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We've been to pick up Boreray sheep from Clachtoll  before, in 2014  and also in 2013 .

And we were going again .  But this time  a couple  of differences.  Instead of doing it in a day , which is a tight turn-round time before heading back , and then arriving in the dark and  trying to sort out the sheep in the gathering gloom, we thought we would take 2 days to do it , with an overnight stop.

We have 2 ferry crossings to choose from. Stromness to Scrabster ,operated by Serco Northlink,  and  Banks' Boat between  Gills Bay and St Margarets Hope. This is  the MV Pentalina, operated by Pentland Ferries and  better known as Banks's  Boat because the whole operation was set up by Andrew Banks OBE.  Serco Northlink receive subsidy from Scottish Government but Banks's Boat doesn't.  Some details are here .  And after  the peak tourist season, from September onwards Northlink can only run a morning and evening ferry. The Pentalina  runs 3 times a day . So as this trip wasn't a dash down and back , it was Banks's  boat.  And  there were a lot of cars on it.

The car and trailer is 7.2m in length. For this trip a  bit of challenging reversing with the trailer,  onto the boat. And then down the gap left by the containers.

And after that , on to the overnight stop  in Brora, the Royal Marine Hotel. A nice hotel with exceptionally good food

And then on to Clachtoll.  The  problem this time is the NorthCoast500. The route is the B869 - the winding Clachtoll single track road. And the tourists seemed to be doing it in an anti-clockwise direction .  And some of them had no idea about driving on single track roads. Its not possible to squeeze 2 cars side-by-side, let alone is one of them has a trailer. So I ended up reversing car and trailer up a winding road to let a Mercedes  driver who seemed totally incapable of anything other than progressing on his tour in an anti-clockwise direction.

And sheep duly picked up

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A bit easier on the return trip - just drive on ( and round and off at the other end)

The Scrabster -Stromness ferry goes past the Old man of Hoy , on the west coast of the Island of Hoy.  Banks's boat goes past the islands of Switha, with its herd of feral cattle  and Stroma and its abandoned houses.

Stroma

And as we were back in daylight , moving the sheep from the trailer was a bit easier .

Although the sheep weren't keen on cooperating

Once is the shed, they will be quarantined for 48 hours then can explore their new home .

More sheep

So we've been back to Clachtoll for a few more sheep . We went last in September last year . And a few more details here .A couple of months later so its darker later in the morning.

Instead of watching the sunrise whilst waiting for the Stromness to Scrabster at 5.45 am for the  ferry  we were in the dark .

But after the ferry crossing and the drive  we arrived at Clachtoll, in bright sunshine , but a bit windy - after all this is Scotland in November

The sheep we were taking had already been separated.
 

 and caught and then transferred to our  trailer

 An uneventful drive back - Berriedale Braes remains fairyl challenging with a trailer. Heres the tip of Hoy as we came past . it was raining a bit - but then this is Scotland in November

The Boreray Boys

Going to Clachtoll anad back in a day meant an early start. So we got to watch the sunrise at 5.45 am whilst waiting for the ferry from Stromness to Scrabster.

Once in 'the South' , we had to get to the West Coast of Sutherland.

 Google maps suggested  one way, via the A9 and Golspie. The satnav suggested  going a different route










As we had the trailer we thought the A9 would be a better bet , so off we headed towards Halkirk.

Down on the A9 to  Golspie,  no problems  , then turned right on the A839 to Lairg.   I must say , its **very** scenic countryside to drive through . The whole A839/A836 has scenery as good as anything we've driven through in the Dordogne when we have been there on holiday.

At Lairg, we followed the A 839 to Lochinver.
The directions we had been given mentioned that  stretches of the road were Dual Carriageway, so brilliant , thought I , easy to drive along with the trailer . it became clear ,after a few miles that  the dual carriageway isnt quite what I was expecting

DUAL CARRIAGEWAY

NOT DUAL CARRIAGEWAY

The road carries on around passed Inchnadamph and Loch Assynt . We were just passing through but some photos   ( not by me !) of a very scenic area are  here.

Just West  of Lochinver , there is the B869 heading North. Now that certainly isnt Dual Carriageway .

One more  minor obstruction before arriving at our destination.

The return journey , the reverse route was  just as scenic (and a little slower)  as we now had a   load in the trailer .


Mrs Woolsack has a few  more pictures .