Day 72: Achriesgill - Lochinver

Finally, we're leaving at a time that doesn't make us ashamed! With the sun shining (for once without charging admission), we drove about thirty-five kilometers on roads that meander more than my tail when there's cooked chicken. We stopped a couple of times to take photos because Daddy Edu gets very excited about any scenic curve, striking bridge or rock that looks like something.

And speaking of bridges: we crossed the Kylesku Bridge, a very elegant bridge, all stylized, as if it had been told it was going to be on the cover of Bridges of the Year. It's one of those that doesn't need to show off, because with that curved shape and its light grey color it looks like it's floating between hills and fjords. From the car park, boat trips are offered to see the highest waterfall in the United Kingdom. It has an easy name: Eas a’ Chual Aluinn. Just like that, without anesthesia. "Dogs most welcome," said the signs… but at twenty-five pounds per snout, let's see if they let me at the helm or what. No, thanks. We'll get closer on foot.

We went south to find a place to eat something. We found a large parking lot, without shade (thanks, Scotland), and lunch fell there. Then we did a ninja maneuver and went back a mile north to start the great adventure: the walk to the highest waterfall in the United Kingdom. I say "great" because... my goodness. If this is a trail, I'm a German shepherd.

The walk was about eleven kilometers round trip, climbing almost six hundred meters of elevation gain in total. The mud greeted us from the first meter. The path, in addition to many stones, has humidity traps. Luckily there were no sheep, so I didn't have to put on the face of "I'm not a sheepdog, I just look the part." The risk of slipping was moderate, except at the end, where the real festival begins: wet, inclined grass, treacherous wind and a cliff that invites gravity to do its thing.

And the waterfall? Well... yes, it's the highest in the country, with almost two hundred meters of drop. But that doesn't mean it's spectacular. From above you can barely see the complete jump. You only see how a stream disappears over the edge as if it had made a GPS error. Daddy Edu was wearing swim trunks and a towel, ready for a "Wild Shower" moment, but nothing of that. The pool was down there, hidden and out of reach. Frustration level: I hide the rubber duck out of spite.

After the descent back, sweaty and half disillusioned, Daddy Edu decided that there was still one last prize of the day: a dip in Loch na Gainmhich, near the car park where we had left the car. I just watched with a critical expression from the shore. He took off his clothes (don't worry, there were no witnesses) and jumped into the water as if it were a shampoo commercial. What didn't come out in the commercial were the midges. They came out in a swarm. In a swarm. In a squadron. They surrounded us both as if we were a buffet.

Edu sprayed us with the anti-midge lotion, which smells like cheap slut and as always works so-so. They don't bite, but they stay on your head like an organic hat. I never saw him dress so fast. He looked like he was playing an Olympic final of "put on your pants before they bite you on the butt."

Then it was a scenic route through the Assynt peninsula where the villages of Nedd, Drumbeg and Stoer are located. This part of the NC-500 is one that is done at a snail's pace, with single-lane roads and "passing places" every so often. And what's that? Well, they are pull-offs where you move to the side to let those coming from the front pass. Like a Western duel, but in a Scottish version and with more sheep than gunslingers.

We looked for a place to sleep, but it was impossible. All the beautiful corners were infested with midges. We saw one with a good look, but with a slope that looked like a ski slope. We didn't want to wake up with the car in the lake.

In the end we ended up in the town of Lochinver, in an unpretentious parking lot, right in the port. Nothing official, but we stayed there with a couple more motorhomes. There is no wild landscape, but it has its charm to sleep with views of the estuary and the smell of fish. Today was a long day, one of those that leave tired legs and mixed memories. But hey, you don't see the highest waterfall in the United Kingdom every day... even if it's only from above and with mud up to your ears.