May 26 - FINISHED!

Very nice day - good coastal walking, abundant birds, acceptable winds, no rain. Arrived in Wick, where we'll camp on a bird observation platform overlooking the tidal river.

Train to Glasgow early Monday, night at B&B, and fly home on Tuesday.

Really nice that our final few days were reasonable weather, great coastal walking, and full of birds.

May 25 summary

All sun
Almost warm
All calm
All coastal
All birdy
All nice people
All happy
All day
Almost our best ever campsite
Almost done!
All our love, Amy & James

P.S. the attached video (if this experiment posting video works) shows the tidewaters raging out of the North Sea into the Atlantic, near Duncansby Head.

May 24 summary - SUN!

Woke up to 100% clouds and Beaufort 2-3 winds. Through the day winds dropped to Beaufort 2 and clouds retreated to 30%. Temps climbed into the low 50s, though are now back to 43 at sunset. No rain all day. EXCELLENT!

Walked across the moorlands this morning for excellent birding - Hen Harriers, Short-eared Owls, Great and Arctic Skuas, many more. 

Picnic lunch on the concrete base of a big wind turbine on the top of the hill. 

Then hitched ride to Kirkwall to visit the 12th century cathedral. 

Bus to Saint Margaret's Hope, and celebrated the fine weather by eating ice cream outdoors!!!

Camped at the same beach as May 22, this time in the tent instead of in the Waiting Room; glassy smooth sea, calling loons, winnowing Snipe, and many other birds of sea and marsh going about their business. Sat outside at the picnic table to watch the sunset. 

Morning ferry back to mainland, then only 28 miles to Wick and the train back to Glasgow!

We are healthy, and it's easy to be happy when it's calm and sunny. 

May 23 summary

Well we're both pretty tired of cool temps with wind and/or rain. I asked one of the visitor center ladies about whether this has been an unusually cool May and she said, it was sunny last Sunday!  as if one sunny day redeems the month. We have no idea if this is all normal, but we think California is just around the corner and we're happy about that. It was 42 degrees when we left our little Waiting Room this morning, and it is 41 a outside the tent as I type this a half hour before sunset. Forecast high today for the nearest town, Stromness, was 44, so it's a safe bet that the sea surface temp must be right around 42-44 degrees. 42 and sunny is terrific walking weather. But 42 and mostly cloudy with relentless strong wind is a different deal, mentally draining to have so much wind. What to wear in these conditions?

4 layers on legs

5 layers on torso

3 hoods + Buff

2 layers on hands

Gaiters (to keep ankles warm)

Plenty warm and comfy with that costume, we were absolutely the only visitors walking around Skara Brae who were properly attired!

[edit after trip: looking at the Wunderground data for the nearest station at IORKNEYI2, the average wind speed for the 24 hours of May 23 was 26mph, gusting to 51mph. Temperature range was 39-46.]

We spent an hour on the bus this morning traveling from Saint Margaret's Hope to Stenness. The rest of the day we walked on quiet paved roads through a very pleasing pastoral countryside. Excepting for the winds, a very satisfying day. 

Nice lunch at Skara Brae cafe and reasonable dinner at a pub/restaurant in Dounby. Now we're camped in the village park/field, thanks to directions from the man at the grocery store. 

Skara Brae on May 23

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skara_Brae

We took the bus to the Stones of Stenness and then walked to the Ring of Brodgar and on to Skara Brae. An excellent way to spend another gale winds day. Skara Brae was well worth the visit. Too much wind to look for seabirds.

We are now warm and dry in a pub in Dounby waiting for the dining room to open.

May 22 - ferry to Orkneys

Slow frustrating walking today. Followed by ferry to Orkneys. 

The skies were mostly clear when we woke at 5:00 AM. Very excited about that. But the winds were very strong all day, and are blowing a gale this evening, which makes thinking a challenge, not to mention walking. A few short rain/hail squalls, as the scattered visually beautiful cumulous clouds occasionally let loose. 

This morning we walked 9 miles of coast. Frustrating for three reasons. First, the wind. Second, the farmers often build their barbed wire sheep fences right up along the cliff edges, leaving no place to squeeze past outside their fields, and they usually don't include gates or stiles, so crossing from field to field every hundred yards is a pain. So for the past few days we've been dealing with barbed wire. And finally, two different women came outdoors and objected to our walking across their fields. In all the walking we've done, we've never encountered that sort of negative reaction. A few evenings ago we asked a fellow standing on his front yard if anybody would mind if we set up our tent in a sheep field in the valley and he told us yes people mind, no camping allowed in this valley, go back to the caravan park, five miles away. Again, we've never ever had that sort of reaction on any other trip. Although in the old man's case, he was probably the local crank. (We ignored him in any case.)  Usually people on foot or bicycle get very warm welcomes; one of the joys of this sort of travel is that it restores faith in the basic decency and kindness of mankind. This kind of negative stuff is really unexpected and put a damper on my mood. The Scots should go take hospitality lessons in Turkey, where everybody offered us tea and a bed and shook our hands and gave us huge smiles and warm welcomes. 

Since we have 2-3 extra days we jumped on a mid-day ferry to Saint Margaret's Hope on the Orkney's. taking a little break from our planned route. The ferry ride was fun, but the wind was howling and the seas were rough, so it was tough to see seabirds. 

The best thing about the day, by far, is our campsite, shown in the lower two photos. At one of the small shops in the village the proprietor has tourist information. We asked her where to camp and she sent us to a beach 2 miles out of town. She said people park their camper vans here, and there's a waiting room in the toilet building where people sometimes sleep when the weather is bad. Sure enough, there's an 8x10 foot room with two large south facing windows and a long bench along one wall. The label on the door says Waiting Room. I guess it's for people waiting for the weather to improve, as there's nothing else around to wait for!  It's kind of like a cinder block bothy, but clean and with hot water and flush toilets. Given the winds we're thrilled to sleep in this nice little room next to the beach. Temp outside is 45-50, but due to the high humidity and gale force winds it feels damn cold out there. 

We are healthy and we really miss our bears. 

May 21 summary

Excellent day. All coastal, no roads. Great scenery and lots of birds.

Passed Dunnet Head, northernmost point on British mainland. Photo of Jim chatting with a couple English gents about birds and salmon (one caught a 10 pound salmon yesterday with a fly rod, took an hour to land it).

1 hour of rain this morning, rest of the day was 80-100% clouds, but no fog, so visibility was AOK today. Temps still cold. We've walked for 24 or 25 days and I have not yet taken off my wool long johns or wool hoody + warm vest. I think there was one day early on when I went for an hour without a wind-shirt or raincoat; IIRC I asked Jim to take a picture to prove it.

We even had a half hour of sun on our skin at lunch at a bench at a little jetty, protected from the wind! There is a stunning shortage of benches on this trip, presumably it is so cold and wet that nobody ever sits outside. But this particular bench was built to celebrate the fact that the queen embarked at this jetty in 1955 to visit the Queen Mum at nearby Mey Castle!

Camped in a sheep field; the old stone fence provides some protection from the wind.

We're about two days ahead of schedule, so tomorrow we hope to take the ferry to the Orkney Islands.

We're happy and healthy.

May 20 summary

Photos:
- Nuclear power plant, which we passed ~200 meters, in process of decommissioning.
- adjacent wind turbines.
- lunch at 12th century chapel, turbines in background.
- exceptional coastal cliff walking for most of the day; miles of some of the best sea cliff walking we have ever experienced.
- Launderette in Thurso, eating fish and chips while clothes are washing, chatting with the most gracious and fun proprietor, who reopened after closing to help us out, because, she said, the next launderette is 50 miles away!

And now camped on the edge of Thurso in the manicured walled garden (protected from the winds) of some weird folly castle!

A great day on all fronts. 100% low clouds and coastal fog, but no rain!

Oysterfinder - beep beep!

Our favorite bird this trip. Common, vocal, beautiful, cheerful, energetic. 

Pairs fly around saying beep beep!!!

Beaches, rocky shores, freshwater and sea lochs, peaty heather, sheep fields, nuclear power plant grounds, abandoned RAF air fields, agricultural fields, working ports -- wherever we go, beep beep!

May 19 summary

No rain. Sun shines. Forecast is good! Trail life is good again.

Dinner and showers at the Halladale Inn and then down to the beach to camp in the dunes.

Great coastal walking all day.

Received news that our very dear friend Cris Maranze died suddenly of heart failure two days ago. Truly tragic news. Life is fragile and every day matters. Our hearts and love are with Stu and Sarah.

May 19 lunch and sun!

Coastal low clouds and fog broke in time for a sunny lunch at Strathy Point lighthouse!

May 18 summary

100% thick clouds. Grey and dank all day. Rained last night quite a bit and continued until mid morning. Then we had much of the day without rain, but it started again a half hour before setting up camp, and rains as we sit in the tent eating canned kippers and local cheese. 

Jim says Wear a Buff, get some guff. 

Amy says Wear a Buff, take no guff. 

24 full hiking days, two of which did not have rain. We strive to maintain a sense of humor. If we did not find humor in things like Buffs then life would not be good. 

We chatted with a group of folks on bicycle tour at the cafe in Bettyhill and one of them was wearing his Buff pulled up over his chin and cheeks, like mine in the attached photo. But his was a boring blue and white bandana pattern, and I'm sure he was jealous of my most beautiful Buff. 

A few years back we spent five weeks hiking in Wales and adjacent parts of England. The first two weeks rained every day, often very heavy rain. But then we were rewarded with three weeks of glorious dry weather. Here in Scotland we have not had any heavy daytime rain, but many hours of light to moderate and steady showers. Just plain frustrating. 

We are quite a goofy looking pair. Jim believes there's an advance warning system and all hotels put out No Vacancy signs when we approach. 

Jim worked very hard to figure out a good coastal route by studying Google satellite images. So far it's been excellent. Today included a mile of walking on Torrisdale Beach that was very striking scenery. 

Today we saw quite a few bushes and willows that have burst their buds, something we've only seen once prior on this trip (in Ullapool which must be in a banana belt).  Locals all comment on the very late arrival of spring, and say trees should have flushed leaves a couple weeks ago. 

We remain healthy and fundamentally happy, but life would be better if the sky had 10 or 20% blue patches. 

May 17 summary

Some nice sun this morning in part of the sky, but the nearby northernmost of the Munros, Ben Hope, was still not visible to the top. Progressively more clouds so that by mid afternoon it was 100% grey. We had only an hour of very heavy mist or light rain.

The first 15 miles, to the small village of Tongue, on the Kyle of Tongue, was on very quiet, easy-walking, pleasant paved road with no traffic to speak of. Nice scenery and enjoyable. Then we crossed the 230 meter shoulder of the small mountain Ben Tongue, and got our daily dose of peat/heather wet sloppy stuff :)

Now camped in a protected little valley not far from the sea, as the weather forecast says that winds will strengthen either tonight or tomorrow, so not a good night to camp in a site open to the sea.

I've attached the weather forecast I grabbed today. You'll see that this is a May Scottish forecast, not a May California forecast. I long for a sunny day that lasts all day. Even though our tent is storm proof and our rain gear (which we've worn 90%+ of the time) has kept all clothes dry, I'm starting to feel mildewed.

On a positive note, even though our feet have often been saturated, we have no problems - no blisters, no cracking or peeling or pruned feet! I've been using Gerwohl's (sp?) foot cream, and anti fungal ointment every night; Jim applies Body Glide between his toes each morning. We just talked about Al and Al's Cotswold feet and it made us feel especially fortunate.

We're happy and healthy, although I (Amy) had a few demoralized "please don't get all grey and rainy right now" hours.

May 16 summary

Great day, marred by 4 hours of mostly very light rain. A new life bird today: Black Guillimot.

We started in glorious sun with a beautiful five mile walk around the headlands/beaches/dunes near Durness. Beautiful to wake up to a mostly clear sky, 45 degrees and calm. Even the interior mountains were clear.

Mid day we sat down to a picnic lunch, only the ~4th time in three weeks that it's been warm and dry enough to spread out for a meal outdoors. Sadly by the end of lunch the clouds had closed in and it began to dribble. Only very light showers until 4:00, but then steady rain until 8:30. Finally stopped so we could get out of the tent to enjoy the views at our 5-star site. We're camped 3 feet above high tide line at the south end of the ~10 mile long sea Loch Eriboll. Rocky mountains next to us; no wind and therefore glassy still water; loons calling; Eiders nearby; beautiful lighting with occasional sun poking through.

It is just very frustrating to have frequent rain. We're in a beautiful spot, but from 6:00 when we set up the tent until 8:30 it dripped steadily and we ate dinner in the tent instead of sitting outside taking in the scene. Particularly frustrating because the whole time it rained we could see that it was clear at the coast; but this afternoon we walked inland along the edge of the sea loch, and the further we walked inland the more the rain fell on us :(

We like coastal walking. Always lots of birds, diverse scenery, the sounds of the sea. Good stuff.

And finally, we are still healthy and happy.

May 15 - cape wrath!!

Another great day. No rain, well actually a few tiny sprinkles. Mild winds. Most of the day was 30-50% sun over the ocean. All day was 100% clouds inland from the coast, and were glad we were not in those low dark clouds.

We finished the final 3 hours of walking from our campsite to the Cape Wrath Lighthouse!! So we get our badge for completing the Cape Wrath Trail :)

Tea at the Ozone Cafe at the lighthouse ( open 7x24x365, just knock). Then 11 mile walk on a worn but paved road to the ferry, which is a small open boat powered by an outboard.

We started our North Coast Cape to Cape leg in splendor; gorgeous coastal scenery, easy walking on dry coastal bluffs and beaches, some sun, and woolies and their baby lambies about.

Walked into Durness for a hot meal, and then back to an ancient church ruin, inside which we are camped - nice dry grass and sheltered from the wind on all four sides!

We met our first Cape Wrath Trail hiker in Durness, Rob. He finished a couple hours after we did. Ate dinner with him and enjoyed his company. The fellow who runs the Ozone Cafe said he's seen about 40 people finish this year, and we're approaching the end of the hiking season (midges will hatch pretty soon and nobody hikes when the midges are biting).

We are still happy, healthy, and in love.

May 14 summary

Great day. In spite of the terrible weather forecast we had terrific weather. Once the rain stopped around 10, it didn't restart until 7:00 PM, and much of the day had 30-40% sun. What an emotional boost to have scattered blue patches in the sky. Mild winds and temps in the 50s instead of 40s.

The better weather today was in large part due to being on the coast; we could see the big banks of low dark clouds just inland, formed by the first range of hills.

Scenery today was excellent. And we saw a Great Skua, a life bird for us!

We are camped in a very cramped but just usable site a few miles south of the Cape Wrath lighthouse. Sadly, it has started to rain so we will eat our dinner inside the tent.

Minor niceties make an enormous difference on a multi-week walk like this. Opposite our foul experience at the pub yesterday, we had some really nice things today. At perhaps 7 or 8 AM, walking up the road from our barn toward Kinlochbervie, a fellow met us on the road and invited us in for tea. He had seen us from his window 1/4 mile away and came to greet us. He and 5 pals have rented a cottage for the week in order to do some hiking. Really nice way to spend the day.

Then, by the time we got to the Kinlochbervie Hotel they were no longer serving breakfast. No worries; the tiny SPAR market had hot flakey pies and we ate four of them - curried chicken, steak&onion, and Cornish Pasties. The lady in the shop could not have been more welcoming or friendly.

Good weather makes an enormous difference, as does an occasional hot meat pie and cup of hot tea!

We are healthy and happy.