Samaria Gorge
The highlight of a short summer family holiday in Crete is a 16km hike down the Samaria Gorge from the mountain plateau at 1,200m to Agia Roumeli, a small fishing village on the Mediterranean Sea. Despite the scorching weather and […]
Day 287: Keiss to John o’Groats
Skipping the section from Berriedale to Whaligoe due to the snow puts John o’Groats within my reach. Sunny weather is forecast, so what better way to finish the hiking year? My pronunciation of Keiss has improved from yesterday as the
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Day 286: Wick to Keiss
More snow is forecast, so I’ll take the bus north to the village of Keiss and walk back to town. Ice cracks under my boots as I cross the River Wick to the bus stop. The bus driver corrects my
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Day 285: Whaligoe to Wick
A 7 am knock at my door. In the absence of a dining room, the owner wheels in a cooked breakfast trolley. Is he wearing pyjamas? “I don’t get this at home.” My book for this trip is Between the
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Day 284: Helmsdale to Berriedale
It’s a beautiful morning, the sun shining on the fresh overnight snow. Despite the forecast of a clear day, an early snow flurry adds to my load. Hardy fishermen work on their boats. The John o’Groats Trail follows the shore
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Day 283: Brora to Helmsdale
Snow fell during the night. Time-travellers leave no footprints. Crossing the golf course at Brora, fresh snow crunching under my boots, I’m giddy among childhood echoes. I choose the beach rather than a narrow icy strip between a stone wall
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Day 282: Golspie to Brora
Limited by Sunday public transport options, I have a leisurely short walk today, leaving plenty of time to chat over breakfast with John, the Airbnb owner. He worked for 30 years on a boat safety crew for the rigs, retrieving
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Day 281: Tain to Golspie
I’m the only person stepping down from the early morning Wick train onto a wet platform at Tain. Arctic showers are forecast to sweep across the Highlands, and light rain is already falling so it’s on with the waterproofs. There’s
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Day 280: Munlochy to Rosemarkie
Walking on roads round the Moray Firth from Cromarty to Nigg Ferry would take three days, given my lower daily mileage on hard surfaces to avoid a reoccurrence of shin splints. When I set out on my coast walk, I
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Day 279: Inverness Airport to Munlochy
A gorgeous morning transforms even the grim B9039. It joins the busy A96, arrowing seven miles through Inverness to cross the Moray Firth at Kessock Bridge, which is not my idea of fun. A fellow coast walker, Jon Combe, found
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