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Day 23  Sunday 16th May 2004

Bettyhill to East Mey (east of Thurso)

Today’s objective was to get to Thurso and seek out some accommodation between Dunnet Head and John o’ Groats.  This would enable me to have a leisurely day on Monday when I obviously needed to get to John o’ Groats but I also wanted to visit Duncansby Stacks and spend more time around Dunnet Head, which is the most northerly point of the British Isles mainland.  I also needed to be within easy cycling distance of Wick as I had to catch the 12 o’clock train from there on Tuesday.

The landlady at Bettyhill warned me that it would be hilly for the first 15 miles of the ride, but further on, after I had entered Caithness, it would become much flatter.  She was right of course.  But the hills which started the journey this morning were mere molehills compared to those that I have cycled over in the past week.  The scenery reminded me more of the north Cornwall coast with beautiful beaches – some with people surfing on at 9 in the morning.  The gorse in this area painted large areas of yellow over the hillsides.  I was soon onto the flatter Caithness landscape and the temperature was beginning to soar – so much so that I stopped for an ice cream in the village of Reay – only the second one of the trip (discounting puddings that is)!  Reay is next door to Dounreay the atomic power station which I understand now is being decommissioned.  From the road I could see the Orkneys quite clearly.  I enquired from the lady shop keeper where I bought my ice cream about cafés along the road and was told that I probably wouldn’t find one until I reached Thurso which was 11 miles further on.  I hadn’t refilled my water bottle this morning because the water in the taps was decidedly brown.  Full of good things no doubt.  The water from yesterday now tasted of plastic – horrible.  So when asked, the shopkeeper refilled it with fresh water which I needed desperately in the heat.

I reached Thurso by noon and soon found the Tourist Information Board which was closed on Sundays.  However, like most other information places, they thoughtfully display a list of local B&B’s in the window with contact numbers and addresses.  There were about three that looked promising in the area I wanted to get to.  The first didn’t have any vacancies.  The second at East Mey had a three star rating and charged £25 for an en suite.  I was later to find out that they did evening meals.  I must be going senile because I thought East Mey was closer to Thurso than Mey where my third choice was.  At the end of the day there was only a couple of miles difference and the quality of the place I am now in makes me think I made the right choice.  The people have made me very welcome and have fed me on tea and scone as soon as I arrived.

Sundays are difficult for evening meals so I had made the decision to have Sunday lunch and eat sandwiches later.  I thought I would make a pig of myself and eat a three course carvery if I could possibly find a pub serving one.  So leaving Thurso I kept my eyes skinned for a suitable venue.  When I reached Castletown I passed a board on the edge of the  town advertising a 3 course carvery for £8.95 – but although I found a pub it wasn’t the one which had done the advertising.  I was in half a mind, having left the town, to turn round and search further, but in the end I decided to keep going as the holiday town of Dunnet was only another 2 miles down the road.  By now it was even hotter and I was down to a thin cycle top and had even taken my cycle helmet off to try and cool down.  The beach at Dunnet, which stretches for over a mile along the coast, looked very appealing.  On the edge of the town I found the Northern Sands Hotel with a carvery at £10.95.  It had plenty of spare tables and the food turned out to be excellent.  I had melon for starters, with raspberry sauce and orange, a choice of meat with Yorkshire pudding, cabbage, carrot, roast potato and minted pear (very nice) with my lamb.  To finish off there was a choice of sweets – I had strawberries on a meringue nest.  With all this inside me and only another 6 miles to cycle it was time for a siesta on the beach.

I spent ½ hour sunning myself on the beach – it really was too hot to stay there any longer and I was beginning to burn – so I then made my way to the B&B at East Mey .  It turned out also to be a roadside café and from the number of people there I soon realised that I had made a good choice.  As I said earlier – I was fed on tea and scone which I couldn’t refuse even though I had only finished my three course carvery about an hour before.  It would have been impolite to refuse wouldn’t it?  Suddenly people sitting in the café became excited by a large bird of prey which landed on the fence about 100yds away.  There was a nice bronze telescope just waiting to be used in the conservatory where the food was served and binoculars appeared out of nowhere.  The general consensus was that it was a golden eagle but the landlord wasn’t so sure.  It certainly was big – it made a crow sitting not far from it look positively small.  Its coat was quite lightly coloured whereas a golden eagle is quite a dark brown.  It probably was a buzzard but I will never know – the camera shot I managed to get of it is just too far away to make out enough detail.

Shortly afterwards I decided to go for a walk down to St John’s Point about a mile from the B&B.  Here I was rewarded with beautiful views of the coastland and the gorse and more birds to add to my list of varieties I have seen along the way.  There were Shags, Fulmars, Common Gull, and Greater Black Backed Gull. And then later on in the evening as sunset approach it looked as though I might get a good picture so off I went again down towards the Point – it wasn’t a perfect sunset as there was some cloud around, but it was the best sunset of the whole trip and it made a nice climax to the cycle ride.

I have cycled 45.4 miles today at an average of 10.8mph.  This now brings my total mileage to 1125.6

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