Monday 13th June 2011

Strathcarron was our next destination, at the head of Loch Carron (a sea loch). After crossing the sound of Raasay, we planned to follow the coast of Skye, crossing the new bridge to the mainland at Kyle of Lochalsh and then along the hilly shores of Loch Kishorn and Loch Carron.

This was our only really wet day of the holiday - it rained really hard until about 2pm. We left Raasay on the 9.55 am ferry to Sconsor, then rode south along the tiny shore road, but all the views were obscured by big clouds. Even, so it was a lovely road, running close to the loch shore. The main road to Broadford was a pain – having to look back at all the passing vehicles to encourage them to give us space.

We stopped at the SeaView in Broadford, a bakery and fish and chips place for a coffee, but ended up having hot soup, hot chocolate and cake while we dried out.

The rain began to ease as we approached Kileakin and the new bridge at Kyle of Lochalsh. These roads need organising for cyclists - it’s done much better near the big bridge at Inverness. This was our first time over the Skye bridge – there was a ferry on our last visit in 1989. We experienced  a strong side wind from our left as we crossed the bridge; at first we tried the footway, close to the fence and then the road, where there isn’t much room.

The ride from Kyle via Drumbuie to Stromferry at the bottom of Loch Carron was on pleasanter minor roads following the coast but with many ups and downs.   We passed through villages and attractive countryside, seeing very little traffic. The verges were colourful with flowers including foxgloves, yellow iris and bluebells. After Stromferry - which is announced by a sign reading ‘STROMFERRY (No Ferry)’ - we joined a rather busy A road with more hills, most of which we rode, and were even applauded by some French tourists, but we just before Strathcarron we encountered a big hill (14% gradient) where we had to push – the locals refer to this hill as the ‘Mammon’. The railway line runs at a lower level beside the loch; they should have put a cycle track beside it.  As we coasted down the Mammon, the sun came out weakly but Strathcarron was shrouded in cloud; we saw the yellow-green-blue part of a strange horizontal rainbow at ground level.

Strathcarron is set back, above the top of Loch Carron. The town sign shows a train and the Post Office is in the station. The railway must have been important in this little place. It is still a stop on the minor line that links Kyle of Localsh to Inverness.

Strathcarron Hotel

The hotel is beside the station on the little line that runs from Kyle of Lochalsh to Inverness. We stayed in the annexe - a house across the road. We had a meal in the hotel and the sat in the comfortable chairs reading the paper.