Thursday 2 June 2016

Our penultimate day begins three times….once at around 4am when a train goes by, the second at around 5am when we all three stumble zombie apocalypse style to the toilet and then finally for real at 6am when the alarm goes off.

We go through the usual tea / pastry (it was an apple turnover this morning) breakfast and then we head off

Day Thirteen Route

We are still feeling pretty confident if not even a little cocky after our whole Cairngorms experience….surely nothing can knock us off our stride now?

The day starts with a quickish sprint along the A9 and the Cromarty Firth. The road is pretty busy so we get through it quickly and then off into the smaller roads and the lochs.

By the time we reach Bonar Bridge we are ready for second breakfast and a quick check with the locals gets a recommendation for the Bonar Bridge Golf Club which we duly settle into

Not only do they do us proud with cups of tea and beans on toast we get chatting to two very friendly ladies there and as we leave they thrust some cash into our hands (not the first time this has ever happened to me actually!) to add to our sponsorship total….bless you Caroline and Yvonne you are stars!

Up until now the scenery has been green and lush and there is lots to see including very big houses……

….and some very small ones (or perhaps it is just far away?).

We are also still smiling and enjoying ourselves at this stage…..

Shortly after though the terrain and the scenery changes and a really stiff north wind (ie directly in our faces!) gets up. To begin with this is just another challenge to overcome….

But after 20 or 30 miles we are all becoming really really tired and progress slows almost to walking pace. We really need to stop for some lunch but the weather is starting to close in and with it the wind is getting even stronger and the temperature is dropping. It’s so exposed that there is just no shelter where we can stop. Eventually at around the 55 miles point we huddle behind a stone wall to eat and as we do the rain starts to come and we suddenly get even colder. For the first time on our adventure we have to dig out the cold weather gear and get it on quick.

The next 20 plus miles are exhausting, cold and slow but eventually we see the northern most coast of Scotland….we are nearly there

We drop down into the little village of Tongue and after asking directions find our way to the hostel where we get a lovely warm welcome from Carol and a chance to get warm and have a proper meal. We are camping in the garden but it makes all rhe difference knowing that there is a hot shower we can use and a roaring fire we can sit by (this is incidentally where I am right now and where I plan to stay for as long as possible.