Logbook: Pitlochry - Ullapool

Ullapool was completely abuzz when I arrived,
enjoying a day-long fundraiser for football.

During my day of driving and walking last Tuesday, I made the decision to "evolve my website." As is my custom, I then immersed myself in the project and spent most of my time in Pitlochry -- Wednesday, Thursday and Friday -- online, getting this weblog set up and running. Accordingly, I didn't explore much of the area after all, but I did take nice, frequent walks around town to get meals, do errands and generally clear my head of HTML code. I'm not too worried about missing the opportunity -- and I have no regrets -- because, frankly, I expect I'll wander back to that lovely little town again some time.

On Saturday morning, the Innkeeper of the delightful little place I was staying explained to me that she was already overbooked for that night and, sadly for both of us, I would have to leave. So, I packed up and hit the road, once again with no particular destination set in my mind. I took the main road north then northwest and found myself heading to the coast by mid-afternoon. The only place of any substance in this area is the port town of Ullapool, so I pulled in and found a place to stay for a couple of days.

"They left me here while they go have
fun! I'll show them... I'll stay awake!"

To my surprise this sleepy little town was abuzz, with frolicking of all kinds associated with a day-long series of fundraising events for the local football team. I checked it out for a bit before hearing "the call of the code" and wanting to get back to my weblog project. To my dismay, it turns out that the wi-fi where I am staying didn't work, but the coffee shop across the street was available for internet connection. I spent a couple of hours there before shutting down for the afternoon, then asked if they would be open today and received a simple "No" in reply. No worries, though, they don't shut off the wireless network when they're closed and I was invited to sit outside and do whatever I needed to. So, last night and most of today I have alternated between working in my room on content and sitting on the sidewalk outside the cafe to upload everything.

The party is over and it's back to "Sleepy Ullapool"
with beautiful camping by the sea!

In between, I often repeated my walking around and was delighted to find the town back to "normal" with not much going and only a few folks hanging around. At one point this afternoon I wandered along the coast for a mile or so and discovered an RV camping spot that looks just lovely, right on the shore with a fantastic view despite the overcast skies. This is a truly beautiful, remote, rugged area.

All in all it has been pretty much a "work" week, but a very productive one that I expect will serve me very well going forward. In the morning I will head out for yet another point unknown -- ready to get back to exploration -- on The Voyage of Macgellan!