For our third visit to Scotland in four years, my wife and I went along the north coast from east to west and then meandered down the west. We loitered at Ullapool and Loch Lomond and had one night visits in several more places. The spring weather was changeable as the photos show. There were a few showers here and there but far more sun and shirtsleeves than you might guess.

The north coast is an amazing place. John O' Groats is not your typical Scotland village. It is rather a simple collection of buildings, including an old hotel right on the coast. This is where you catch the ferry to the Orkneys and Shetland Islands. The changing terrain as you leave John O' Groats and head west is a treat. The villages of Thurso and Tounge are special and tiny Bettyhill boasts a museum about the Highland Clearances and a great sheltered harbor with broad white sand beach.

As you approach the west, you climb. The road veers from running along the coast, up into the highlands, back to the coast and then back into the highlands. It is a great drive. As the road turns south towards Ullapool, the highlands become even more spectacular. In these mountains we encountered some beavy rain. As soon as we wound down to sea level again, the weather improved. We walked around in shirtsleeves in Ullapool. This is where you can catch a ferry to Scotland's other islands: Lewis and Harris on the big ship or a tiny tug to the tiny Summer Isles, which are essentially nature preserves.

Loch Lomond is a mystical place. Part of Scotland's first national park, the Loch is near the Trossachs and Glencoe. The moods of this place change by the hour. It was also fun to watch Ben Lomond, across the loch from where we stayed. The peak was obscured by the weather and then unobscured over and over again. It reminded me of what the keeper of a B&B we stayed at on our first trip told me about how the weather always seems closer in Scotland.