Day 5 - rest day (Ullapool)
My two main priorities for Ullapool were warmth and food. We’d treated ourself to a bit of luxury at the Royal Hotel, an nice 3* place on the edge of town. On arrival and after warm showers, both Bob and I had quite a weird reaction to the centrally heated room, breaking into shivering fits. Just goes to show how quickly your body adapts to being outside in cold conditions.
Although the last couple of nights had been warmer due to cloud cover, I knew the forecast was for more cold weather to come in. That meant no rain which was good, but right from the first night I had been struggling to keep warm enough. With darkness settling around 3pm, it leaves a long time to keep warm before the earliest time you can justify diving into your sleeping bag.
I was also struggling badly with my food. During the Saunders Lakeland Marathon that summer I’d been taken ill after eating an Expedition Foods ration. Although in retrospect it was probably some dodgy water, I’d changed to Be Well expedition rations, but hadn’t fully tested the range (perhaps due to my hero worship of Sir Ran Fiennes who endorses them!). Unfortunately they were proving to be barely edible so Ullapool was a chance to replace them with some better food.
Ullapool is a great stopping point with everything you need. We washed our base layers and pants at the laundry, stocked up at Tesco and browsed the excellent bookshop. At the outdoor shop, I got a good deal on a North Face insulated jacket that looked like it would tip the balance in the fight for warmth in my favour. I also replaced my light but disgusting freeze dried rations with the heavier but tastier Wayfarers.
After a great dinner at the Seaforth (an Ullapool institution) it was another early night. I was checking MWIS on my iPhone and the weather forecast for the next few days indicated heavy snow was coming in, scheduled to arrive on the day we entered the roughest, remotest part of the trail. I slept soundly, but the snow forecast was playing on my mind.
