TraceysTrek

Best bits: fantastic views, dinner and conversations

Worst bits: barbed wire fences and injuries

Distance: 17.1 miles

It must have been the combination of tiredness from yesterday and the wine that made me sleep soundly last night. I had breakfast with Janette and then she kindly took me back to Dunbeath Harbour for the start of today’s walk. She joined me for the first few miles before we parted company on opposite sides of the main road. There were lots of stiles to climb over and poor Mack, Janettes dog, had to be picked up and deposited over them. Little did I know then that barbed wire fences would be a theme for today.

Janette was impressed with my ability to spot the John O’Groats signs as they are quite small and usually a long way in the distance. The scenery involved stack after stack along the cliffs.

At Latheronwheel Harbour Tracey and Holger were flying a drone over the bridge. They are making a film about the trail which will appear on the trails website next year. They had seen my van yesterday at Dunbeath.

My mood was lighter today and I had a bit more of a spring in my step, long may it continue.

At a viewpoint a family asked if I would take their photograph. They stood solemnly and I took their photo and then I said to them ‘cheer and raise your arms’ which they did, that was a much better photograph.

The going was really slow as the paths were no wider than a sheep track which on the edge of the cliff made it difficult and required a lot of concentration. A lot of the time I was walking between a fence and the edge of the cliff and often had to climb over the fence as the path had become eroded and then rejoin it further down. I lost count of the number of times I crossed fences and walls today.

It was at one of these crossing points where I met two local ladies who were doing the same route as me this morning but in the reverse direction. They were doing the JOG in sections at a time. One of the ladies had done the route back in 2019 and she said that many of the stiles and crossing points were not in existence then so the infrastructure is much improved on the path.

As it was a clear day, the views were magnificent.

A little babbling stream with a bridge was worth the decent and decent.

At last, I could see the harbour at Lybster with it beautiful white lighthouse and cottages. In the distance I could see Janette sitting on a bench, binoculars in hand looking out for me. She had brought my flask of tea and some muffins. Her friend Nikki also happened to be there. We sat for awhile in the sun soaking up the views before it was time to depart again.

The walking was somewhat easier this afternoon apart from quite a few ups and downs across rivers and streams. There are some fantastic examples of stacks and there was a beautiful multi layered waterfall.

I thought my eyes were deceiving me and I was disgusted to see the wreckage of a car on the end of a headland. I have no idea how it could possibly have got there but it did and it looked outrageous.

Then just around the corner was an enormous pile of rubbish that looked as though it would fall into the sea at some point in the near future.

The Clythness Lighthouse kept poking very slightly above the horizon and was teasing me for quite some time before I finally arrived there. I took the opportunity to have an extended rest, finishing the tea in my flask and having a sandwich and cake whilst looking out across the North Sea all the way to Fraserburgh. Rabbits were running around at great speed which was quite bizarre as I hadn’t seen any for quite some time. They brought a new danger, holes in the ground, lots of them. There were literally hundreds of rabbits and hundreds of holes too. I wonder what makes a good place for rabbits? clearly it’s just here. By this point it had taken eight hours to walk just 13 miles.

I had a lots of altercations with barbed wire fences today which drew blood on several occasions. One section required me to do an impromptu jump over a barbed wire fence without the aid of a stile due to a very narrow path and coastal erosion. I was a little concerned I might get my lady bits caught, but fortunately all went well.

Walking on this section, you really get a feel for the land sliding away over the edge of the cliff.

This photo was taken looking back at where I had just walked. The path is between the fence and the cliff edge.

All day today the sea was so very calm like a mill pond with not a single wave to be seen.

Towards the end of today in the distance I could see a large field with maybe 50 or 60 cows with calves and I was hoping that I wouldn’t have to cross it. You guessed it of course I did.

Added to that was there was a very deep gorge in the field and I had to go down a really steep slope and back up the other side. It was about 10 m deep so I came up the slope really slowly just in case the cows were were there. I stuck my head up like a rabbit looking out of its burrow to check the coast was clear before finally emerging. Fortunately, the mama cows were sensible and took their calves to the other side of the Field. Phew!

Only another couple of miles to the finish but guess what, more barbed wire fences without stiles. The final straw for me was when there were three such fences together in a row to traverse. I lost patience at this point as I only had about half a mile left. I decided to leave the field and join the road. Unfortunately, there was a very high barbed wire fence between me and the road. After some careful foot placement, I managed to jump over but got several items of my clothing fastened to the fence.

Vince was waiting for me in the car park and drove me back to his house where Janette had dinner already. A quick shower and a cup of tea and we were ready to eat. We had great conversations but then it was time to retire to bed and write this blog, and yesterday’s.