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70 CARAVAN DAYSAgain she comes in view half-way up the GreatGlen, and this time reaches the very foot of theslope at Dingwall. And now she has crept up tothe top for the last time, on her way to Scourie.When she returns from this excursion she willhead finally for the North.We had no hope or intention of getting roundthe top left-hand corner of Scotland, for theroads as you draw near Cape Wrath are altogetherbarbarous. If we could but reach the coast wewere quite ready to retrace our steps for thirtyor forty miles. On the firstday the road wasremarkably level, though it had no other virtue.It was very narrow and the surface was alltornto pieces, soft and gravelly and covered with loosestones. We found itweary work, for many daysto come, bumping along with little relief from thecontinual jarring and churning of the wheels.The country also that surrounds the chain oflochs, by which the road passes, is bleak andunkind and monotonously bare. Loch Shinsprawls half-way across the county without doinganything to improve the situation. Every mileof itisremarkably like the mile that went beforeand still more like the mile that follows.On the second day, after toiling far over thecrumbling track, we found most fortunate