Having left Orkney (note still no reference to the Orkney’s) a day late we finally made it back to the mainland. Firstly it was raining, secondly we had to rejoin part of the NC500 and thirdly we had already curtailed some plans as we had a dinner date booked in Ullapool for 7.00. This was not making for a good return!

Emma drove so obligatory nap ensued! To be fair you’d think I’d maybe caught up on my sleep a bit by now. Maybe it’s just the ultimate sign of relaxation! I was only really woken from my slumber by Emma pointing out various things which I couldn’t really see with my eyes closed! Anyway we left it that Emma would continue to drive. On a single track (and hilly which will become very relevant to this story) road we came around a corner to be met by a traffic jam. Well I say traffic jam, that’s the equivalent of two cars here. They were waiting for some roof purlins to be unloaded from a lorry. Having gone to press the brake there was initially no stopping of the van!! Needless to say the pedal corrected and did stop us in time. This was followed by a huge amount of grating noises ( which continued and got progressively worse) and a corresponding anxiety on our part.

At that point Ullapool was maybe 30 miles away and suspected pad replacement resulted in a couple of phone calls to the two main garages in Ullapool while we continued our journey in a gingerly fashion. Said telephone calls offered no hope apart from either being told to a) call road side assistance or b) get on the ferry and go to Stornaway and get it fixed there. As the nice man in Stornaway said, how was this even conceivable and that we could waiting days for parts. The problem with camper van mechanical failure means no van no home! Thankfully we arrived in Ullapool including roads going up (which was obviously fine) but as we all know what goes up must come down!! Which obviously wasn’t fine. There is, it turns out, also an inverse relationship between decreasing altitude and increasing anxiety during brake failure. At least on my part but very well managed by Emma.

Lots of discussion ensued about options including whether we could get the relay to Inverness and get fixed up but the weekend was fast approaching and we decided that it might be days before we could get going again. Hence we went for the meal – which was very nice, including a toast to Toby as it was his 19th birthday and we’d selfishly left him to it! The outcome of the discussion was to try and make sense of it all the morning!

Then as we were walking to the restaurant Emma spotted this.

Which, as it turns out was an absolute gift. Having messaged Chris he actually rang back within about 5 minutes and said he could see us in the morning and see if he could do anything. After some time grumbling about tourists and how rude they are and how he always turns them away he turned out to be one of the nicest and most decent people around. Something after all made him answer my message!

Chris quickly inspected

And got to work examining the damage.. Also just to say at this point there is a direct relationship between anxiety and nuts and bolts being removed to the proximity of a drain..

It didn’t look good. As suspected new discs and pads needed. We spent a few hours looking round the shops (to be fair that doesn’t take long in Ullapool) we did however purchase a new van mascot to accompany Bertie Bee (Up The Clarets) who we have named Hamish the Highland coo..

We drank numerous coffees and spoke to a nice lady at the Calmac office who said we could join the standby queue for tonight’s ferry to Stornaway.

Having received a message from saviour Chris at 2.00 to say the job was done we got reloaded and headed for the harbour. Fingers and toes crossed that we might get a spot on the boat. It turns out that there is also a direct relationship between finger and toe crossing and favourable outcomes as well as favourable outcomes and levels of elation.

Needless to say that’s us in the boat.. with some (other) stunning views to boot.

Another family tradition followed with a CalMac tea and as u write this we are well on our way to Stornaway and hopefully no further challenges!

Not exactly as planned but Chris saved the day and hopefully we changed his views a bit. He actually sent a message to say how much he enjoyed meeting us and that next time we are in the area we need to meet for a coffee. He certainly changed our view and just restored a bit of trust in the human race. Whatever you believe, something led to him answering that message which he could have ignored but he sure did save the day. Now onwards to the next chapter.. update coming soon.