Dunnet Bay

Our drive to our next stop, at Dunnet Bay Caravan Club Site, made us very aware that we were heading into some wild and remote areas. Huge, windswept cliffs and islands and barely a tree to be seen.

The campsite was right next to the beach, so lovely for evening walks, there was a lot of Lugworm activity when the tide went out.

Our first morning there and we went to John O Groats, having been to Lands End, almost 2 months early, we had to add this to our list of places visited. We caught the bus, as we were unsure of parking, which was unfortunate, as we then had to hang around waiting for the return bus. If there wasn't a great deal at Land's End, there is even less at John O Groats and it was a depressing, run down, mostly closed tourist attraction. The one advantage, while trying to fill our time, we did read the posters about crossings to Orkney and decided that was something we would look into.

This was a group of Scooter riders, who had just completed a charity ride from Land's End.

By the end of the day, the weather was starting to improve and we spent a lovely hour walking the beach and watching the sunset. I also phone and booked us a crossing to Orkney, the next morning, having now decided to take The Goddess and drive over ourselves, on the Catamaran Ferry, rather than the ferry and coach trip from John O Groats. We are so used to doing our own thing, we didn't fancy being regimented on and off a coach and the times of the Gills/Kirkwall catamaran suited us better. Not only that, although we could take Rowley on the coach, we weren't sure how he would like it and we couldn't leave him on the coach, which meant one of us would have to stand outside with him, whenever we went into any buildings. That didn't seem very satisfactory as a way of seeing places. Having the Motorhome with us, meant he could be happily left in his home for an hour or two, while we walked about.

More reminders of the defences left from WW2

The sun finally setting at 9.34 pm, although it was still light for at least another hour. I went to sleep looking forward to our trip the next morning, little did I know what was in store.

Brora

A long journey the following day was taking us to Brora, to a campsite on the edge of the sand dunes. On the way we crossed the Dornoch Forth Bridge and Mike took some photos.

Snow was still visible on many of the mountains.

It was starting to get quite wild now.

Brora is a small village and obviously once much more reliant on the Fishing Industry than it is today.

The beach is beautiful and also a haven for dog walkers.

There are also a lot of nesting sea-birds there and the site is famous as a Breeding Ground for Arctic Terns, only they didn't seem to have turned (Terned) up yet. You did have to be careful about where you stepped, as some seemed to just lay an egg any old place!

The best walk into Brora was across the beach, rather than the road. They still have the Ice House on the Quay from the pre refrigeration days, not many fishing boats now.

Our next move was to be to a site just outside Castletown and not far from John O Groats.

Not Finished Yet

I've had to stop writing on here as we arrived home and I just haven't had the time, so much to do including buying a new car as ours died!

I have all my notes and some stunning photos of the Scottish part of our trip, so will get on with it just as soon as I can.

Stopping On The Way

Before we left Stonehaven, we had to treat ourselves to Fish & Chips from The Bay, which was almost next door and they were the UK no1 Independant takeaway 2013. In Scotland, you tend not to get Cod, so I had to make do with Haddock, not my favourite, as thinner than Cod and sometimes a bit smelly. I couldn't find fault with it. It was superb, as was the crispy batter and the chips, all fried to perfection in Beef Dripping, again, the norm in Scotland. I wish it was in England!

Next door to The Bay is the oh my goodness, just hold me back, Ice Cream Parlour. Pistachio and Rose was my choice.

It's a very good job I don't live there!!


We then moved on and unusally had a one night stop, in the middle of nowhere, it was classed as Grantown-on Spey but back end of beyond described it better. On the way we stopped off for a meet up with a friend I hadn't met yet.

Jim is a Black Country chap and through our shared interests we had been 'Friends' for years. So as we were almost passing his door, we were going to call in for a cuppa.

Jim has been living in Scotland for a few years now and his wife is Scottish. They like the peace and quiet. Now, I say we were passing his door, the truth of the matter is, we were in the vicinity but he acually lives up a track about a mile from the nearest road. You go up a track to a farm and then turn up a smaller track and finally, when you think this surely is a joke, you actually come to his house. It's lovely, still a work in progress as they only moved in a few months ago but what an idyllic place to live. They've even seen a wild cat sitting on a fence post.

So we had a cuppa, had a chat, met the dogs and then moved on to our over night stop.

The Goddess parked up at Jim's, in the Menage. There's posh!!

The site for that night was peaceful and scenic and as the light started to fade, we saw a Hare, running around and shadow boxing with itself. Wish I had managed to catch that on camera.

In the morning, we finally heard our first Cuckoo of the year. We had almost given up.