Day 6 Avoch to Kirkwall

Today was a significant day as not only would we eventually arrive in the Orkneys but I'd be travelling on roads new to me for all of the journey. Well, almost. I had travelled up to North-East Scotland by train in 1987. That included a bus journey between Thurso and Wick and I think this time we may have travelled along about three miles of that old bus route!

After a nature walk along Fairy Glen not far from our hotel, we took the back lanes across Black Isle joining the A9 where it crosses the Cromaty Firth on a bridge completed in 1979. Soon we fuelled the car up at Tain, realising that future opportunities were going to be limited and probably more expensive. The scenery around here is fairly average when you consider the Scottish Highlands in general, including the terrain a bit further on. I would say it gets more interesting north of Dornoch and passing through the small coastal towns of Golspie and Brora. In between these two places, I briefly took some photos of the railway station at Dunrobin Castle. This was once a 'private' station, but has featured as a public station since its 1985 re-opening. Included in the station building is a small museum housing many railway artefacts.

We decided to have a lunch stop in Helmsdale, an important fishing harbour for the area. After strolling around amongst the small boats, we found the local museum that served up a snack for us, accompanied by the customary latte.

Reluctantly, we left Helmsdale and travelled north yet again, and soon reached Berriedale, a place we had been told about at Helmsdale as the road here is certainly 'interesting' as it attempts to cross the deep gorge that houses Langwell and Berriedale Waters. Of course, the road is fine for a modern car, but it must get challenging for large trucks and coaches. Further on, at Latheron, we had to make a decision to go left on the A9 or right on the A99, as ideally, we needed a non-existant road that is halfway between!
The A9 is basically the inland route that heads to the north coast town of Thurso whilst the A99 follows the coast to Wick and John O'Groats. We took the Thurso route and then went 'cross country'. The terrain here is flat and bleak and probably not somewhere you'd want to pitch a tent on most days of the year!

We took a turn off the main road to get in the general direction we wanted, and after  following our 1987 bus route for a short distance, we made a pause at Castletown on the north coast. This is just a small village that has an attractive beach and a tiny harbour.

We still had enough time before the ferry check-in to visit mainland Britain's northernmost point, Dunnet Head. I should say at this juncture that John O'Groats is further south but its fame is related to its north-easterly position on the road network - it is not even the most north-easterly point so its status is rather spurious.

I loved visiting Dunnet Head in as much we were at a landmark, it had a lighthouse and there was lots of fresh air. The only problem was that fresh air was moving fast and was not very warm!

Then we went to catch our ferry from Gills Bay, the 'Pentalina' which took us to St Margaret's Hope on the Orkneys. The crossing takes about an hour, and soon we were driving off the vessel under skies that varied from grey to blue. One thing that surprised me was being overtaken by cars who were obviously in a hurry - I didn't expect this up in these parts, and sure enough, we didn't witness any hasty driving on the island subsequently. After about 20 minutes, we were in Kirkwall and checking in at St Ola's Hotel opposite the harbour. We had arrived.