Simon Sez,
Ever north but also east. In the morning, calm and no rain. The beauty of Sutherland is revealed. This is the most remote and uninhabited of all the counties in Britain. It is wild and mountainous with a desolate beauty. Grouse moors, the occasional conifer plantations, rolling mountains and wonderful rivers.
Ever north but also east. In the morning, calm and no rain. The beauty of Sutherland is revealed. This is the most remote and uninhabited of all the counties in Britain. It is wild and mountainous with a desolate beauty. Grouse moors, the occasional conifer plantations, rolling mountains and wonderful rivers.
We cycle 15 miles to the romantic village of Altnaharra and then alongside Loch Naver. If there is a more beautiful place than Loch Naver and its surrounding mountains then I have yet to see it.
We hear several more cuckoos on this beautiful ride.
After Loch Naver we cycle along the river Naver where we bump into a group of aristocrats/landed gentry and watched while one of the fisherman and his ghillie catch, land, tag and weigh a massive 12lb wild salmon and then return it to the river.
Onwards to Bettyhill on the north coast. It has a lovely yellow sand beach. We turn east towards John O-Groats. The north coast of Scotland is not a pretty sight – bleak, desolate and forbidding. We cycle for a quite ghastly 32 miles in driving rain and wind to Thurso. On the way we went past the doomed and gloomy Douneray nuclear power station.
The Pentland Hotel in Thurso is large, warm, comfortable and more or less deserted., We stay for two nights in some comfort. Next to the hotel is the huge church of St. Andrew and a little further on there are two fish n’ chip shops, Robbin’s and Angela’s, exactly facing each other across the street. Weird.
Thurso is a bleak little town but we liked it. In a little old bookshop I buy for £2 a battered version of the “The Prince in the Heather by Eric Linklater, a fascinating story of Bonnie Prince Charlie’s escape after Culloden.
The Pentland Hotel in Thurso is large, warm, comfortable and more or less deserted., We stay for two nights in some comfort. Next to the hotel is the huge church of St. Andrew and a little further on there are two fish n’ chip shops, Robbin’s and Angela’s, exactly facing each other across the street. Weird.
Thurso is a bleak little town but we liked it. In a little old bookshop I buy for £2 a battered version of the “The Prince in the Heather by Eric Linklater, a fascinating story of Bonnie Prince Charlie’s escape after Culloden.
I could murder a cigar.
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