cheekbones3

Okay - here's a brief synopsis of what I did on my holiday!

I arrived last Saturday after an eight hour train journey - I think that included the wait I had in Inverness for the final train, where I had the most wonderful bowl of broth. I didn't do much apart from have a look at the sea, have an ice-cream, watch boys in cars driving round and round and orund the town centre, seemingly interminably. I had a couple of beers in one of the nondescript pubs - nothing much to report on the boozers. There is a nightclub in Thurso - I didn't go though...did get woken up by cretins smoking in their rooms, under the smoke alarms.

Sunday - I got up, and after my breakfast (the hostel was really nice, and for £9 I got a comfy bed in a four person room with an ensuite shower, and toast/cereal and tea) I had to do something - I spent a long time reading leaflets, and eventually set off eastwards down the coast, with the vague aim of walking all the way to Dunnet Head, the most northerly point on the mainland (about a three to four hour walk). This proved too much for my legs on the first day, so I decided that I'd stop after about six miles, and look around the old flagstone industry in Castletown (overgrown holes in the ground where flags used to be exported worldwide from). I then sat on the large beach there for a couple of hours and listened to the Wimbledon final, while looking across the bay to the cliffs of the west side of the Dunnet peninsula, which show lovely sloping beds of sandstones and mudstones (hence the flagstone industry) I think. On the walk through the countryside, I noticed that fields of farm animals seem to post sentries to watch anyone walking nearby. I'll describe more on this theory in person if anyone wants to hear it...

Monday, I decided to travel southwards to Thrumster on the opposite coast of Caithness to try to find the Yarrows Archaeological Trail. This is basically a yomp around a couple of small lochs, through blanket bog and up a big hill to see some neolithic brochs, cairns and barrows. It was a bit damp, but it was worthwhile, although I wasn't expecting the three mile hike up a very long road past a lonely (and rather cute) calf to get to the start! The monuments had fallen down, but it was interesting to see them, and the silence was wonderful. The heather had only just started to flower, and there were lots of butterfiles, white with yellow and black spots flitting around. I assumed that the huge hairy caterpillars were connected. Think I saw a few carnivorous sundew plants too, and while walking back I saw some big birds circling - maybe merlins, maybe golden eagles?

Tuesday, I went to the beach - it was a lovely sunny day, although the persistent cool northerly breeze kept it just at a temperature I could stand out in a t-shirt in. this is the coldest summer I remember so far! The sun still toasted me nicely though. I threw skimmers and big rocks, stood in the refreshing surf, and listened to the cricket match going on a few hundred miles to the south.

Wednesday, I decided to go to Dunnet Head properly - this time I got a bus to Dunnet, and then walked the five miles or so from there. It was again a cool day, but with only a light breeze, the sun was toasting everything so it felt strangely hot. Eventually wound my way up the long road past lots of loch and bogs - the heather was coming out more now after two days of full-on sunniness, so that was good, and everything was idyllic. Brough Bay on the walk up was pretty impressive - a large stack below. that reminds me - on all these clear days, Hoy (in the Orkneys) was really easy to see, so that was cool, especially as the ridiculously tall thin stack The Old Man of Hoy was clearly visible. Dunnet Head is lovely - huge sheer cliffs covered in guillemots and puffins, and a blue sea (today anyway) crashing in a hundred metres below. I couldn't see any puffins from the viewing platform, so I went round to the less viewed side of the head, and found a deep gully behind a fence - I edged as close to the edge as I could, and there were lots of nesting birds, including a puffin! I was very pleased. Since that gully was probably at least seventy-five metres deep, I edged back again and after bimbling around for a while, walked back down the road, and hitched a lift back to Thurso.

All in all, I saw lots of lovely plants, lovely wildlife, got lots of peace and quiet, and I'm now much more relaxed and brown. I'm glad to be back though! Carried the walking on yesterday up near Balerno with