Westward Ho! First, the obligatory photo at That Sign, free of charge, unlike the rapacious owners of Land’s End. The biting wind is a shock. The photographer, a small, wiry German man cycling round Britain, has also hiked the iconic […]
Day 324: John o’Groats to Dunnet Head Read More »
My last trip included father-youngest-son bonding with Max. This time, it’s father-daughter, as Hayley is keen to try camping, dreaming of the John Muir Trail. The plan is a few days of coastal walking round John O’Groats, returning south via
Day 323: Lybster to Whaligoe Read More »
Altnabreac railway station … … a place girded round by peat-black lochs and dismal bogs and overshadowed by dark, anonymous plantations of doomed conifers, where nothing of any note has happened these past 70 years save for intense despondent brooding.
Day 322: Berriedale to Lybster Read More »
The Pictish Trail runs through Easter Ross Peninsula. I’m hunting mysterious carved stones. First, I must cross the Cromarty Firth, the sole passenger on the small ferry passing the mothballed rigs, more colourful than the shadowy grey outlines glimpsed through
Day 321: Cromarty to Tain Read More »
With impeccable timing, I return to the East Coast for a yellow weather warning. It’s going to rain — a lot. Cromarty Ferry only runs in the summer, allowing a 47-mile ‘shortcut’ from Rosemarkie to Tain. I’m staying at Inverness
Day 320: Cromarty to Rosemarkie Read More »
I have a history of lower back problems — a life sitting in an office — culminating in a successful operation 12 years ago to insert two titanium discs. It flares up now and then — this time due to
Day 319: Carn Liath (Bienn a’Ghlo) Read More »