Independent overland travel through Africa in a Unimog called Moglet

What a mistaken belief that was! Next time we park up on a cliff edge and choose our direction based on what the wind is doing, we really should bear in mind the possibility that the wind direction might change!! Round about midnight, the wind shifted so far that Moglet was getting totally broadsided by huge great gusts of wind, buffetting her about so much that things in the cupboards were rattling, the ladder clipped on outside was squeaking, the suspension springs were squealing and I was generally whimpering like a frightened puppy all night! I don't think either of us slept a wink, and if we'd really thought it was safe to do so, we probably would have moved. Trouble was, to turn her around, we'd have had to get a hell of a lot closer to the cliff edge, which in the dark was an even more scary proposition than riding it out until morning. The weather in the night was so bad that sea foam was all over Moglet in the morning, despite the sea being a good 150ft away. Even the sheep were huddled up next to a wall, rather than going about their continual grazing. Even in the morning, the wind continued, blowing rain, hail, sleet and snow in a horizontal attack right onto Moglets side. Such a contrast from the night before!

We decided against walking the coastal path to the Old Man on account of the wind direction that'd be trying to toss us down the cliffs into the waiting sea below, and decided to get the hell out of there! Back on the road again, we carried on south towards Ullapool, still keeping to the coast as much as possible. Everywhere we looked, the views were covered in snow, and more kept on coming. Everywhere had that lovely hush to it, that you only get when theres lots of fresh snow blanketing and muffling everything.

As you can see from the photo's the continuing snowfall had left some people a lot worse off than us when it came to trying to get around. We'd already had to stop briefly in the road while someone who'd skidded off in front of us was extracted from a ditch, and even Moglet was losing her footing from time to time (although mostly when Jason decided to have a little off-piste fun in a layby covered in untouched drifted snow!). We even offered assistance to one motorist who'd been waiting for his tow truck for some time (I think it might have been a bit of a busy day for them!), but when Jason mentioned the fact that Moglet pulling him out of a ditch wouldnt exactly be covered on his insurance, he decided to wait it out and hang in there for the 'experts'!

When we reached a turning for the A832, we headed west towards Dundonnell, more to keep us on the coast rather than as a destination. The snow was easing off and the roads were pretty much clear, and the further south and west we went, the more the snow turned to rain. Although tired, Jason was still awake enough to keep driving so, in the absence of anywhere that looked like somewhere we could/wanted to stop, we carried on until we reached a scattered village called Gairloch. Based on what we'd read up, we werent expecting to find any campsites open, so we were pleasantly suprised to find this one happy to let us through the gates. And can you tell what happened next? We planned on staying there just the one night, and we've been here for a week so far! The couple running the site are probably the most helpful people we've met since we left home, and the icing on the cake is that the site has WiFi! Hurrah!! Facilities wise, its got everything we need, free hot showers, laundry facilities (with a tumble dryer big enough to climb into, should you feel the urge!) and all the usual nuts and bolts. Its more the 'extra' things that make the difference - we wanted to go for a walk to the site of a WWII plane wreck on a nearby hill, so Colin (one half of the couple running the place) offered us the use of his own personal OS map. Then our gas bottle ran out, so Colin offered us his own spare, until we could get to the garage in the morning. I've had a tour of the self catering cottage now that Marion (the other half of the couple) has mostly finished re-decorating it, had Marion walk me back to Moglet so she could point out the location of a good restaurant the other side of the bay, and they've let us use their own wifi connection for free the whole time we've been here! I know the last point is something of an oddity as we happened to arrive just as they were in the process of setting up their site-wide wifi and going forward, it'll be a daily charge for access. But even so, its a great site in a cracking location with really helpful site managers. What more could you ask?? Possibly nothing, although maybe it'd help if I also added that the three or four little local shops are possibly the best stocked village stores we've seen pretty much ever? All in all, I think you can tell that I'd recommend a stay here, if you happen to be passing. And if you're not passing, make a detour :-) This is the view from Moglet, and those snow covered peaks in the distance are on the Isle of Skye. Nuff said.