyle of Lochalsh, we drove to Armadale on Skye, and made the longer ferry trip to Mallaig, which saved quite a bit of driving.

We drove through more stunning scenery, past sea lochs, and lush valleys with freshwater lochs, as far as Oban.

We stopped there for some lunch, and then headed south, getting as far as the pleasant Inverbeg Hotel on Loch Lomond, where we had dinner and spent the night.

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Fri June 18th

Loch Lomond to Liverpool

Through Glasgow, and then down the A74/M6 back into England. We were thinking about heading over to Wales for the weekend, so we left the M^ and headed for Liverpool. I’d spent a lot of time here as a child, and I wanted Lin to get a feel for it.

We drove to Pierhead, parked easily, and took the ferry across the Mersey to New Brighton. We walked across the sands to the old Fort Perch Rock which I remembered from my childhood; I think my Dad had been stationed there during the war. Then up to the promenade to some greasy spoon for a snack, before getting the ferry back.

We drove through Liverpool’s southern suburbs, eventually finding a nice traditional old hotel in Aigburth.

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Sat June 19th

Liverpool to London

We set off through the Mersey Tunnel, driving in drizzle on the A55 all the way along the Welsh north coast, until we got to the Menai Bridge between Wales and Anglesey, where we decided that the rain had set in for the day. We decided to give our friends in London the casting vote… if they were available, we’d give up on Wales and spend the evening with them. Otherwise, we’d find a hotel for the night and hope for better things tomorrow.

They were available, so we said a damp goodbye to Wales, and spent the evening with them in Chingford, and then the night at Lin’s Mum’s in Enfield.

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Sun June 20th

Enfield to Hassocks

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