June 16

June 16th (cold, sunny, windy)
Last night while we were downloading our blog, we met a couple of very nice gentlemen called Richard and Roger that travel and climb mountains. One of them looked very much like our friend, Charlie Telford. Enjoyed our beer and cider as well as their company.
Today, we left Ullapool without paying for our night’s stay, but we couldn’t find anyone to pay at the reception and they didn’t come around the next morning before we left. We travelled about 20 miles and realized that we had better return to Ullapool and gas up just in case we ran out of gas. Gas prices are double the price at home and it costs us about $120.Cdn to fill the tank.
Our drive was again very beautiful -- lots of mountains, trees, wild rhododendrons and very skinny roads, usually enough room only for one car, (and you better keep your eyes peeled for sheep on the road – they are very stupid). The Squamish highway is very safe compared to these backroads.
We think our country has lots of open space – Scotland seems even more under-populated than its population of five million. We crossed the bridge to the Isle of Sky and took the ferry back to the mainland. The trip was not really worthwhile as the scenery was exactly the same and the ferry cost us $50 for a 20-minute ride. We have observed a fair amount of Gaelic written and spoken in this part of Scotland. Georg and I often said that the scenery is even more beautiful than home.
We arrived at Glencoe (historical betrayal between the Campbell’s and the MacDonald’s) and met four guys who had just walked and drank their way to Glencoe to distribute an uncle’s ashes. We sat and drank with them until bedtime. By the end of the evening, I could not understand one word they spoke. Barbecued chicken and baked potatoes for dinner. Great evening.