Stayed the night in the Gospie Inn. The food is very good - smoked mackeral pate followed by roast pork belly - but they had run out of the local ale. Boo hoo!
Left at 9.30 on a grey but still morning in anticipation of quite a challenging day. This proved to be a good call. The climbs up after Helmsdale and later Berrydale Brae were long and at times quite steep but not impossible and we managed them slowly but with panache. More draining are the ups and downs which spoil your rythm and sap your energy.
It felt quite remote the further into Caithness we travelled but some of the villages had a certain charm. Lybster for example with it's wide street but hardly any residents had a quiet brooding atmosphere suggesting a byegone era and a reluctance to engage with the present.
As we neared Wick the terrain flattened out but the wind picked up just to make sure the last few miles would remain a challenge. Undaunted we pressed on into Wick and the Breadalbane House Hotel. A wait of 15 minutes eventually produced the receptionist and we were shown to a good room.
So the last full day of the trip ends!
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