Greenvoe Wick

Off to the next hostel, Sandra's in Thurso where I got a private room as there were no dorms left. At last a good nights sleep! Sandra's hostel was fairly small but I still managed to bump into a group of about 12 guys who stayed at Casrbisdale Castle the night ...

Started off at the castle this morning and went to see the leaping salmon at Shin Fall. There were not many salmon around but after hanging around for nearly two hours I managed to get a couple of
pictures of them leaping, boy are they quick! I popped into the coffee shop for a look around the gift shop selling Harrods goods???

Back into the car and off to John O'Groats via Wick. I drove up following the A9 and ...

... by the complete bridge and bend that was left behind, marooned behind the new road. I'm confused though as I enter the last few miles to Helmsdale as the road was "improved" last year and now bares no resemblance to the map. A cycle lane/footpath has been created (where was that on the dangerous bit?!) but it suddenly stops a few 100 metres on and leads into a road that looks to go miles out of the way. Further ...

It rains on and off all night and I awake to a sodden tent and a damp sleeping bag where I must have rolled into the side. Great! Luckily the rain clears and the skies brighten, enabling me to dry my tent off on the outside of my pack.

Today's trek down the A99 is painfully slow. The landscape is quite bleak out here and the flow of traffic, much of it large lorries and motor homes, means jumping on and off the ...

... on his ride. Then I notice the name on his charity t-shirt - Ben Cocker. My brother has a school friend of that name but I'm too nonplussed to ask and he peddles off to complete his journey leaving me wondering... It really would be a very small world, if he is my brother's friend!

Wick campsite is about half a mile out of the town by the river. It's a peaceful spot and I sit ...

... in itself. There is no direct bus from Inverness and the quickest route seems to involve a slow bus to Wick and then another even slower bus (from the other side of Wick, of course!) to J O'G itself. Gazing out of the window I try to take in some of the landscapes I'll be walking over the next week and ponder why on earth I thought this was a good idea! The narrowness of the A99 and the twists and turns north ...

... room at the B&B- it really is a very nice outlook with a big old house in the distance on top of some cliffs. Breakfast things even include Vegemite for your toast although toast and cereal is about the extent of the choice- not like our Dublin accomodation which still takes the cake for best brekky on our trip so far. The ferry crossing to the Oarkney Islands is only 40mins and the water was very calm. There are quite a few seabirds ...

... weather) with dragging our bags around a very wet Edinburgh trying to find our car hire (Just so you know, it turns out Alamo is part of Europecar). We ended up leaving about an hour later than anticipated by the time we were checked in by the car hire man. Our car is really quite cute though- a little Corsa in the colour "silver lightning"- H was rather impressed it wasn't black like most of the other cars. It's almost faintly blue in colour ...

... wave killing time along the coast, waiting for a tow in the snow.

Writing this I am wrapped in several hoodies sipping coffee as blizzard conditions ensue outside. My neck is sore from the lip, which landed on me square as I attempted a kookish turn. I have honestly passionately despised the cold but its hard to shake the feeling of stoke, the cocktail of seratonin and endorphins that forms a kind of internal buzz. You just don’t get that from sitting through ...

... just getting ready to leave again. Andrew is the guy that organises all the emergency equippment for those who do ferry flights. His equippment is either in Goose or in Wick. We drop ours in Wick. We end up in Castletown in the St.Clair Arms Hotel, a little hotel ( Faulty Towers ). We enjoy the local beer. Our attempt for a walk to the sea lasts only 10min since rain an hail stops us. Good dinner and a long sleep.