The one without a name

Monday 9 July – Tore to Inverness – day 76

What’s this? we hear you say. Wasn’t today meant to be a rest day? Well, it was, originally – but tomorrow was scheduled to be a torrid 40km and there is no way we could have coped with that, especially with packs, so we decided to walk a bit of the route today and ‘bank’ those kilometres against tomorrow.

Fifteen minutes after boarding the bus in Inverness, we were at the Tore roundabout north of the city, for our 12km/8 mile walk back under cloudy skies. There’s not much to say about the walk: the first part was along a quiet country road, but the second part took us along the very busy A9, over the Kessock Bridge high above the Moray Firth, and past the port into the city.

The clouds were breaking up as we walked along the River Ness, a very pretty entrance to the city, with the sparkling waters on one side, and the various churches of central Inverness on the other. In the sunshine it certainly looked every inch a city, and a handsome one at that. We had a spot of lunch with a New Zealand friend, Naira, by coincidence over here for a holiday – how odd to meet up with someone from home on the other side of the world! A wander round the cobbled inner streets of Inverness revealed yet more of its charms, before the inevitable rest-day laundry beckoned. Dinner was in a tiny but wonderful Italian restaurant called Little Italy – so great that we booked a table for when we are back next Tuesday!

We really like Inverness, and as we’ve found before, wish we’d had more time. We will be back.

7 days to go

Distance today: 12km/8 miles
1663km / 1039miles covered. 186km /116 miles to go

Tuesday 10 July – Tore to Alness – day 77

Well, the great weather had to end sometime, and today was the day.

We awoke in the early morning to heavy rain, which fortunately had eased off to drizzle by the time we left our lovely B&B. Shouldering packs for the first time in a few days was a rude awakening! Back to the bus station, back on the bus to Tore roundabout, and so we resumed our progress north.

The day held few memories: alternating mist, rain and drizzle; country roads at first, then 2km crossing the bridge carrying the A9 road over the Cromarty Firth, trucks and cars swishing by close to us, occasionally covering us in spray. Not exactly a lot of fun! And the low cloud and rain blocked the lovely views of the Firth that we have seen on postcards. Ah well – we cannot complain after eleven weeks of mostly glorious weather! Fortunately we were soon back onto a quiet country road, the rain finally stopped, and the road frequently went through wooded sections, so it became a lot more enjoyable for the final leg into the village of Alness. It still brought John O’Groats 22km and another day closer – now just 6 days to go!

The next few days won’t have many attractions, which will lead to rather short blogs… so each day starting tomorrow we’ll recap for you some of our top things along the way, from best walks to favourite accommodation to most unusual sights.

Distance today: 22km /14 miles). 1685km / 1053 miles covered. 164km /102 miles to go