DAY 4
My 4.30am alarm clock woke up at what seems to be the norm this week! A refill of milk later and wee Charlie was back asleep til 7am. We got dressed and sneaked out the tent to allow Chelsea, Struan and Grace a lie in!
Charlie and I headed down to the beach to collect sand, jump over the many jellyfish and do a bit of rock climbing.
We sauntered back to the tent to meet the gang, got organised, jumped in the van all ready for the week’s most northerly adventures… THE VAN WAS DEAD 👎
As Chelsea was the organised one of the trip, she had even packed jump leads 🤣👍, however the kind gentleman who provided us with his car to assist us didn’t have a clue how to even access his battery! Luckily, I seem to have had plenty hands on experience throughout my driving years and knew exactly what to do. SO… turns out the guy’s car didn’t have enough oomph to get the van going so we asked the campsite owner (who has been most helpful throughout our stay) for a jump.. he brought along a jump pack that he uses to start boats! The van was up and running in seconds and we were off!
The first official stop (other than nature pee stops) was Kylesku Bridge, where we got lots of pictures (leaving the van still running! Didn’t want to chance needing another jump start!).
The roads were incredible, very smooth apart from the odd crater in some passing places, and some verges had steep drop offs, not always with barriers, or were very soft as one car had found out whilst trying to squeeze past a lorry instead of using a passing place! How the car hadn’t rolled onto its side was beyond the rules of gravity!With a few more pee stops on route, we arrived at Durness.
We had a quick stop at Spar to replenish fluids and munchies before heading to Smoo Cave.
The kids were suited, booted and waterproofed up and we opted for the uphill path taking us anticlockwise round the hillside before descending down to sea level and into the cave.
We walked into the cave and along a wooden bridge to the viewpoint inside the cave, where normally a waterfall comes thundering into the cave from a hole above, believe it or not there hasn’t been enough rain!
We explored the stoney beach and collected funky rocks (dinosaur eggs!) before heading back up the giant steps (with Charlie on my shoulders.. this week has introduced the inability for him to walk uphill unaided!! I’m not on holiday to take up weight training! #snuzthebodybuilder!).
Back at the van, as we were making the kids’ lunch, a couple of familiar voices appeared from the distance.. my friends Simone and Clinky with their wee boy. We had a wee catchup blether before they wandered down to see the cave.
We videocalled Mark, (1st time having steady signal in days!) who asked why we went the long road north to Durness.. I had said it was because the roads were better, however we opted to follow his advice and take the coastal road back to the campsite… BIG MISTAKE! More about this shortly..
We stopped just along the road at the signpost similar to the one at John O Groats for an obligatory photo before starting on the hairiest road we’d been on so far…
To sum up the coastal road… squeaky bum moments, 2 x ambulances almost sending us into a cliffside, disappearing roads (due to the steepness of the downhills at the brows of hills) and celebrating getting into 5th gear despite not getting over 30mph! In Chelsea’s words the road was “utterly f*cking horrendous” 🤣 I secretly enjoyed driving this road but my muscles will probably not thank me in the morning!
Back at the campsite we headed straight to the beach for some cartwheels, headstands, sand yoga, rock climbing, sand dune running, race the waves and one faceplate in the sand!
We wandered along the road to the chippy (Closed), but the nice lady from the (Closed) local shop allowed us to stock up on milk 👍
Back at the campsite we used the cooking facilities/dining area again to make and eat our dinner, then it was showers, milk and bed for the kiddos.
We high fived to another day survived! Thankfully not as many questions were asked today but I will finish today’s blog with a few things the kids have came out with today…
Struan : next year Charlie’s birthday will be on the 11th! This is because, looking at his calendar, the Tuesday of Charlie’s birthday this year, 12th, is the 11th next year 🤣
Grace : Is this the Skye Bridge? Having seen 1st hand the Skye bridge yesterday, we laughed then put her right.. it was Kylesku Bridge which looks completely different!
And Charlie’s new word is “shoulders” everytime he sees a hill that he would like carried up!
Snuz's Adventures 