Before leaving Applecross today Saturday 27th June we bought today's Guardian at the local shop. How the hell did it get here? We set off over the Bealach Na Ba, the highest public road in Britain. It was very misty on the top as you can see from this photo.

Going down on the east side of the pass is a lot hairier than coming up from the west.

We came south and stopped for a cup of tea in Glen Shiel with this good view of The Saddle (1010 metres).

Eventually we arrived in the great metropolis of Fort William where we are parked for the night high above the town with great views down to Loch Eil........

.......and up to Ben Nevis (1344 metres).

On Friday 26th June we travelled the short distance south from Gruinard Bay to visit Inverewe Garden (National Trust for Scotland)

In some ways I found the Garden slightly disappointing as it seemed to be a bit past its best season wise.

I liked the blue poppies.

These are quite useful when it's raining as it was for most of our visit to Inverewe.

Some of the rhododendrons were flowering but lots weren't.

We did see some nesting herons at the far end of the garden

From Inverewe we went south through Gairloch and Kinlochewe. Then past Torridon and on to Sheildaig where we turned right onto the minor coast road to Applecross passing this nice roadside waterfall on the way.

Just as we arrived in Applecross we saw quite a few deer.

Applecross, pictured here, is one of the most remote communities on mainland Britain. The only way of getting here on land is either by the very narrow coast road from Shieldaig or over the 700 metre high Bealach Na Ba (Pass of the Cattle). We bought diesel here at the community owned not for profit fuel station. The diesel only cost £0.001 more per litre than the last lot we'd got at Tesco in Wick!

Here's the view from our overnight parking place by the beach just outside the village.

On Thursday 25th June we rejoined the main road south and travelled through some spectacular mountain scenery such as here looking towards Quinag 808 metres. Eventually we arrived in Ullapool and did a major grocery shop as well as getting a ferry timetable from the Calmac terminal.

South of Ullapool at the Corrieshalloch Gorge we turned right onto the A382 and crossed the pass to Dundonnell where we saw this waterfall. The magnificent nearby peak of An Teallach (1062 metres) was unfortunately shrouded in mist.

We found a stopping place on the shore of Gruinard Bay where we could look back towards An Teallach which had largely cleared of cloud.

An Teallach is a complex mountain with several distinct tops. You can make out the conical peak of Sgurr Fiona the second highest top. We stayed the night here.

On the morning of Wednesday 24th June it was a bit clearer and we could see Ben Loyal from our parking place by the Kyle of Tongue.

We continued west along the north coast of Scotland and stopped for a while to visit this nice beach just east of Durness.

The geology around here is really spectacular.

Lots of different kinds of rock.

We stopped briefly at Durness, the most north westerly settlement in mainland Britain, which also has a very nice beach. We bought some groceries and visited the tourist information centre.

Heading south west from Durness we turned off north west onto the Kinlochbervie Road and went on to the tiny harbour at Droman for the night. Late on the sun came through and lit up the headland across from our parking place.

Today Tuesday 23rd June was also mainly dry with some brief bursts of sunshine. We took the ferry from St Margarets Hope on South Ronaldsay back to Gill's Bay, close to John O' Groats on the Scottish Mainland.

During the ferry crossing we passed the Island of Stroma - once a thriving community - now uninhabited - the last family having emigrated in the 1990s.

As we were running low on LPG we made a detour 15 miles south to Watten were we knew there was a garage which stocked Autogas. Having filled up we came back north to Thurso and then west along the north coast of Scotland to the Kyle of Tongue where we are stopped tonight. Here's the view from our van looking towards Ben Loyal (764 metres).

Monday 22nd June was overcast but dry. Here's a view of the remains of the Earl of Orkney's Palace near to our overnight parking place.

We briefly parked in the disabled space to take on water at the Bay of Skaill.

We then visited Skara Brae, a 5000 year old village which had been preserved under a sand dune until unearthed by a violent storm in recent times. Here's the interior of one of the neolithic houses.

We also visited nearby Skaill House where the owner of the land where Skara Brae was uncovered had lived. Following her death the site and house came under the care of Historic Scotland. As the visitors book shows the Queen had beaten us to it.

Next we visited the Ring of Brodgar, a neolithic stone circle.

Nearby are the Stones of Stenness - larger and less numerous than the Ring of Brodgar.

Ann went inside this chambered tomb, also of neolithic vintage, quite close by to the other monuments.

In Kirkwall, the Capital of Orkney we visited St Magnus' Cathedral.

The Cathedral was built by the Vikings and is generally considered to be the finest medieval building in Northern Scotland.

We moved back from Mainland Orkney to South Ronaldsay for the night. We found this good parking place looking out west to sea. On TV we watched England's footballers knock Norway out of the World Cup!

Sunday 21st June, The Summer Solstice, was wet, cold and windy. From St Margaret's Hope we travelled north over several causeways until we reached the Orkney Mainland. By one of the causeways was a wrecked ship broken into two halves.

Here's a closer view of one half of the ship.

We went through Kirkwall, Orkney's Capital and then up the east coast of Mainland to Gurness Broch, the remains of an iron age settlement (Historic Scotland £4.40 for over 60s).

This is an amazing place, with a central tower......

.......surrounded by the remains of dwelling houses.........

....and all surrounded by three rings of defensive ditches.

We are staying tonight at Point of Buckquoy in the north west corner of Mainland Orkney.

We have sea on both sides of our parking place.

On a third side is the Brough of Birsay - an island linked to Mainland by a tidal foot causeway.

There are the remains of a Norse settlement on the Brough.

Historic Scotland want money from you to visit the Brough of Birsay but there doesn't seem to be anyone around to collect it.

This is a fairly bleak place right now but it must be absolutely delightful when it is warm, dry and not windy. Nearby is the ruined Earl's Palace. Built in the late 16th Century by the Earl of Orkney using the forced labour of islanders who did not even receive food and drink in return for their work! Nice people the Aristocracy!