{"id":854588,"date":"2026-03-27T20:39:23","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T20:39:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/854588\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T20:39:23","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T20:39:23","slug":"i-left-bristol-in-the-morning-and-found-myself-in-the-wilds-of-scotland-by-lunchtime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/854588\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I left Bristol in the morning and found myself in the wilds of Scotland by lunchtime’"},"content":{"rendered":"

“It’s just over an hour away if you plan your journey right”This article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn more<\/a>\"Boats<\/p>\n

Boats tied up on Martin’s trip to the Highlands(Image: Western Morning News)<\/p>\n

The excitement of travelling abroad while staying in one\u2019s own country might sound like a misnomer, but it is possible, as I found out last week.<\/p>\n

We took a one-hour, 10-minute flight to Inverness from Bristol so that we could stay in a newly revamped hotel and explore the UK\u2019s most northerly region, and I can report that there were times when I felt we\u2019d travelled further afield than plenty of destinations I could name where you\u2019d need a passport.<\/p>\n

Yes, before you say it, I know Scotland is a country in its own right \u2013 indeed, I dedicated my newspaper column last weekend to supporting the idea of Scottish independence.<\/p>\n

But it was the ease of getting there that really impressed me from the get-go. Just leave your car with Holiday Extras Meet and Greet at Bristol Airport,<\/a> shuffle through security and just over an hour later, step out into what really does feel like another country.<\/p>\n

I like to travel by train whenever possible, but the last time I went this far north by rail it took over 10 hours and cost far more. We paid \u00a319 each one way on EasyJet and the moment we stepped out of the plane at Inverness Airport there was a sense that we had somehow arrived in a different world.<\/p>\n

The UK had a real taste of spring last week, and we used every last ray of the warm sunshine to see what really is one of the most beautiful countries in the world.<\/p>\n

We were invited north of the border by a small local hotel chain. Black Sheep Hotels <\/a>owns a handful of excellent establishments up in that part of the world and we began our stay at the newly revamped Ambassador, located in the heart of Inverness.<\/p>\n

The town has seen a lot of change in recent times, but few things are as impressive as the transformation of the old Strathness House on Ardross Terrace, right next to the cathedral on the famous River Ness. Now rebranded as the Ambassador Hotel,<\/a> its refurbishment has been a great deal more than a lick of paint. The group, owned by the siblings Sanjay and Rachna Narang, has poured \u00a36 million into the site, turning two 19th-century Victorian townhouses into a boutique sanctuary.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The River Ness, Inverness(Image: Western Morning News)<\/p>\n

The rooms are \u201cnewly appointed\u201d in the truest sense \u2013 think 19th-century travel themes meeting modern rainfall showers and beds so comfortable they threaten to derail your itinerary.<\/p>\n

Fresh and thoughtfully done, with that pleasing sense that someone has actually considered what a guest might actually want. After a day on the road (and there would be many, many miles of road ahead for my wife and I) it felt like somewhere you could properly switch off.<\/p>\n

Another masterstroke is the food. The hotel\u2019s restaurant<\/a>, Talk of the Town, has what could be called a \u201cScottish-Indian fusion\u201d menu that is extremely enjoyable. Under executive chef Sinclair Pinto, who has Michelin-star DNA, the cuisine manages to pair the Highland harvest with authentic Bombay spice.<\/p>\n

I realise the weather doesn\u2019t always play ball up in Scotland, but the sun was out, so off we went to do some sightseeing. Which is an understatement, because we really did go for it. On one day alone, I drove our hire car some 300 miles. And why not? I repeat: Scotland is one of the most beautiful countries in the world \u2013 so if the weather is good it seems reasonable to see as much as you can.<\/p>\n

The route north from Inverness becomes wilder and more remote every mile you go. You pass through places whose names sound like fragments of an older language \u2013 Bonar Bridge, Lairg, Helmsdale \u2013 each one a tiny punctuation mark in a vast landscape that grows steadily wilder.<\/p>\n

At Bonar Bridge, the Kyle of Sutherland river narrows and glints beneath the road. Here the water is tidal and shifting \u2013 the surrounding hills soft and ancient. The place somehow feels like border country. You\u2019ve left the main road behind and you are on a threshold. Beyond, the Highlands stretch north and west in earnest. Directly north you reach the village of Lairg, which somehow feels even more like a frontier.<\/p>\n

For many people the drive so far may have been enough. You\u2019ll certainly have seen some impressive countryside. But driving in the far north is not like motoring anywhere else in Britain. The roads are quieter. You can travel for miles without seeing another car, and the road surfaces \u2013 something we all grumble about down south \u2013 are far superior. Probably because of that lack of traffic.<\/p>\n

The driver can enjoy long, sweeping stretches of road. Driving like it used to be, is how I\u2019d put it. You also come across lengthy sections of single track road \u2013 the one north of Lairg to Tongue is over 45 miles long, which would be a nightmare in the West Country. But up here it\u2019s fine \u2013 at this time of year, at least. We came down it after doing a huge loop up around Thurso, and we only passed one other vehicle on that entire section of single road.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The wilderness of the Highlands(Image: Western Morning News)<\/p>\n

Which is just as well because the landscape demands the driver\u2019s attention. Wide moorlands roll away to distant hills. Lochs appear unexpectedly, catching the sky in their still surfaces. The light changes constantly \u2013 a patchwork of sun and shadow drifts across peat-bog, mountain, loch and lochan. Scotland has more than 30,000 fresh water lochs. It is the kind of scenery that makes you pull over, again and again, simply to look or take a thousand photos, which of course I did and you can see on my website www.martinhespfoodandtravel.com<\/p>\n

Once we\u2019d reached Lairg, we headed towards the coast and the village of Helmsdale which, you could say, is where the Highlands meet the North Sea. It\u2019s an attractive and historic place \u2013 a village born from the hardships of the Highland Clearances \u2013 of which we were to see plenty of evidence. Next comes \u201cthe big empty\u201d. The drive from Helmsdale up to Thurso takes you across what\u2019s known as the Flow Country \u2013 an area of deep peat, dotted with bog pools, that forms the heart of the Caithness and Sutherland peatlands. I\u2019ll be honest: I did not know anything like this vast and empty landscape existed in the UK. Nor did I know that there would be so many ruined old crofts still in evidence. Even a visiting martian could see there was a time when the human population of this wild place was removed for some reason or other.<\/p>\n

No, we did not go to John O\u2019Groats. I\u2019ve been to famous \u201cmost westerly, southerly, easterly\u201d places before and those tourist magnets do not appeal. Anyway, nearby Dunnet Head, which you can see, from Thurso, happens to be the real \u201cmost northerly\u201d spot in the UK.<\/p>\n

The ancient town of Thurso does hit the right boxes. Partly because it\u2019s a fine and unpretentious little town \u2013 and also because it was lunchtime, so we enjoyed excellent fish and chips on Britain\u2019s most northerly seafront, looking across the Pentland Firth to the Orkneys.<\/p>\n

From Thurso, the road bends west, and the landscape shifts again. This is perhaps the most remarkable stretch of all \u2013 a place where mountains rise more abruptly, where the land feels older and more elemental. I\u2019d never really thought about the \u201cCosta Del North\u201d before, but the roof of mainland Britain is one of the most remarkable coastlines I have ever travelled along. The small road weaves its way through lonely, empty, hills \u2013 passing through isolated communities such as Dounrey, Melvich, Armadake and Bettyhill \u2013 before depositing you beside the truly magnificent sea-lock at Tongue. Wow! I loved it. I loved every mile of it.<\/p>\n

\"Wild<\/p>\n

Wild beaches of the north coast(Image: Western Morning News)<\/p>\n

I wanted to continue, which is possible because that valiant little highway will take you on to Durness and eventually down the West Coast past Cape Wrath. I dearly hope I shall return to do that some other time. Because the Scottish gloaming was beginning and dark clouds marshalling their forces out west looked like they might contain more than rain.<\/p>\n

You wouldn\u2019t want to be out here if snow started falling, so we took that tiny road from Tongue all the way down to Lairg \u2013 and I mention it once again because driving down it is like travelling through a dreamscape. The emptiness of the landscape somehow enters your soul.<\/p>\n

To leave Bristol in the morning and, by lunchtime, be driving through such places is a rare and wonderful thing. It reminds you that Britain still has its wild corners. Its quiet zones. Its edges. These places are not so far away at all \u2013 and you can stay in extremely comfortable and reasonably priced places like the Ambassador Hotel.<\/a><\/p>\n

Martin uses Holiday Extras.<\/a> Booking airport parking means you can enjoy more holiday with less hassle<\/a>. Plus with Flextras, if you need to cancel or amend you can without charge. Five days\u2019 Meet and Greet parking at Bristol Airport is available for \u00a3138 based on arrival on April 16. You can compare airport parking on Bristol Airport’s website here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"“It’s just over an hour away if you plan your journey right”This article contains affiliate links, we will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":854589,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8818],"tags":[381,21283,61809,748,1011,393,4884,183,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-854588","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bristol","8":"tag-bristol","9":"tag-bristol-airport","10":"tag-bristol-international-airport","11":"tag-britain","12":"tag-easyjet","13":"tag-england","14":"tag-great-britain","15":"tag-travel","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116303073819220230","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=854588"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854588\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/854589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=854588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=854588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=854588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}