Assynt

Over the Jubilee weekend we decided to head to the far north of Scotland and a part of the country we've driven through before but never spent any time in. We set off early on the Friday around 3pm hoping to miss the rush hour traffic and get to our campsite in Clachtoll by about 9pm. Before we'd even reached Stirling however our plans were thrown into disarray when we discovered that there had been a major accident on a key section of the A9 where there is no easy diversion. The recommended alternative route was to head to the other side of the country to the A82 and to follow it to Inverness, however we opted instead to head to Ballater and then over the Tomintoul road.

This proved to be a fairly good choice and is a far more interesting drive than the A82. Even with a long stop in Perth whilst trying to get information about the road closure we reached the campsite just at around 11:30pm.

Clachtoll is a small village accessed via a single track road in the ancient parish of Assynt and lies within the county of Sutherland in the Highlands of Scotland. The main feature in the settlement is the Clachtoll Campsite which is where we were staying. The site itself has everything you might need (except a shop) but still has the charm of the campsites from when I was a child. Located a stones throw from the most beautiful white sandy beach this is a magical place where we will most definitely be returning in the future. Clachtoll takes it's name from the Gaelic and refers to the very large broken ("toll") rock ("clach") on the headland nearby.

This was the first outing for our new GPS handheld although we also had our trusty mobile phones with us brimming with maps and GPX downloads. In total we found 15 caches, and although you may think this wasn't a lot, we did have the kids with us and they certainly make you work for caches up there (your typical roadside cache can have a 15minute walk involved!).

The full list of caches we found were as follows (we had no DNFs!);

Port Alltan Na Bradhan - hidden on a secret beach known only to a few locals.

The Hermits Castle - near a strange concrete shelter perched precariously on the cliffs at Achmelvich. The "castle" was built by a young English architect by the name of David Scott who fled to the wilds of Assynt to escape family pressures and expectations in the 1950s.

Picture Frame Cache - View Point Cache - The Lifeboat View Cache - all located within the Culag Woods. Within the woods are a series of lovely pathways all created and maintained by the Culag Community Woodland Trust. The woods have been leased by the trust since 1992 and are a wonderful place to visit. www.culagwoods.org.uk

Northwest Lookout - North of Clachtoll lies the Point of Stoer near to which the legendary Old Man of Stoer sea stack can be found. Slightly further south from this is the Stoer Head Lighthouse. The lighthouse was built in 1870 and was designed by the Stevenson brothers. It was manned until 1978 but since then has been automated

The Scotting's Scottish Cache - This is located on the headland of "Rubh'an Dunain" to the north of Culkein. Despite the rugged coast line here and the exposed position of the cache this was actually an easy walk in what can only be described as a stunning location and is somewhere I will remember visiting for many years to come.

Iains Cache - Located to the North of Baddidarach near the top of Cnoc Dabhaich overlooking Lochinver. This cache was accessed via a lovely gently climbing path which the kids loved an once at the top the views were breath taking in all directions.

Sands of Time - Not sure what the main attraction was here as we tackled it as a cache and dash.

Giving Up Wood Be Too Easy - Highland Honeymoon - These were located on an easy to miss woodland walk along the River Inver to the North East of Lochinver. The second cache was our very first genuine Ammo Box container. Not sure who was more excited, me or the kids! Unfortunately there wasn't much of interest within the box to swap but it was nice to finally come face to face with one. I think we might look into set up our own ammo box cache nearer to home.

Ardvreck Castle - Upon reaching the car park for the castle we set off down the path towards the ruin. We were half way there before I fired up the GPS and noticed we were heading in the wrong direction. A double check on one of our mobile phones confirmed our mistake and so we about turned and headed back along to shore. Once we were going the right way the find was simple and there was a great view of the castle from the GZ.

Great Geologists - located at a modest monument to two men who made a monumental contribution to Geology, Ben Peach and John Horne. The inscription reads: "To Ben N Peach and John Horne who played the foremost part in unravelling the geological structure of the North West Highlands 1883-1897. An international tribute. Erected 1980."

Jubilee - This cache is to be found in a small park on the shore of Ullapool. The park is officially called Am Pollan Park but aparently it is more commonly known as Jubilee Park by locals. This was quite fitting as it was on the Queens Jubilee bank holiday when we visited it. The park was created in 1970 by the pupils of Ullapool Secondary School

The Chief Bean - this cache is located on a small path which leads up Ullapool hill from the back of the Royal Hotel car park. We have no idea who or what the Chief Bean is or was but there was a nice view from the GZ.

Finally, we also visited the Earthcache Assynt and Beyond which we have sent the answers for approval.

We spent four days in Assynt, and loved every minute. This is such a beautiful part of the country which not many people know much about, including us, but we had a great time finding out!