Heading West

Wednesday 3rd October – distance travelled 80 miles

Another poor nights sleep and feeling worse not better 🙁  Took some paracetamol with breakfast and a shower helped a bit.  The weather still looked iffy but with Gavin offering to drive, and in need of cold/flu supplies we headed west, after a couple of false starts, one because I  forgot the camera!

Deciding to miss the furthest two beaches, being a much longer drive and less fun in the rain we set the TomTom to Durness.

Loch Eriboll

The route took us across the Kyle of Tongue and around Loch Eribol which took a long time but was beautiful despite the weather.  The roads are all narrow, often single track, twisty and hilly.  We had to stop just before Laid for a herd of cows in the road being chased by two farmers, very amusing 🙂

Farmers rounding up the cows
Cow

It was lunch time when we got to Durness, so we went to Smoo Cave Cafe for some hot food, Gavin had steak pie and me the lasagne both with chips, Gavin also managed to squeeze in a chocolate pudding.

With the bad weather, me feeling like death warmed up and developing a cough, we gave Smoo caves a miss and went in search of the Spar shop.  We found it ok and stocked up on tissues, cough medicine, bread and drinks before starting the drive back.

We came across Sango Sands just outside Durness, which was spectacular.  I put all my layers on and walked down to get photo’s of some of the biggest waves i’ve seen hitting the rocks.

Sango Sands

Going back around Loch Eribol had several more photo stops and quite a giggle at the various signs as we went through Tongue.  Checked out the BettyHill store where Gavin purchased some rum balls..

Loch Eriboll
Sheep living on Loch Eriboll
Tongue

Tea was sandwiches with our fresh bread followed by a very early night.

Washing and Resting

Tuesday 2nd October

Didn’t have a good nights sleep, as well as sore throat nose is running like a tap!  Finally got to sleep about 5am so no surprise it was gone 9am when I got up.

The forecast was for 65-70 mile per hour winds today so we had decided last night a day in was required.

Decided to have a cooked brunch, bacon, sausage, beans, egg and potato scones, we were both full after that lot!

Spent the day watching TV and reading, Gavin caught up on some Netflix while I tried out the slipper bath.

We defrosted our ready meals and had them for dinner, and I managed to get a load of washing done and hung in the utility room to dry.

Heading East

Monday 1st October – distance travelled 103 miles

Didn’t have the best nights sleep and sore throat was much worse, definitely getting a cold 🙁

The weather forecast was for it to be dry until 2pm, so we decided to go out, as maybe the best it gets all week.  Gavin did the driving as I wasn’t well – it was a quiet drive!

We decided to head east to some of the places I had looked up to visit, starting with the furthest away, Duncansby Head, and then heading back.

It was a long drive as the roads were almost all single carriageways with passing places, there were a lot of sheep along the route and some nice beaches with rough seas.

Sheep in the road

 

Beach and rough seas

From the car park at Duncansby Head it was only a 10 minute walk across muddy grass until we saw the stacks, they were impressive despite the grey sky and mist.

Duncansby Head stacks
Me at Duncansby Head

After we had got back to the car and removed all our layers headed onto John O’Groats.  Only planned to stay for a quick photo with the sign, as it was raining by then, but had taken longer than expected to get there so stopped for lunch.  Both went for sandwiches ham and cheese for me roast beef for Gavin.

Gavin at John O’Groats
Me at John O’Groats

Once fed we started the long drive back to the house with a stop at Dunnet Head, it was raining quite hard by then but as the most northerly point on the mainland an essential stop.

Dunnet Head

We pulled into Scrabster but just took a few photos through the car window of the harbour and stopped at Tesco in Thurso for extra tissues and throat sweets.

Rough seas

A quick dinner of pasta and tomato sauce tonight, as been a long day and i’m feeling rubbish.