Journal:
I had a long sleep, but it was a bit uncomfortable,
manouevring my body around the hard grass tussocks
under the tent, and feeling particularly sticky and
grubby, having missed a wash last night. It
rained during the night and remained very windy all
night. I was frequently woken by wind gusts
causing the tent to wobble and flap, but thankfully stayed
anchored to the ground.
I got up at 7am and was on
my way by 8am after packing up and eating a
trail-mix breakfast. Given that I only had
about 20km to go to Watten, where I was staying for
the night and which I knew had a store, I decided to
dump what was left of my trail mix to reduce pack
weight, and also all but 600mls of water. The
guidebook route involved some cross-country walking,
but also suggested that a road walk was available to
get to Watten. Given that there were no scenic
highlights on the off-road route and the fact that
the road walk was on a very minor road, I chose the
latter.
The scenery became more
and more rural with more passed and
cattle and sheep grazing on grassy and undulating
meadows. Perhaps a highlight of the morning
was seeing, in the far distance, the North Sea for
the first time on the walk.
I reached Watten and the
Brown Trout Hotel a little before 12:30pm.
Unfortunately, they weren't serving lunch today
because of some kitchen repairs, but will be serving
dinner tonight. I didn't expect to be able to
get into my room given that I was so early, but
the publican was very friendly and helpful and said
it would be ready by 2pm at the latest, and that I
was welcome to sit in the bar until then, and that
he could make me a sandwich if I liked. I
didn't want to impose too much, so walked 50m down
the road to the small general store and bought a
drink, a couple of sandwiches, and the local
Saturday paper, and sat on the bench outside eating
and reading for an hour. It was a bit
blustery, but not unpleasant.
I returned to the hotel at
1:30pm and my room was ready, so I did some washing,
had a shower and spent the afternoon and evening
watching the World Cup quarter-finals and Wimbledon
as well as eating dinner in the hotel bar and doing
my diary and email.
I can hardly believe that
tomorrow is my last day of the walk. I'm ready
to stop, but know it won't be long before I'm
thinking back nostalgically to different parts of
the walk and particularly the remote and wild
western Highlands which were so challenging, yet so
rewarding in terms of scenic grandeur and the sense
of personal isolation and insignificance.
My clothing is wearing out
and I have holes in my socks, boots, T-shirt,
sweater and underpants. I'm going to look like
a derelict on the train back to London on Monday.
Getting from John O'Groats
to Thurso, where I hope to stay tomorrow night and
from where my train departs on Monday morning may
prove to be a challenge. Apparently buses do
not run on Sunday, and I probably won't arrive until
the evening. Could be hitch-hiking or maybe a
taxi. Another complication for tomorrow could
be the weather. There is a severe weather
warning out for much of Scotland tomorrow with
forecasts of 100kph winds and heavy rain. My
planned route was to follow roads to the coast
north-east of Watten and then walk about 16km along
the cliff-tops north to Duncansby Head (the true
north-eastern tip of the mainland) before going west
the 3km to John O'Groats. However, if the
weather is too diabolical, the cliff-tops may not be
sensible and I'll walk some inland roads to get
there instead.