26 May 2013: 26km. Started 08:30. Arrived 15:30.
Everybody staying at the hostel had decided to eat breakfast at 07:00 or thereabouts so as to try to get a fairly early start on quiet roads. My walk was entirely on the A9. The hope is that it gets quieter the further north you go. It had a mixture of long climbs, sweeping bends, wide roads and good visibility so generally there was little problem with traffic. There did seem to be a lot of End to Enders – I met one walker coming from John O’Groats and he was planning roads all the way. There was a group of cyclists and several other cyclists alone or in pairs. There were also a lot of motor bikes and I don’t know whether they were End to Enders or not.
In order to break the tedium of the walk, I tried to have a rest each hour. The views were good, which helped relieve boredom.
A friendly couple were doing some building work on a bungalow and called over to ask me where I was heading. Rhona said “See you later!” – she owns the Dunbeath campsite!
I had lost track of where I was on the map and was very pleased to realise that I was at Dunbeath. I followed signs to the Heritage Centre and found an open Spar shop where I was served by a friendly man dressed smartly in jacket and tie. The campsite was at the far end of the village and was very good value with lovely hot showers, everything pristine and clean and the very helpful owner who I had already met. She offered me some provisions left by previous campers but I already had plenty having been to the shop. After I had put up my tent, she said that I could have stayed as B+B also at a bargain price – but it was too late then and the weather was good so I didn’t mind camping.
Rhona explained that she had “emigrated” from Kent and had built up the business from an initial derelict site. I discovered that the Church of Scotland minister was Gordon Oliver who I had known when he worked in Lerwick – I keep meeting people who know the same people as I know!
I went out to dinner at a restaurant with an amazing view across the harbour to the castle. I ate a very good value and delicious steak pie.
I returned to the camp site and booked a B+B in Watten for the next night.
Where's Kathryn? 