Thursday, July 19, 2007

Helmsdale to Evanton - 92k - Sat 14 July

We woke to w et and windy day, it having rained most of the night. We rolled out of town, with a southerly wind into our faces, across the new bridge built from the stones of the old Helmsdale castle. The castle would have been better. Instead, they built a memorial on the spot to the families affected by the land clearances - we could see an aussie flag blowing from our hotel window - there were several flags of the countries who accepted familes as immigrants who were sadly affected by this. The road south basically followed the lovely coastline. \while never flat, it was pretty despite the hard work always into the wind.

We were dressed in our full cold weather gear today. I must say \i made a mistake with yesterdays report - I mentioned Dunrobin Castle - well it was todays trip, not yesterday. As we approached the village of Goldspie, the beautiful castle stood out much like the fantasy castle of Walt Disney. It was a sight to behold, along with the rugged remains of the 2000yr old 'cairn' fort on the side of the road just before the castle.

We aimed for the town of Dornoch for lunch. Off the highway, we had to firstly cross the Loch Fleet - always a lovely bridge with its turnoff to Lairg where we had been days before. The road swept se, from where we turned off on to narrow farm lanes for several miles with great sights of farms, staone walls and the waters of the Firth. Dornoch is famous for the final execution of Englands last 'witch' trial, and as the home of Duncan Ross the father figure of modern Golf. It has a 13th century Cathedral. We loved the town, and always sad to leave without taking it all in.

We headed across country again for several k before coming to the long bridge that crosses the Dornoch Firth, which we could see several days earlier on our way north from closer to Bonar Bridge and Strui Hill. The wind was that strong we had to hang on for dear life. It was cutting across us and we were very exposed.

After Tain, we counted the miles down still fighting with the wind, until we got into the cover of the lovely tree lined minor road that took us to the tiny village of Evanton. We started our final leg into the far north from Evanton some 4-5 days earlier. The camping ground is a picture, besde the River Glass and set against the beautiful dark forest on the mountains behind, featured in Harry Potter.

We were glad to be in. Sometime during the afternoon the rain stopped, but the wind stayed strong. We had a nicely protected camp site, and by now it just seemed like a lovely summer's afternoon. We enjoyed one of our 'special' dinners on the Trangia!

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