Bruce and Elly do the Misty Isle

Bruce's diary says 'I woke up at 6am, feeling inarticulately upset and undervalued. I finished some outstanding tasks and emailed them to their due recipients. By now Elly was surfacing. We finished packing: I had too many items - this was soon to be proved at Glasgow. However, my mood was exacerbated by not being able to find my keys.'

We set off not too long after 9: our first port of call was back to our former flat to pick up a parcel for Elly's mum which had been delivered there by mistake. There was a moment's panic when I couldn't see the parcel in the main hall but it had been left upstairs, just outside the flat.

Then on to Taggart's Jaguar garage in north central Glasgow. On the way, both of us fancied we could hear the engine sounding slightly wrong, possibly an impression created by the 'engine fault' light being on. At the garage, we started to unload our luggage - I then realised I'd left my boots in Edinburgh while looking for my keys. So I feared my only footwear on Skye would be my trainers. Then a brief discussion with a taxi driver who was convinced there was no car-hire shop on the street Elly directed him to. Fortunately, Elly was right and we were soon kitted up with a Vauxhall Astra.

Next on to Crieff so Elly could reclaim something she'd left at the Crieff Hydro hotel a week or so ago and then we were finally on the way. We beetled along the A85, aiming for Tyndrum, petrol and the Green Welly diner. Petrol and snacks were achieved at Lix Toll garage (at the junction of the A85 and the A827) - good preparation for the Green Welly diner at Tyndrum.

Bruce's poor impression of GW began with their attempt to create an Earl Grey tea by squirting hot water into a mug, then directing him to grab a a teabag when the queue allowed this. It was exacerbated by his veggie burger's bun being noticeably smaller than the burger, their no-chips policy (though he acknowledges that some might say this is a good thing) and their filter coffee smelling to him far less than pleasant.

Thus laden, we carried on along the A85 via Bridge of Orchy (where were the killer whales?) then onto the A82 and up and up into Glencoe, across a spectacular bridge into North Ballachulish, along the east bank of Loch Linnhe into Fort William and on to Spean Bridge.

Our fairly standard route took us further along the A82, crossing the Caledonian Canal via Laggan's swing bridge, turning west at Invergarry onto the A87 and heading on to Eilean Donan for a brief photo-stop and leg stretch. Then on again: Kyle of Lochalsh; Skye bridge; Broadford (and its Co-op) across Skye on narrower and narrower roads, finally arriving in Feriniquarrie about 8:30.

We received very friendly greetings from Scotty & Ocean, owners of the Six Willows. He's from Ayrshire and she's from Sussex but 20 years ago 'on a whim' they moved here. The rooms are painted in styles Bruce finds welcoming and comfortable. Despite an email asking to book an evening meal not having arrived, Ocean bustled into her kitchen and produced a lovely leek and pototo soup, followed by huge portions of bean casserole with lemon rice, while being entertained by Tigh, Scotty & Ocean's 3-year-old grandson. Feeling utterly replete, we crashed out in our blue room. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ