Hazelrigg Bed And Breakfast 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 ...

... there is another 50 metre stretch of path/cycle lane. Money well spent!
Finally the "Welcome to Helmsdale" sign appears but, yet again, the wind has other ideas and sweeps me off my feet! By the time I get to the hostel door, I'm a hobbling, exhausted wreck and the effusive greeting I get from the owner, Irene and her lovely collie, Molly, is incredibly welcome.
The hostel has a wood-burning stove and is ...

... cake and tea - "Will you not be having another cake Charlie?" If you insist!

An inspection of my right foot reveals a two-inch blood blister all down one side! That'll make the going easier...

What made me smile today:

Sunshine
The nice barmaid at The Portland Arms
Their delicious shortbread
The names of the villages - Thrumster, Occumster and Lybster. Must be because they are Norse!

... says "an easier walk is back along the surfaced lane" and opt for an off-road route from the tough Cicerone End-to-End guide. The Stacks of Duncansby and the cliffs are spectacular but it is a tough option and my energy starts to fade as I wade in and out of peat bogs and try to stride over streams swollen by heavy rain.

After a few miles the route heads back to the road at ...

There can't be many people who've started their John O'Groats to Land's End journey (JOGLE for the uninitiated) by spending the night before heading to the start at an '80s party with two Adam Ants, Batman and Batwoman, Freddie Mercury, a Rubik's cube and a Falklands battleship! Thanks to the RAF Kinloss Mountain Rescue team for the best party in a garage that I've ever been to!

Getting to John O'Groats is a ...

... the sun only having risen at 10. Kirkwall is on the 59 degrees north- same as St Petersburgh. This means they get midnight sun- til about 12:30am, it rises again at about 3am in the summer. The also get northern lights in the winter which i guess makes up a little for the lack of sun. Interestingly, despite the chilly air there is not much frost- most of the Oarkenys are too close to the coast and the gulf stream tends to carry any frost away.

... bit like the skies here- I guess we can blend in with those rather than the road now. It handles quite well and with the exception of the windscreen wipers and indicators being on the ewrong side, it's quite easy to drive. Navigating Edinburgh (and indeed the rest of the country- with the exception of a minor detour though the smaller streets of Perth) was actually not too bad with the help of our big colins Atlas.

Once you get out of ...

... he thinks, what are these...even doing up here). Problem is not even to take off but to taxi the airplane to the runway. It might lift a wing or the airplane could become uncontrollable. Ok, lets go to the coffe shop. Waiting, waiting, waiting. That's enough. Let's use the time for something better than sitting around waiting for the impossible. We decided to go and do a tour at the local Whiskey distillery here in Wick, the Pulteney Distillery. 1400h the ...

... where we had a seafood lunch at leisure; this may explain us managing to miss the ferry to Nigg Bay at first. This is possibly the smallest ferry in britain with space for only two cars on a turntable and a few cycles squeezed in alongside them. A short stop at Nigg Old Trust church reminded us of the ancient pictish presence and history of this part of the world. We were to discover many more ancient sites which are largely unknown to the hordes of ...