Walk 198

Helmsdale to Dornoch 31miles

A very long walk today with a 6.30am start to try and avoid the rain forecast to arrive at around 3pm.  The A9 and the railway track both hug the coast as you walk towards Portgower, this meant that I could pack in a few miles as the going is very easy on tarmac, but not necessary for your feet!  I could see a beach in the distance that looked inviting and I assumed that this was Brora.

Brora Beach

At Clinemilton I managed to hop over the railway track and fumbled over the rocks onto the magnificent beach that took me all the way to Brora, like a lot of the beaches in east Scotland there was yet another golf course running parallel!

Brora Clock Tower

                 As I was making good time I stopped in Brora for breakfast, also it allowed me to borrow from the kind lady who runs the cafe a charger for my phone as mine had stopped working the night before which was going to cause a bit of a problem for me on a 8 day trip.  Once fed I carried on to Dunrobin and its fantastic castle, I could just make out the castle from the top of the drive but I didn't have time to go and investigate further, so I settled with taking a pic of one of the towers on the outside of their grounds.

Dunrobin Tower

The whole problem with not having a charger was starting to bug me a little, I thought that if could only find a hardware shop in one of the bigger villages I was passing through then I might get lucky and they might have a charger............walking into Golspie the first shop on my left was a hardware shop! AND they had a charger for my phone, I really could not believe my luck!!!!
                  Just after Golspie I picked up a minor road that takes you eventually to Littleferry (NO FERRY!) just before Littleferry I ducked into Balbair Woods and made my way to Kirkton so I could cross the railway line safely.  I linked up with the A9 again and this took me across Loch Fleet on a bridge called The Mound (!) once across the bridge I started to feel a few spots of rain, how could this be it was only 1pm! had the weatherman got it wrong again? I quickly donned my waterproofs and started on the journey around the south bank of Loch Fleet, fortunately I had picked up a very minor road that runs parallel for part of the way with a disused railway line.
                     The minor road ran through Skelbo Street, Fourpenny and on past Embo eventually arriving in Dornoch, where I had my second bit of fortune today as the bus I was to catch was stuck behind a coach  so I made a dash for it and caught it just in time.....oh I fell asleep within 5 mins of being on the bus, it had been a long 9 hour walk need I say more?

Accommodation: Station Hotel, Tain £25.00 room only. A nice hotel/pub but I wouldn't recommend staying here on a weekend as they have their own underground nightclub that stays open V late