Day 48 - Tain to Brora

Pics from the top: The bride across Dornach Firth; Swans on Dornoch Firth; Galspie High Street; Dunrobin Castle near Golspie; A seal on a rock.

Day 48 - Fri May 22nd. John set off early at 7:15 in order to be able to take his time and get an earlier finish. I took advantage of the fact that we were in self-catering accommodation and made myself breakfast, then set off at 8:30. We met up several times in the day and finished together at 4pm, which was perfect. The guide books tell you that there is really no alternative on the eastern route but to yomp along the A9: well that is the case sometimes, but there are some excellent escape routes, one of which we found today.
The A9 Tain bypass is a fairly new road, but no provision has been made anywhere on the road here and elsewhere for cyclists and pedestrians. You can walk safely, but it is on grass of variable condition or on the road gutter. Since this is a recognised cycle route and long distance walking route, and there is NO other way to go, I feel it is a disgrace that this has never been dealt with. It is not uncommon: the Lovat bridge over the river at Beauly is decidedly dangerous and has been for many years, and the A82 near Lanark is horrid to walk on to pick just two examples. But what is really disappointing is that when roads are resurfaced or improved, the authorities still completely ignore pedestrians and cyclists. The A9 has room to spare but pavements are only provided across bridges, then stop: why? The government talks about needing to get people out of their cars but execution is patchy at best.
So we had to walk on the noisy A road with big vehicles rushing by, but at least the scenery was gorgeous. On a luminous day like today, with complex cloud patterns and lots of sunshine between the odd shower, the light is fantastic on water. And there is plenty of open water around to display the beauty of our planet. Crossing the bridge over the firth one was treated to views towards the hills, where the waters narrow, to the west and out over the shallow shoals to the sea and the huge sky to the east. On the way I encountered a charity boat push by which the sign said was 'sponsored by the Applecross Inn', but I'm not sure what they were raising money for. The Applecross Inn is an excellent pub on the West coast, opposite Skye.
The walk along the A9 was not very nice, and John found a good alternative route for part of it, using his GPS. I continued on the road to Golspie, where I stopped for a break. I did meet up with John and Yo at another piece of the ubiquitous Thomas Telford's work in the form of a causeway at Loch Fleet. This is called The Mound and its building separated the river Fleet from the salt Loch Fleet (which is a National Nature Reserve now) and shortened the journey north by many hours.
I rested for a while on the Golspie sea front, eating a sandwich, then continued along the road to Dunrobin Castle, but John had realised that a pathway ran all the way from Golspie to Brora along the beach! The castle is the seat of the Earls of Sutherland and from the sea, looks like it was constructed for a fantasy film, or fairytale, with its tapering towers. Below it is a strip of woodland with the densest and bluest bluebells we have seen I think, and then the sea an the clouds. There were lots and lots of birds - mostly oyster catchers, gulls, terns, cormorants - and also seals sunning themselves on the rocks. And there was the sky and the sea and the distance. I took loads of photos and it turned into a really nice afternoon's walk for us. We got to Brora together and Yo was waiting with the car as usual, and we had yet more treats in store.
She took us back to a small road that runs along the south side of Loch Fleet, where we saw lots of seals on a sand bank, and others playing in the water. Then we went on to Dornoch, which is a delightful little town with it's own small cathedral, founded in the 13th century. This is a simple cruciform building of stone, with a single central tower. It is very simple and gracious inside with the most gorgeous stained glass windows. We had a drink and some delicious hors d'oeuvres in the hotel opposite then set off back to our accommodation.
We had taken for granted that the last days were going to be a simple 'yomp', but today we have been bowled over once again by the beauty and magic of this country.