Day 282: Rosemarkie to Cromarty

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Best bits: Janet’s arrival and watching the waves

Worst bits: saying goodbye to Fi

Distance: 9.5 miles

I had really enjoyed my time with Fiona and Gordie. Fiona and I had plenty of time to chat about life, adventures and family and get to know each other better. However it was now time to leave them.

I drove to Cromarty to meet Janet who was going to be my support team for the next few days. Janet and I met on a trek in the Sahara desert last February. After a quick catch up we planned the rest of the day.

The sun was shining as we arrived at Rosemarkie and we popped down to the beach café for a roll and a cup of tea. We had a blether about things we’ve been up to since we last met and then I left Janet to go dolphin watching and I headed up the Fairy Glen. It was very tranquil walking on pine needles amongst the trees with the sound of the little stream at the side of the path.

The sunlight was shining through the trees creating dappled shadows across the path. Fallen trees and branches from previous storms lined the river bank. The waterfall was quite small but perfectly formed.

The rest of the day was walking along mainly a single track road along the thin finger of land that is the tip of the Black Isle. The weather was very changeable. I had my waterproofs on and off. With blue sky and rolling fields in one direction.

And storm clouds in the other direction.

There were many fields of crops, some of which had just been harvested leaving the stumps of the plants behind and others looked golden in the sunlight. I liked this little house on the prairie!

Eventually I arrived in Cromarty and it brought back memories of being there with Angela a few years ago.

Huge rigs came into view in the Cromarty Firth. I remembered Angela and I sitting on a bench just looking over the Firth taking in the views.

By this time the wind had really picked up with gusts of over 40 mph which whipped up the water creating big waves. I jumped in Priscilla and Janet and I watched with fascination as the little boats anchored just offshore were being thrown around like toys in the sea.

We were meant to get the ferry across to Nigg but it was cancelled due to the weather. So we had to drive round and cross the Cromarty bridge. I took this photo when I was with Angela.

We arrived at Asda, the last one on my journey, in Tain to spend the night there. I introduced Janet to the tins of gin and tonic. She got a liking for them. We will need to get some more supplies.