Day 100 - Berriedale to Lybster

A momentous day - 100 days of walking, 100 travelling days, 100 days living in the van.

The weather was beautiful this morning and, as I gazed out of the van window, drinking my morning coffee, it made me think of things that I shall miss. One of the best things about camping or caravanning is the walk to the loo first thing in the morning when the ground is so fresh and the whole world is bright and sparkly. Today I could see a great expanse of shimmering blue sea and the majestic Dunbeath Castle in  amongst the green cliffs.  It can also be one of the worst things, when it's cold and pouring down with rain. Luckily the van has its own loo for those occasions!

Dunbeath Castle from the Harbour

After dropping The Walker at Berriedale I drove back to Dunbeath and had time to wander along a bit of the Heritage trail, watch fish (couldn't tell if they were salmon or not) leaping in the sea and  river and also pop into the Spar shop for lunch.

Later I went to the Clan Gunn museum. It was more interesting than I'd expected (not being a member - I used to know a Sue Gunn many years ago, but I don't think that counts!). Anyway, it's in an old chapel and graveyard, alone on the cliffs- very atmospheric. Apparently a lot of Americans, Australians and New Zealanders come here to visit to try to find their roots.The defeat at Culloden was the major break up of the Clans and, of course, it was the Clearances which led to so many emigrating.

I could have bought The Walker a Clan Gunn polo shirt to make up for the lack of whisky ones!

From Bernie:
Today's walk  13.7 miles     :     Cumulative  1254.9 miles

Learned from yesterday's lesson & only took to the cliff-tops where I'd walked before.... but that meant rather more of the A9 than I would have liked &, familiar story, the only hotel/pub en route now just does B&B!
Not quite free from yesterday's legacy - when stopping for lunch, climbing into the van & leaving the fresh air & cooling breeze, my legs burned & tingled from the thousands of nettle-stings & bramble scratches! Almost a relief to be walking again!

No pubs but plenty of llamas - how useful is that?!

Highlight of the Day: Tooters, Wavers, Stoppers & Gossipers!
I experienced the beginning of this phenomenon yesterday & today it just escalated amazingly! I suppose that's what comes of walking along a road, in good weather & at the weekend when lots of people are busy gardening! Several locals stopped me & wanted to talk about LeJog, a couple with a caravan pulled into a lay-by to ask if I was doing LeJog & I walked up the final bit of Berriedale Braes with a couple of cyclists, women in their thirties, who'd been going 2 weeks & were due to finish about 3.00 this afternoon!

Looking back into Berriedale

Add to this the tooting horns & waves - it made me feel like a celebrity, even though all the stopping & starting..... & all the talking, is quite tiring!
Of course, there are loonies in cars who seem not to see a walker at all & insist on overtaking whatever is in front of them: when the traffic is coming towards you it's easy enough to take evasive action, if a little painful at times, but when they're coming from behind it feels like the end of the world.
Parted company with the re-designated A9 at Latheron & it was significantly quieter afterwards - there's not much up the old A9 other than Wick & John O'Groats!

Lunched with the manager in the van at Dunbeath harbour, close to this fine memorial to Neil Gunn, the popular Scottish novelist who was born in the village. (Hence the Clan Gunn museum visited by the manager this afternoon)

The sculpture is called 'Kenn & the Salmon' & is based on a character & event in his novel 'Highland River' which won him the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction in 1937, enabling him to give up his job & become a full-time writer.

North-East Caithness & all the mountains have gone - still some good cliffs, though!

Finished the day approaching Lybster's large harbour along my 'safe' cliff-top route, passing the Caithness oil-well. Established in 2008, it is Scotland's first onshore drilling site & certainly took me by surprise; a quarter of a mile away is the restored 'Brethren Well', believed to have been opened by 6th century monks & used on these hilltops for fresh water for almost 1500 years!

Lybster Harbour

Beer of the Day: I've been trying to avoid this but Scotland seems to have run out of beer! Had a pint of 'Deuchars IPA' today from the 'Caledonian' brewery - hugely popular, it seems to be on draught in at least half of the bars I've visited. I find it rather tasteless & non-descript - not a knee-jerk reaction but sadly based on several rather dull experiences!

Supreme irony: having just about absorbed the day I've had in hand for weeks, I've just looked at Sunday's weather forecast - heavy rain all day! Doesn't seem fair, really!

4 days to go!
Things we're looking forward to doing when we get home (Walker): laying on the sofa with a good bottle of red wine & watching the start of the Premiership season. I did, after all, miss the end of last season...

Di: deserted beaches & cliff-tops are the norm here.... everybody's on the A9!

Karen & Ann: good to hear from you, the manager is looking forward to a 'girly' night & having somebody to talk to other than me!

Ann: as you can see I've been extra-careful today but I'm hoping that, weather-permitting, most of the last 30 miles will be along beaches & cliffs.... most of which I've walked before & I survived last time! The sculptures, especially those that I've stumbled across in unusual & unexpected places, have been a real feature of the 'Scottish' stretch.

Pam: strange how I seem to have encountered far more females on this trek than males!
The sea-eagle spent some time in Inverness with a camera mounted in its eye - I thought it might provide a useful update to Alec's CCTV system..... 'eagle-eyed'!

Day 99 - Helmsdale to Berriedale

Today was an "in-and-out-of-van" day. It began accompanying The Walker along the shore from Helmsdale for about a mile before going back to the van and driving to the designated lay-by with refreshments. After that I drove to the next meeting place (the Clearances Memorial layby), walked to said memorial and finally drove  to pick him up.These type of days are very bitty and I never really feel that I have done much, especially as I spend a lot of the time wondering if I am in the correct place and looking out for The Walker, especially if he is a bit later than anticipated.

'Silver Darlings' Herring sculpture, Helmsdale Harbour

The weather was good for walking - sunny intervals and fairly breezy. At the Memorial it was easy to see why the villagers had to tether their animals (and children!)  to the mountain, it was easy to be blown away! I met a lovely couple in the car park; they had seen The Walker earlier and as he hobbled off on the last leg of today's walk they asked if he was a Lejogger. Mr and Mrs Colin McRae then very kindly donated towards the BHF as Mrs MacRae's mother has recently had a triple by-pass ( at 82) and is brilliant now.

From Bernie:
Today's walk  10.3 miles     :     Cumulative  1241.2 miles

Well, I've walked in some pretty stupid places but today probably takes the biscuit!

As the manager has noted we set off from Helmsdale along a track above the beach, a ploy designed to cut out a chunk of A9 walking; I'd checked in a local walking book & there is a designated circular walk using a route up from the pebbles, through Navidale Farm & back to the town. We reached the stream which splashes down through dense undergrowth, blocking any approach to the farm, & the manager turned back to pick up the van. I continued my rock-hopping quest along the shore, certain that, at some point, I would find somewhere to scramble up the low sandy bank to reach the track above, quite clearly shown on the OS map.

Shoreline north-east of Helmsdale

Needless to say, I ran out of beach before finding any escape route & the low sandy bank had now become an overgrown cliff! If I'd had any sense I'd have turned around, returned to Helmsdale & used the A9 - but no! Instead I climbed a waterfall into a jungle of head-high bracken, nettles, gorse & brambles.... after all, there is a marked track at the top! Foolish! This is a Scottish track & doesn't exist!
About half-way up it did occur to me that if I slipped I could end up breaking something quite important & that would be a slightly ignominious end to LeJog.... & so close to the finish! It took me about an hour & a half to hack my way to the main road & I've spent the rest of the evening removing sheep ticks!

Route of my ascent!

Highlight of the Day: another Clearances story!
The ogre this time was Sir John Sinclair of Ulbster who 'cleared' the nearby glens of Ousdale & Berriedale, giving the crofters a precipitous stretch of sea-facing moorland on which to live. They built their new homes from loose stone they uncovered as they tried to cultivate this barren land. At one point 80 people lived at Badbea but the number gradually declined as families emigrated; the last straw came towards the end of the 19th century when the laird discontinued herring fishing in favour of salmon & took away any possibility of employment for the villagers.
This huge monument is not a modern apology: it was erected in 1911, shortly after the last villagers left, by David Sutherland - he was the son of one of the first emigrants to New Zealand & he used the stones of his father's house.

Beyond Badbea I was surprised when an approaching car slowed down, tooted & the 2 young lads inside gave me a thumbs-up sign - something of a change from the rude gestures that are more usual when road-walking! Shortly afterwards 2 young women did much the same but they waved frantically as they passed. Descending Berridale Braes a cyclist yelled "Go for it!" as he sped past & it suddenly occurred to me, who else but a LeJogger would be walking along this stretch of the A9? Made me feel quite good!

River mouth at Berriedale

Finished the day at Berriedale; in the news a few years ago when a huge storm caused a landslip which carried away one of the hairpins on the notoriously steep road & closed the A9 for some considerable time.

Berridale Braes - the new retaining wall can be seen on the far side of the valley

Beer of the Day: struggling again! Had a bottle of 'Isle of Arran' Blonde which I've always liked. While it could easily be mistaken for a lager, it is a healthy 5% & has a quite distinctive flavour, not unlike Lowenbrau, an all-time favourite!

5 days to go!
Things we're looking forward to doing when we get home (manager): not having to work out how a different shower works every day!

Day 98 - Brora to Helmsdale

I decided to visit Dunrobin Castle as it hadn't beeen open all those years ago when we were in the area. To be honest, I was expecting it to be fairly interesting and pleasant and, indeed, the inside of the castle - huge 18 century portraits and tapestries along with massive rooms, antique furniture etc. -  and the  beautifully laid out gardens - giant rhubarb, parsley seeded in 1775 - leading down to the sea, certanly are. It had never occurred to me that ladies had inter-changeable, coloured parasol handles to match their outfits, a must in the 18th and 19th centuries, until I saw a collection of them today.

Dunrobin Castle Gardens

However, what made the visit exceptional was the falconry display. I've been to a couple of these in different places before and really only wandered down as I was in the garden and it was included in the price of the ticket!
The falconer was brilliant, explaining about each bird ( he showed 4 in action), how he trained them, exercised them, fed them (with chicken nuggets!) and all the while the birds were flying across the audience with their wings just missing heads and hats! There was one of the largest breed of owls in the world, an eagle owl, which was very obliging , letting people sit next to him and have photos taken!  A very entertaining 45 minutes.

Eagle Owl

From Bernie:
Today's walk  11.6 miles     :     Cumulative  1230.9 miles

A brilliantly-planned walk, cleverly slotted between heavy rain at either end of the day!

Began by walking the length of Brora golf-links: first beside the course, then through dunes & finally along the beach.
Here's another for you, David! A quote from Peter Thomson, to be found on a Town Trail Information Board near the Clubhouse declares it, "The purest links golf course in the world.... where golfers share a precious piece of territory with a hundred or so woolly sheep."
And cows.... and seals, I should add. Might not be as famous as Dornoch but I think the views are better. The hills & the beach are bigger, the course is wider... & quieter. Could make a good golfing weekend: Dornoch, Golspie & Brora - now that really would ruin a brilliant walk!

Brora Golf Links

Followed the beach as far as I dared on a rising tide before using a farmer's railway-crossing to reach the A9. Not as busy as I'd feared, perhaps people were staying at home in deference to the impending weather! Cloud had already rolled in from the sea & photographs would have been pointless but I did capture one of an interesting & unusual memorial placed close to the point where 'the last wolf in Sutherland' was killed by 'the hunter Polson... in or about the year 1700'.

Brora Beach

Highlight of the Day: thankfully I reached Helmsdale before the rain & in good enough visibility to visit & photograph one of the planned 'highlights' of the whole LeJog. Gerald Laing's 'Emigrants Statue' was unveiled in 2007, since our last visit, & stands above the town, close to Helmsdale's imposing war memorial & clock tower.
The 1st Duke of Sutherland may have hidden from us in Golspie but it can't be denied that his 'clearances' in this part of the Highlands were the most ruthless & are the most notorious. Helmsdale was Sutherland's patronising attempt to turn crofters & farmers into fishermen.... as an alternative to exile in America or the colonies: the sudden collapse of the herring boom made it Hobson's Choice for many.
100 'cleared' Highlanders from this part of Sutherland's estate sailed to Canada from here in 1813 & helped to found the city of Winnipeg, where a matching statue was unveiled in 2008.
Another 'Clearances' story tomorrow!

Emigrants Statue, Helmsdale

Ended the day back in Brora, ironically at 'The Sutherland Inn'! Spent an entertaining half hour chatting to an American gent, similar age to us, who is planning on kayaking from the Skerries (Shetland) to Bergen (Norway) in September! He's off to Orkney next week to begin final preparation for his 4-day trip & told us that he'd attempted the crossing a couple of times already but had had to turn back half-way when the wind & sea turned against him! Unbelievable!

Brilliant sculpture outside another old school, now an artist's studio, in Brora

He's for sale, & if he'd only fit in our back garden (or the van!) I'd have had him!

Visit buythiseagle.com if you're interested - I think he'd look good outside Alec Hunter!

Beer of the Day: just when I'd almost given up hope of finding any more draught ale! Had a pint of 'Red McGregor' from the Orkney Brewery which, I admit, I had sampled when we were on Orkney. A red, hoppy, sharp bitter - it's very good!

Song of the Day (an occasional series!): 'Kilkelly' by Mick Moloney, Jimmie Keane & Robbie O'Connell. A song based on letters exchanged between members of an Irish family who emigrated to America in the 19th century & some of those who chose to stay 'at home'. Impossible not to be moved by this.....
Google tells me there's a video on YouTube but my internet is too weak to check that!

6 days to go!
Things we're looking forward to doing when we get home (Walker): laying on the sofa with a good bottle of red wine & watching a whole day of Test Cricket!

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Day 97 - Golspie to Brora

A really late start today. I think The Walker is getting a bit too relaxed about getting to the end! Actually he had really pencilled this in to be a short Lejog walk, adding walks around Golspie. The weather, however, put paid to that. The morning was foggy, then misty and it didn't clear until lunchtime but then we had some beautiful sunshine for a few hours; right now a mist has rolled in off the sea and looks set to stay the night.

This was the first real coast walk for me since Land's End and it was smashing. It was nice to be able to walk the whole way, then catch a bus back to the van - no chance of losing The Walker or being in the wrong meeting place!

Crossing Golspie Burn

I love walking by the sea;  initially the path was grassy, then we walked on the edge of the water. I had read an article recently that said the waters around Britain were full of jelly fish - I didn't see one! I'll let the Walker expand upon our walk.......

From Bernie:
Today's walk  6.3 miles     :     Cumulative  1219.3 miles

How plans change! Even my meticulously prepared arrangements for LeJog can alter quite dramatically & throw up a day of surprises!

Six miles may look a bit pathetic when I'm so close to the finish but today's short walk was supposed to be attached to a six-mile diversion up into the hills to visit another 'outrageous' monument via a gorge walk past picturesque waterfalls. This 100' statue is a tribute to the 1st Duke of Sutherland, erected by 'a mourning & grateful tenantry' to 'a judicious, kind & liberal landlord'.... I think he wrote his own obituary!
This was going to be my Highlight of the Day & I was going to accompany it with a detailed diatribe about how the owner of the largest private estate in Europe became the architect of the Clearances & how, even today, local opinion is divided as to whether the monument should be ripped down & its stones scattered across the hillside or whether it should be allowed to stand as a tribute to those who suffered, who were exiled or who died at the hands of this man.
He spent the day skulking behind cloud, I didn't climb the hill so he's safe from my blog..... until next time!

Beach near Sputie Burn

The low cloud hadn't shifted from the coast even by early afternoon but I was able to photograph the extravagantly Disney-like Dunrobin Castle which was completely lost to the mist on my last visit. Originally the Sutherland family-seat, this is a 19th century version & a popular tourist attraction; we gave it a miss only because of the imminent promise of sunshine & the glorious stretch of coast that I knew lay ahead!

Dunrobin Castle

Another 'new' coastal feature was Carn Liath broch & that should give some idea of visibility the last time I was here - it stands about 100 yards from the shore! Built about 2000 years ago, mainland brochs tend to have been raided for stone more over the centuries than their counterparts on the islands, particularly Shetland. Finds here suggest that Carn Liath was occupied by a fairly successful farming community &, the thing that interested me most, they seemed to have little doubt about their safety - the boundary/defensive wall is further from the main building than at other sites we've visited.

Carn Liath Broch

Highlight of the Day: couldn't believe these seals on Doll Beach! While most flopped into the sea on our approach, only to return to the beach immediately after we'd passed, these were posers on a similar scale to the manager's deer at Kingshouse!
Baby seals followed us up the shore, 2/3 yards off the beach, bobbing along, watching us & keeping pace with us!

Just before Brora &, again, immediately above the beach, we came across an archaelogical excavation being conducted by the Clyne Heritage Society & St. Andrews University. A fascinating project investigating the town's industrial past, nearly all the 'diggers' are locals from Brora itself! They were uncovering a building on the edge of the dunes from which the saltpans, now beneath the waves, were managed; they already know that this was built in 1598, making it the oldest existing building in Brora & the only surviving link to the town's prosperous coal industry - no other trace of this industry remains, though the harbour is unusually large for such a tiny Highland town. There we go - Industrial Heritage without looking for it!
Luckiest of all: this year's dig is scheduled to operate for only 3 weeks, until the 20th August - if we'd been here last week we'd have known nothing of it!

Entrance to Brora Harbour

Finished the day with a touristy visit to the Clynelish distillery - no polo-shirts here, either, but they did have plenty of whisky!

So, it may have been a short day's walking but it proved to be an eventful 6.3 miles!

Beer of the Day: almost given up on 'different' draught ales though there are enough small Scottish breweries to keep me going in bottles! Tried Black Isle's 'Goldeneye' today - a golden pale ale with a strong, almost flowery flavour (elderflower, perhaps?). Sounds odd but tastes very good, though the strong flavour would probably deter the drinker from quaffing pints of it!

7 days to go!
Things we're looking forward to doing when we get home (manager): being able to get out of bed on my side!

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Day 96 - Embo to Golspie

Heavy rain was forecast for last night and we were a bit concerned as we were on a grass pitch in a dip - the ground felt a bit soggy in places already! We awoke to a lovely morning with no rain having materialised during the night, thank goodness. Tonight we are by a different golf course and by the sea again, but on a hard standing, so the rain will be no problem.

It was lovely today to set off walking along the coast path; there was a fresh breeze and even when it began to rain, it wasn't cold at all. There were lots of ladies playing golf in the rain, obviously very keen - only a couple had umbrellas. I remembered Golspie and visiting the rock and precious stone centre - Kirstie loved this (being a young geologist); we both have small rock thermometers bought from here!

From Bernie:
Today's walk  10.3 miles     :     Cumulative  1213.0 miles

Thought I was through with railways but had forgotten today's brief stretch of the old Dornoch Light Railway. The manager had followed part of its route when she walked above Dornoch's golf course to meet me yesterday; I used its firm trackbed to cross the marshland behind the dunes between Embo & Skelbo - very handy when it comes to avoiding the A9 & other roads!

Coul Links from the old railway

All very quiet & saw no-one except a couple of joggers & some local dog-walkers until the point at which the back-road reaches Loch Fleet..... & then, mayhem!

Highlight of the Day: Loch Fleet! I've walked here before. It's a huge tidal estuary & along with the surrounding hills & woodland it makes up the Loch Fleet National Nature Reserve.
Mayhem, because as well as the hundreds of seals that can always be seen basking on its sandbanks, a small group of dolphins were playing in the deeper waters, chasing each other in circles & breaking the surface in their leaps. Virtually every passing vehicle stopped.... & this on a single-track road!
Ironically, the best views of Loch Fleet, particularly inland, are to be had from the A9 causeway which speeds over the estuary on an elevated section. There is a parking area here with picnic tables which were packed with the occupants of 2 coaches: one German, the other Italian. Sadly, despite the views, they were unaware that the real spectacle lay over the road & a mile down-river!

Loch Fleet from the seaward side of the A9

Soon back into woodland on the northern shore of the estuary & its a surprise to pass Littleferry's National Go-Kart track.... & this in a Nature Reserve! No stranger, I suppose, than cement works & quarries in National Parks!

Littleferry from the southern shore of Loch Fleet

Approaching the coast across the southern end of Golspie's golf course I could see the manager waving in the distance - she'd chosen a bad time to come & meet me! The hills had already disappeared under cloud, rain was beginning to fall & I knew I was going to have to put on waterproofs for the first time in over 3 weeks. Unfortunately, the 5-day forecast doesn't look particularly promising so that might curtail some of my possible 'detours' - we'll have to see.

Loch Fleet - looking inland

Looks like Tuesday is Ladies' Day at Golspie, either that or the local men are not up to playing in the rain! To a non-golfer, this looked easier than Dornoch: equally undulating but shorter grass & fewer wild patches of rough - there are one or two interestingly-placed clumps of trees, though!

Loch Fleet - looking inland

Beer of the Day: a bottle of Black Isle's 'Yellowhammer' with the evening's excellent garlic & chilli burgers from Fraser's in Dingwall (highly recommended!). I've had this before & do like it: golden, light & fruity - very drinkable!

Loch Fleet - looking inland

Song of the Day (an occasional series!): 'Dolphins' by Tim Buckley - the long live version; I think it's on his 'Dream Letter' album

8 days to go!
Things we're looking forward to doing when we get home (Walker): having a coffee-maker produce the early-morning refreshments!

Jamie & Andy: How much!? You'd better have a good excuse for donating such a huge amount! No wonder you've left the country!

Ann: the 3rd Test should start as I'm making my way up the coast from Nybster to John O' Groats on our very last day, so I'm hoping I'll be home to see some of that! As for red wine, keep an eye on 'Things we're looking forward to......'!

Day 95 - Tain to Embo

It was raining this morning, so we didn't hurry off and by the time we had visited Tain church it had cleared, though there has been the threat of it all day with low hanging clouds. It has, however been very warm and humid.

The Walker set off for Dornoch and I took the town tour - "Tain Through Time" . The small visitors' centre, audio tour of the town and tiny museum are  pretty good and state in no uncertain terms how important the place was during medieval times. Once again I had been here on the round-the-coast walk but hadn't thought too much of it. It had probably been raining and out of season! Which is actually how I remember Dornoch; shops being shut, the cathedral closed for some reason and it not being a very tourist friendly place. Madonna has certainly changed that!

Dornoch Cathedral

From Bernie:
Today's walk  11.6 miles     :     Cumulative  1202.7 miles

Back to sensible distances & more comfortable off-road walking which was just as well as it was also back to the touristy stuff & another long day!

Started off at the water's edge in Tain & wandered through the strangely-deserted wildlife area & children's park; as yesterday the whole town was eerily quiet - difficult to believe it's the school holidays &, today in Tain, a Bank Holiday as well.

With plenty on the agenda I was keen to be off but not before I'd left instructions with the manager for her visit to the Glenmorangie distillery.... after all, it's weeks since Glengoyne & the bottle is almost dry! Established in 1843, most of the stone buildings date from 1887 - significant to my walk only because of the last Sir Walter Scott Memorial of LeJog, which stands beside what is now the main road, only a few hundred yards from the distillery: it is said that this was chiselled out by a stonemason working on the site, obviously a fan!
It's interesting that improvements to the A9 include a tourist lay-by; the first time I came here I had to hack my way through undergrowth to find the stone!

Highlight of the Day: another 'last' today was the crossing of Dornoch Firth, the final one of the 3 great sea inlets that cut into the far north-east of Scotland.... & that brought me to my 'highlight' - returning to the open sea that I'd left in early May, just before Barnstaple! There'd been a strong smell of seaweed on the front at Tain but rounding Dornoch Point there were suddenly proper waves, sand & a wonderful wide expanse of water stretching out to distant headlands - beautiful!

Dornoch Firth

Unlike the manager I've always liked Dornoch with its wide streets & majestic old buildings. More of a bustling Bank Holiday feel here, especially as I made my way down to the beach & the town's famous golf course. A well-walked track runs through the dunes beside the wildly-undulating links &, what look like to a non-golfer, cruel patches of marram grass; chatted to several golfers searching for 'lost' balls close to the out-of-bounds markers & to one wayward gent retrieving his ball from the beach!

Royal Dornoch Golf Course - there you are David!

There's always been something 'special' going on in the cathedral when we've been here before; I was particularly pleased to be able to look inside today & see the stained glass for which it's famous. Sad to see the reference to Madonna & christenings in the cathedral's tourist blurb, though - I thought they might have got over that by now. Which leads me to.....

Song of the Day (an occasional series!): 'Madonna's Wedding' by Richard Thompson - couldn't help recalling this with a smile. If you don't know it, it's worth tracking down!

'Praise'

Beer of the Day: haven't moaned about pubs for a few days so here are some experiences from the last couple of days! A pub with 5 labelled pumps.... but only Carlsberg on draught - "We've had a really busy weekend!" the publican explained to the 3 of us in an otherwise empty pub on Sunday lunchtime.
A barman who, when asked by a customer for a pint of Belhaven, took a can from the cooler, plonked it on the bar & asked for £2.80 - the customer opened it himself, paid & drank it straight from the can; he could have bought 4 for £1.99 in the supermarket next door!
The pub with 8 labelled pumps but only John Smith's, Tennent's & Blackthorn 'on' - thought I'd have the Blackthorn until he said, "You'd better have a taste - it might be flat!" It wasn't flat but his cooler was broken, so I asked for a bottle of cider instead. He checked, then declared, "We haven't got any.... but we might be getting a delivery tonight!"
Very pleased that the manager had been to The Black Isle Brewery! Had a bottle of 'Red Kite': amber with a slight bite - pleasant, not particularly memorable but I enjoyed it!

Fishermen on the beach below Dornoch Golf Course

9 days to go!
Things we're looking forward to doing when we get home (manager): being able to see family & friends after so long away!

Ann: watched the last 5 minutes of some game in the Dublin Cup yesterday afternoon & saw Celtic score 3 goals against what looked like a bunch of part-timers! Could have gone to see Ross County play Queen's Park on Saturday afternoon - we were staying barely a hundred yards from their ground in Dingwall - but went for a walk instead!
Cricket, though, has looked very good.... & surprising to someone just picking up snippets via the internet! Despair of early Friday afternoon to disbelief by Sunday evening!

Day 94 - Evanton to Tain

A damp but warm start to the day. We were a bit late up as I had kept The Walker awake as I listened to my MP3 player and then, when I heard rain bouncing on the van in the middle of the night, I couldn't remember bringing his boots in ( after a day's walk he always puts them on the front of the van to dry), so I had to get up to check! It's a wonder he managed the miles today, having had such a disturbed night.

So being quite tired myself (!) I spent the day booking campsites, making sandwiches and reading the Saturday paper before meeting up in Tain. Tomorrow I will visit the Tain through Time museum, but it was closed today. In fact the whole place was very, very quiet. Not sure what to make of it yet. I feel very lazy  - think I'd better work out a walk for tomorrow.

From Bernie:
Today's walk  18.3 miles     :     Cumulative  1191.1 miles

Probably the walk I was least looking forward to on the entire LeJog - at least the weather was on my side! I could have followed the edge of the Cromarty Firth, past the offshore wind-turbine yard at Invergordon & abandanod oil-rig yards at Nigg before following the beautiful coastline around Tarbat Ness to Tain.... but that would have used up my day in hand & another day as well; I do have some deadlines to meet &, besides, I've walked that way before!

Final view of Fyrnish monument before it slipped behind cloud - glad we were up there yesterday!

With careful use of that day in hand & fair weather, this should be the last of the long days & with yesterday having seen the last of the big hills, I do feel very close to the end now. Only 10 days to go!

Cromarty Firth & Sutors of Cromarty - very popular dolphin-watching spot!

Highlight of the Day: finally reaching Tain after the longest unbroken stretch of road-walking on the whole trek; indeed, if it wasn't for the fact that National Cycleways do dive off into woodland whenever they have the opportunity I would have been tramping tarmac all day! The wooded section was the first 3 miles towards the A9, the miles I should have walked yesterday - I'm glad I saved them now!
The problem with my route, which runs almost in a straight line through the woods & forests of Easter Ross, is that it never climbs high enough to offer more than the briefest glimpses of the Cromarty Firth - but it is far enough from the A9 to be peaceful & I was rarely troubled by traffic

Many of the farms of Easter Ross breed 'eventing' horses - lots of paddocks & fields laid out for training 

Pleasantly surprised by Alness, the only community of any size that I passed through today. The last time I was here was on a Saturday afternoon, some time in the 1990s, when I was walking the coast: it was grubby, loud & the High Street seats were filled with semi-conscious bodies & people of various ages shouting, swearing & drinking from cans & bottles. Now there are signs banning drinking in the streets, everything is clean & tidy & there are superb floral displays all the way from the A9 right into the immaculate town centre. A sign proclaims Alness as Champion of Champions in the 2006 Britain in Bloom competition while another proudly boasts of other awards won by the town over the last decade - an amazing turnaround!

Beer of the Day: Thistley Cross cider flavoured with strawberries! Not the kind of thing I'd usually even dream of trying but I'm becoming reckless! Surprisingly good! I'd expected something sickly-sweet but it is, in fact, quite dry & very refreshing. At only 4% it's a good walking-drink & would beat flavoured water anytime! I'll certainly have this again.... if I ever stumble across it!

Mercat Cross, Tain

Song of the Day (an occasional series!): 'Crooked Legs' by Acorn - as I walked towards the manager in Tain she commented, "You're hobbling a bit!" - what did she expect?!

New Public Gardens in Tain, looking out over Dornoch Firth

Jamie & Andy: have a good honeymoon (Part 2!) - it's amazing to think I started this blessed walk when you were on honeymoon (Part 1); see you soon!

John, Derina & family: smashing to hear from you! Hope you enjoy Stranraer, it's a lovely spot when the sun shines. Have a good crossing!

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