Ullapool’s alternative Christmas tree & a trip to Corrieshalloch Gorge.

Yesterday we drove to the lovely harbour village of Ullapool just 50mins from the b&b for a little festive shopping trip

For the first time in Ullapool’s history they village had a Christmas Lights Switch on, unfortunately we didn’t make it to the switch on but we had a wander along West Shore Street to see the fantastic Creel Tree, made almost entirely of creels.

Unfortunately we couldn’t stay to see it lit up but at 16ft tall it was pretty impressive.

The photo below is on the BBC news site.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-38180998

After meandering around we made our way home & we stopped at Corrieshalloch Gorge national nature reserve just 30mins from the b&b. Corrieshalloch in Gaelic means ‘Ugly Hollow’, it’s far from ugly, it’s very dramatic with the 45m high falls of Measach directly below the bridge & there is plenty of flora & fauna to see. We spent over an hour with the gorge to ourselves. Admittedly we didn’t spend a lot of time on the shaky suspension bridge due to a certain someones fear of heights but we spent plenty of time wandering the paths, admiring the views & watching the wildlife. The gorge is part of the National Trust & at anytime of year is well worth a visit.

The viewing platform has great views up toward the bridge, if you can spend long enough teetering at the end to take a photo!

There were lots of birds flitting in & out of the deciduous trees so after a bit of patience huddled in the heather a Tree Creeper flew into a pine tree right next to us, he or she was busy at work searching for insects & bugs & didn’t stay long. It was also good to see Bull Finches, they were very skittish, everywhere we went to try & watch them, they flew in the opposite direction, boo!