More miles, 330 steps and a castle

There is no doubt that there is some way that wildlife know when we are about and do their very best to make sure they are not seen by us. No Moray Firth dolphins for us! 

Excellent breakfast looking straight out over the firth and joined by the Americans with whom we chatted before pulling ourselves together, packing the car and setting off for day 2 of our journey. The weather had started by looking a bit brighter, but settled into dull and a bit of drizzle until we approached Wick. 

As we found yesterday, there was flowering gorse everywhere - covering some hillsides and along the roadsides. 

One bucket-list item for today was the Whaligoe Steps, that I remembered having seen Billy Connelly prancing about on and talking about the 'real' women who carried creels of fish from the harbour up the 330 steps and then walking 7 miles to Wick to sell them. 

We started with coffee and scones in the cafe, which was the wrong way round, but it had taken a couple of hours to get there. We were served by a boy of about 12, who took his job very seriously.

The steps are uneven, but manageable, zig-zagging down the cliff to the tiny, exposed 'haven'. At the bottom were a few other people who got in the way of photographing birds on the cliff but we pottered about for a while. There were nesting guillemots, gulls and cormorants. The climb back up was nowhere near as bad as I had feared.

Back into the car and Ian drove into Wick to see if, by chance, the distillery shop was open - it wasn't - so he had to do without, at least for now. There was a gathering of folk outside some centre, presumably having a bit of a party to celebrate the Queen's birthday.

We had to drive a bit of a dogleg up to John O'Groats and left a bit to get to the Castle of Mey, another bucket list place I've wanted to go to for some years. It is very spectacular for what was, essentially, a holiday house, set back from the cliff looking out over the Pentland Firth. 

Although I am a republican, we opted to take the tour of the castle, which was 
quite interesting, light and informal. The gardens were not in their full glory yet, 
but are lovely, divided into lots of 'rooms' even within the walled garden, 
because of the winds. 

After a reviving cup of tea, we drove our last few miles for today back to the hotel. I was a bit concerned about it following a conversation with my cycling colleague, Barry. The entrance and public bar did nothing to alleviate the worries but the room we were allocated was in a seperate building, over the road, which had been a different establishment. It had been upgraded to hotel standard and was clean, bright and comfortable. 

The restaurant was a bit tired but the staff were attentive and the food OK. We walked the last few hundred yards down to where the finger post is, by the harbour and saw a large sculpture depicting how the churning seas throw up great boulders.

Ian and Sue - fish pie with pastry and vegetables.
Ian - a dram of 17 year old Old Pulteney. (He's thinking we may call on the way home, next week!)

Early to bed.

Night 2: Seaview Hotel, John O'Groats

400 miles and a new distillery

We had packed most things last night but still had bits to throw together which meant that, even though I woke at 4:30 (aka stupid o' clock), we didn't leave Congleton until after 6:30.

An uneventful and relatively quiet ride up to Tebay where we stopped but had our own coffee and buns, there being many people queuing for breakfast. On and round Glasgow (dear eldest Grandchild, please note there is no 'r' in Glasgow) to the Cumbernauld services which weren't, proper services, that is, so we moved to the garden centre for coffee.

We had spotted the Tullibardine Distillery just off the A9 on the map and went to check it out. A half hour wait for the next tour seemed reasonable so we hung about and Ian did the tour. I stayed in the bar, intrigued by the different nationalities of people turning up and being fed coffee by the receptionist. The owners are French, with links to the wine making industry, leading to them being the only importers of Burgundy barrels and the only distillery which produces a whisky with a Burgundy finish as part of their main collection.

Because of this, its popularity, and because he did like it, Ian decided to buy a bottle, even though he'd liked the idea of the Sauternes finish before he took the tour.

Onwards through the drizzle, to a cafe somewhere near Aviemore, just off the road, which served decent tea, OK cake but where the music was a bit grim. Lots of lupins in various colours, growing wild beside the A9.

The journey began to get really tedious as we kept going towards Inverness, stopped for fuel at a supermarket we remembered and crossed the bridge over the Moray Firth. The last leg took us onto the Black Isle with our first view of the sea for over a year. We clocked the Crofters Bistro I'd seen online while waiting for Ian to do the whisky tour and went back to it post haste after we had booked into our room. We were very early and fortunate to be given a table for a short while.

Ian - deconstructed chicken wrap, salad and chips served in a plant pot.

Sue - pan fried cod, Puy lentils, bok choi and mustard sauce (and some of Ian's chips) Delicious. 

Back to the b&b in a bit of rain and, suitably dressed, walked along the bay to Chanonry Point to see if we could see the dolphins. No chance! A seal came in fairly close to say hello but that was all. Back to the b&b where we sat in the lounge and chatted to a couple of Americans who had just come in. 

Night 1: Fair Isle bed and breakfast, Rosemarkie, near Fortrose, Black Isle.