Summer Isles

The next morning we woke up early and drove two hours north to Ullapool. Mike and Asanuo and their kids stayed home and enjoyed another low-key day at the cottage while we did another long day trip.

After picking up some much-needed coffee and uninspired egg sandwiches, we took a three-hour boat cruise through the Summer Isles, a remote archipelago off the northwestern coast.

A seal colony.

Cathedral Cove. The captain drove us right inside the cave.

The captain let us off on Tanera Mor, the only inhabited island in the Summer Isles. There seems to be just one main building there, a rustic barn-like structure that serves as both post office and tea shop. The lady inside was ready for us. Apparently her only customers are the twice-daily small boat cruises. There were only 12 of us on the boat but we demolished all the baked goods she had on offer and picked out postcards to mail to friends. Judging by the accents, it seemed like most of our fellow travelers were retired English people, decked out in black "waterproofs" and hiking boots and apparently off on "walking holidays."
We loved the homemade scones, brownies, and something called a flapjack. It's not a pancake, but a dense, chewy oatmeal bar. Mmm. Perfect with pot after pot of hot tea. The tea was just what I needed for my aching lungs and persistent cough. I got sick soon after we arrived in Edinburgh. It felt like a bad cold, then flu with lots of coughing. I powered through, determined not to let it stop me from enjoying our special trip. I would find out later that I actually had pneumonia--and writing this a month later, I still do. All I can say is that after a windy, cold, beautiful ride in an open boat, that bland but scalding tea tasted like the sweetest nectar.