Reef Chapter 18 - Scoraig

Up and about for a walk the next day, the walkers gathered in the bar for breakfast where they had asked to eat their porridge because Reef wasn't allowed in the dining room during mealtimes.

Dougie had joined them as it was his day off and he loved to go walking. 'Plan's changed,' Michael, the older of the two told Jeannie and Reef, sipping a cup of tea. 'Peter here's heard about a wee place called Scoraig over the way,' he pointed out the window and over the loch to the headland on the far side.

'Oh aye', said Jeannie,' that's a beautiful wee place. We have some Scoraig musicians here for the Loopallu next week.' The Loopallu was a festival of music that everyone in the Highlands tried to get to at least once in their lifetime. 'You'll need your car, mind. It's a place that's awfy near, yet awfy far at the same time.' And she was right.

Reef got to ride along in Peter's battered old Landrover as they set off in completely the opposite direction to where they were going. The shores of the West coast go in and out like spaghetti that's been dropped on the floor and to get to the headland opposite Ullapool they had to drive South for quite a few miles till they got to the inland end of Loch Broom before crossing a river and heading back up on the far side. This was exciting for Reef because she had not been to Scoraig before and hoped there would be some lunch when they got there, it being so far away. Bob had tasked her with leading the three men home to dinner at the end of the day which meant that she was in charge and adventure must be had before then!

The first thing she noticed were the goats, looking down from the steep slopes above, skipping over the treacherous rocks with ease. Although they looked and sounded a bit like sheep, they seemed to Reef like she was in comparison to other dogs: slightly wiser, slightly more adventurous.

'That, there, is Little Loch Broom,' said Dougie, pointing to the body of water on their left. Reef could see why, the loch was narrow like the real Loch Broom but far shorter, she fancied she could see both ends.

They clambered along the rocky path, navigated some big gates through fences built to keep the deer out of farm land, chased a lonely hare underneath a cliff (well, Reef did) and stopped to take in the views a number of times. What a splendid walk, all agreed. And at the end, Scoraig. A tiny wee place that was hardly even a village. But it had a school and an odd little inland lighthouse and a few wee houses dotted about with windmills providing power and, best of all, it was lunchtime and the children all came over to chat and play with Reef and show the walkers the kites they'd been making for the afternoon's fun.

By the time they turned to head for home, Reef had made many new friends and those that were coming to the Loopallu promised to say hi when they came and Dougie had booked some Scoraig fiddlers in for a friend's birthday that was coming up, all in all a successful day.

As she led the tired party back up the shore towards where they'd left the car and headed for home, Reef nudged against Dougie's leg and looked up at him. 'Aye, that's right,' said Dougie. 'They'll have dinner ready for us when we arrive.'