Day 10

Today was always going to be a tough day as we said goodbye to Angharad and Katie and also prepared for a day of road walking, thanks to Dounreay Nuclear Power Station making much of the coastline inaccessible. A great breakfast at the lovely Forss House Hotel cheered us up and we set off via the falls.

The Falls at Forss House

No sooner had we set off when the heavens opened. A quick scramble into our waterproof trousers was definitely the right thing to do as the rain was relentless! Olivia was complaining that her jacket was letting in water but Kate told her not to be so ridiculous and it was just because it was cold.

Definitely the wettest day we’ve had so far!

It was very much a head down and get on with it situation as we continued on the road. The rain kept tricking us into thinking it was easing, before pelting down even harder! Olivia was still adamant that her jacket was leaking and during a brief pause in the rain a quick unzip to investigate determined that no, the jacket wasn’t waterproof and yes, she was soaking underneath! Kate has yet to apologise for not believing her!!

Barely smiling!

We were feeling a little bit fed up by this point, not even half a packet of sherbet lemons could do the trick! We decided to phone Wendy, and have a chat which instantly made us feel better and we continued on in much higher spirits, helped also by a break in the rain. We passed a house called Ardbeg House which was very special. We used to holiday on Islay very summer and Ardbeg was one of our favourite places - Kevin because of the whiskey and us because of the sticky toffee pudding in the cafe!

A very special sign!

There isn’t really much to say about the rest of the morning’s walk, or many photos! We did see a stoat or a weasel (not sure which) and had a chat to some cows and goats but apart from that it was just a case of getting on with it! A bus heading to Reay passed us which was very tempting but we refrained from flagging it down!

Hello cows!

We met Phil and the dogs on the outskirts of Reay having done around 10 miles all on the road. We jumped in the car and headed to Sandside Bay for lunch overlooking the beach. After we’d eaten we headed down to explore the little harbour which was beautiful!

The beautiful little harbour

After lunch we had to head back to Forse House to pick up the camper van (the logistics are a nightmare now we only have one support driver!), before being dropped off in Strathy. From here we walked out to the lighthouse at Strathy Point which was a lovely walk.

Strathy Point

As we reached the lighthouse the wind picked up and we were blown about a fair bit! We were watching the gannets out to sea and hoping for a whale or a few dolphins but the sea was far too rough to see anything even if it had been out there!

Struggling to stay upright!

We could see another rain shower rapidly approaching so we walked swiftly back! After a fairly miserable start it turned out to be not such a bad day after all and to get 15.5 miles done cannot be bad!

Part 1 (Olivia forgot to start Strava - again)

Part 2

The actual total!

DONATE HERE