and it's farewell to Stornaway, Lewis and Harris

A late blog this evening as we had to get out and eat while the restaurants / bars were still serving food.
(6 -8pm only; lucky to find somewhere as it's a Sunday)
Headed out after a surprisingly quiet night in the metropolis that is Stornaway to take a look at some plots on one of  the peninsulas east of the town. The first thing to note wa the huge number of people dressed to the nines and driving or walking to attend church. The other was that the only facility that was open was a garage / shop on the way to point - it was extremely busy! It seems that Sundays here are like Sundays used to be many years ago in England.
We topped up with fuel just in case as we have a fair trip to make once we leave Ullapool.
We have solved the mystery of Bracelet and the plot; it turns out there are two Bracelets one on each side of the loch - so quick decision and we drive back to find the second Bracelet and the large croft.
A quick 20 miles later and with one eye on the time for ferry check in we are on a winding, single track road that takes us via a very narrow bridge to the island of Great Berneray. This is the Scottish equivilent of Hill Billy country; although we do find the plot we both agree that the area is really not for us. Back alongside an inland loch that was sparkling when we passed it going the other way but the sun has gone in and the clouds are lowering and grey.
Back to Stornaway and into the (closed) ferry terminal to pick up our tickets. Although there are staff behind the barred counter, they don't open until 1245. If we found this confusing, imagine how the young German family in front of us must have felt.
Tickets grasped, we have lunch in the ferry queue (just dinner to go and we will have the set). Somehow had internet access in the queue, Very impressed.We then roll on in time for a departure as scheduled. Forecast is for a smooth crossing with the posibility of moderate swells. Gary is most disappointed as we haven't seen one wave break over the front end yet!
The ferry is busy and the mezzanine deck is also used - quite weird to see cars on what is effectively the first floor.

Stornaway hoves out of view - quite quickly

This is a three hour crossing so we brave the cool winds on deck until the island has disappeared over the horizon. Then we head for the observation lounge up front where fellow passengers are sleeping, eating, computing and generally making a noise!
After a while, the sun shines so we go back outside where, if you are on the right side of the boat, it feel quite warm. Sit well wrapped up on the upper deck and have it to ourselves for much of the journey.
We spy our first sight of the mainland about an hour out of Ullapool (photo by J attached; not very good but subject matter limited today) I think that is An Teallach in the haze.

We dock dead on time and disembark to head for the coast road. First we have to follow the pack from the ferry who seem to think it is OK to overtake and drive on the right even on sharp bends. Thankfully there is very little traffic heading towards Ullapool - if I was local, I would avoid the ferry arrival times like the plague.
Happily all of these cars are heading to Inverness so we have the coast road to Gairloch to ourselves.

Photos of the dramatic skies at Ullapool; also the reason for no sunset pics

 

The drive to Laide where we are staying the next three nights is beautiful with rivers, high mountains complete with snow, sea lochs and sandy beaches which we plan to explore over the next couple of days.
The sat nav takes us directly to the Love Croft which turns out to be a very comfortable B&B. They recommend the hotel in the next village for dinner so we head out straight away.
Dinner is unhealthy but tasty and we find the bar full of British army logistics people based just up the road at a fuel depot - hopefully not a secret one! They are having problems with their radios and discuss this at length during dinner. We chat to the apparent boss who is from Gosport via Bahrain; he recommends the hot chocolate fudge cake which Gary takes to be local knowledge and goes for it - justifiably as it turns out. He doesn't recommend the 10k run up the hill from their base. No worries there.
So back to the Love Croft; settled in and waiting to see what tomorrow might bring.