More Scottish Weather - Should I have expected anything different in October (Scotland 2024 - Part 2)

Day 3 - Sango Sands to Ullapool

After a nice couple of days, I woke in the very north west of mainland Scotland for the 3rd day of my trip.

Today’s route was similar as I’d done most of it the year before.

The weather was pretty good. It was cloudy and quite windy, but the sun was out too.

I started off by visiting Balnakeil Church, a Church originally built around 1619, just a mile away from my campsite.

Disused since 1814 it now lies completely ruined.

After a few minutes here, I started the drive towards Ullapool.

The drive is largely rural, with lots of single track roads, mountain views and little else.

With almost nobody else around, it was easy to get the whole scenery to myself.

The wind proved challenging at times and I spent most of the day with the tripod inside the van, trying to keep the camera away from being blown over.

After lunch the weather turned, the rain started and the sun went away.

I’d managed to get some really nice pictures in the morning though, so this was ok.

I headed to the campsite earlier than usual because of the rain, and watched a film to pass the time.

As sunset approached the weather broke and so I managed to a shot of the fading light from the campsite.

Not long after I got these, the rain started again and didn’t really stop all night, so I retired to the van to do some editing before watching another film with my tea and having an early night.

Day 4 - Ullapool to Applecross

The weather was still rubbish. It was cold, windy and wet.

I got drenched just packing the van, filling water bottles and emptying my rubbish bags.

The forecast was showing that it would get a bit better during the day, although not much better.

So, I decided I would have a lazy morning.

Just as I entered Ullapool the weather broke, the cloud’s cleared and the sun came through.

Maybe the weather was on the up.

I stopped just outside Ullapool for the first picture of the day.

I went into Ullapool to Tesco’s and bought some breakfast, and used the opportunity of 4G to sync things up.

I’d remembered a layby I’d found last year that overlooked a valley that would be a nice place to park up for a bit to have breakfast whatever the weather, so I drove out of Ullapool and up to this spot. By this point, the brightness had gone, and the rain was back, along with the wind. I had breakfast in the layby while the wind rocked the van.

After a while here, the weather started to clear a little and the sun started to peek through again.

The wind had died down a bit too, so I reached for the camera and managed to get a couple of shots over the valley.

Nothing spectacular, but better than nothing.

The weather came back in, and stayed consistent wet/dry/wet/dry for the rest of the day.

I drove around 100 miles in some of the smallest roads yet, arriving in Applecross around 4pm.

As it was the last night I’d decided to treat myself too and had booked myself in the pub for tea.

I had a great fish and chips in the pub, a couple of pints of local beer before heading back up to the campsite, doing a few bits of sorting and packing while watching a film before an early night, ready for an early start to drive home tomorrow.

Day 5 - Home

It was home time, unfortunately.

I’d had a very relaxing few days, and while I was ready.

I had just over 450 miles to cover today and so I didn’t want to hang around.

I was up and on the road before 7am, tackling the pass out of Applecross before the sun rose.

I headed towards Inverness, stopping here for breakfast around 0900.

I knew then that I had around 6 hours of driving to do to get home.

As I started the drive down from Inverness the sun broke and rather annoyingly the light started to shine through, better than it had done for the past couple of days.

I got home a few hours later after a pretty uneventful trip, tired and ready for a sleep, but enthused about photography again and looking forward to the next trip, whenever that might be.

I’d set out to try photography again after a hiatus of a year or so, and I’d really enjoyed myself, out in the quiet and peaceful highlands and while the weather hadn’t been great, it hadn’t really been that bad I’d had a successful trip.

Hopefully one of many to come.