Saturday 14 July – Helmsdale to Dunbeath – Day 81
In an ideal world, you get a great 8 hours’ sleep in a comfortable bed in a quiet establishment that cares about its guests.
Or you could get less than 6 hours, having chosen a pub, on a Friday night, that has a 1am licence, with your room right above the bar, and a bunch of rowdy locals in the aforementioned bar who showed no inclination to go home… we are really looking forward to being back in a familiar bed in a normal house! It fitted in with our experience that in many UK inns, often the drinkers come first, the diners second, and those staying come a very distant third. Mind you, that said, we did have two inns in our top accommodation list so may be that conclusion was coloured by the lack of sleep. : )
So your rather tired walkers set off, on a decidedly average breakfast, under cloudy skies, to walk the entire 24km along the A9. Excited? Us neither…
However… far from being a tedious, traffic-dodging experience, the day turned out better than expected. For some reason the traffic was really light – at one point the entire road was deserted and quiet for nearly two minutes – and with lovely grass verges to jump onto when we needed to. At times the road was more like the quiet ones we’d been used to and not the major arterial it is. And the weather was great, dry and clear and just the right temperature.
Even better was the lunchtime break at the River Bothy Tea Rooms in the tiny village of Berriedale, where we had coffees and the most scrumptious slice of coffee and walnut cake. Yum! Definitely recommended.
The countryside around us is increasingly moorland, with hills to our left and cliffs on the seaward side, with not a lot of habitation between the villages. Out to sea there is a drilling platform and some wind turbines in the distance – and a lot of open sea! The far north of Scotland as we expected it might look.
We arrived at our destination, Inver Park House just out of Dunbeath, around 2.30 – such a wondrous time. We could sprawl out, watching some great tennis, sipping hot drinks, and knowing that today was the last day of carrying our packs (we have arranged pack transfers for tomorrow and Monday – at 34km tomorrow was going to be hard enough as it is!). And our dining spot just down the road is already booked. Should be a lovely relaxing evening.
Distance today: 24km/15 miles
Just 62km/38 miles and two days to go!
UNUSUAL SIGHTS WE’VE SEEN
As seen in Hawes – apparently this farmer brings his tractor into town a lot! Must help with road rage…
This is a group of onion pickers. Why are they wearing hi-vis vests?
No, it’s not that UK onions will leap up and attack you! According to someone we met, it’s so that the workers – all migrants – can’t skive off without being seen…
Scrumpy to Scotch 