30 May 2013: 32km. Started 08:45. Arrived 17:45.
The beautiful sunset and clear skies heralded another chilly night. hence I was keen not to start too early as I wanted the condensation to dry as much as possible before I took my tent down.
Not surprisingly, I was passing the most northerly of lots of things – including the most northerly church on the mainland. There were interesting gravestones with long inscriptions even including which hospital people had been in when they died. The church was locked but the explanatory board explained that it was the local church for the Castle of Mey. As such, worshippers had included the Queen Mother and recently her grandson the Duke of Rothesay (otherwise known as Prince Charles) and Camilla.
Rather than the main road, I chose to walk on a back road which, at times, was a track. This meant that I was able to walk into the grounds of the Castle of Mey through the back entrance. I didn’t have time to visit the Castle, now open to the public. However I did have time to go to the café where I had an expensive cup of coffee together with a large slice of Queen mother cake (date and almond with icing) and used a paper serviette printed Castle of Mey to wipe my fingers. An explanatory board informed me that the Duke of Rothesay had taken a personal interest in the design of the visitor centre – accepting the design after ten drafts. It is eco friendly including geo thermal heating from 100m boreholes. The Duke had opened it in 2007. The centre was quiet when I arrived but the peace was soon shattered with the arrival of two large Shearing’s coaches out of which poured a multitude of people who swarmed up the path making a bee-line either for the café or for the castle.
It was time to make progress so I returned to the quiet back road passing a gift shop and many crofts. The folk were extremely friendly – one lady who had never lived further south than Wick and Thurso and had worked at Dounreay nuclear power station even invited me in for a cup of tea (but I didn’t have time). A man doing his gardening said “hello” and told me that he had moved there from Yorkshire twenty years before. I saw a mobile marine veterinary unit.
Eventually I was actually on the scenic road on the peninsula out to Dunnet Head. There was a pleasant looking bay with views of cliffs and then the road passed over moorland. I cut off one corner by heading across the moor. There were several small lochs. I was walking into the wind and it was mainly uphill.
I arrived at a deserted Dunnet Head at 15:45 and walked up to a viewpoint. The headland was in light cloud as it had been all day so the views weren’t great. I walked down again to the “most northerly” stone. A couple with two daughters had arrived. The parents were telling their daughters about people who walk the length of UK so when I turned up the two girls actually believed it. They were easily persuaded to take an end point photo for me and then proceeded to take photos on their own cameras – including with the children. Sadly they would have offered me a lift to Dunnet village but their car was full.
I went to look at the skuas, puffins and fulmars flying near the cliffs before beginning my long trek to Dunnet village. It was easier though as mainly downhill and with the wind. The hotel in the village was offering very reasonable late booking rates but I walked on to the campsite as I was hoping that there would be a good sunset here as well – sadly not as it was misty.
The camp pitches were full so I was allowed to camp on a spare caravan pitch – for camping rate! My tent looked rather incongruous next to the electric hook-up.
I went back to the hotel for a celebratory meal of homemade chicken kiev and chatted with some fishermen who had been at Loch Watten that day.
The next morning my gas for my stove ran out completely so just as well I hadn’t tried to cook in the evening. I eventually met the man from the campsite at Brora who had been looking out for me – but my tent was in the “wrong” place. I’m glad I didn’t want the electrical hook-up as there was a power cut as I was taking down my tent. This was perturbing for most of the site but not for me. My journey was over and I just needed to get home.
Overall I had really enjoyed my journey – and in retrospect the “bad” as well as the “good”. It was also something that gave me a warm glow of achievement – even the planning and being able to organise the journey and decide to fit it in with everything else had been a challenge. Now I had accomplished it and had to return to reality. My regret was that I had not attempted the route over the North West Highlands – but since 2013 I have achieved a journey of that type by completing the Cape Wrath Trail. I think that I made a sensible decision in view of the weather conditions and my abilities and experience at the time.
The one thing that nobody can take from me is that I walked from End to End of the UK and not by the easiest route.
Where's Kathryn? 