Wednesday 8th September
This morning we awoke to gale force winds again. We went to breakfast and were informed that the ferry to the Orkney Islands was cancelled again. As we don’t have any spare days, we could not wait around to see if we could go the following day so had breakie and set forth. We went to Duncansby Head as our first stop. We did a walk to the Stacks and the wind!!!!!! Foam was flying over our heads and I could not see the sea! The seagulls were flying backwards!!!!!
John o’ Groats, was a place that I was really disappointed in. I guess I expected a little Scottish fishing village but it is a really scattered community. We visited the Castle of Mey (Queen Mother’s residence) which was situated right on the coast. It really gave you an insight into the life of the Queen Mother and has all her personal things there. The walled garden was fantastic and all I could think about as I walked around it was how much Jill would enjoy it. The vegetables were huge!!!
We saw the info about the Cnoc Freiceadian Cairns from the Neolithic age so decided to take a look. Jo decided to stay in the car and I climbed this huge hill to find three hills that you really did not know what they were unless you had read the info that told you they were burial chambers.
The coast from Melvich became really rugged and looked fantastic. The sun even started breaking though. The hills had very few, if any, trees on them and looked dark but when you got close, you realized that they were covered with heather. They looked spectacular as they heather was really dark in colour.
We got accommodation in Tongue and then went for a drive around the Kyle of Tongue. It is a single carriage road, but we were lucky and met only a couple of cars. The scenery was fantastic – blue mountains, hills covered with heather, water, sea and then to the seascapes that were rugged and varied. Even found sandy beaches!!! Felt the water of the North Sea as it flowed into the Kyle.
Scotland is certainly a ruggedly beautiful country.
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