Day 89: Culbokie to Alness (13.1 miles )

First, I’ve now checked out cuckoo migration and I was wrong! Apparently, cuckoos typically leave Britain between late June and early August to begin their migration back to Central and Southern Africa, where they spend the winter. Adult cuckoos depart first, from late June to mid-July: they don’t have to raise their young after all! The young cuckoos, which fledge later having been raised by their foster parents, leave a few weeks after the adults, generally by early to mid-August. What staggered me is that the young cuckoos make the journey alone without guidance from adults, navigating by instinct. Thank you, to one of my neighbours who pointed out that she is still hearing the cuckoos down south!

After a saline wash and sleep, my eye seemed to have recovered, much to my relief. We arrived at the drop off point at 10 and Martin walked out with me a short distance before turning back. The path descended quickly down towards Cromarty bridge, with a red kite as usual being pestered by crows. 

This time, the guidebook was very clear that there was only a pavement on the northbound side of the bridge so I crossed the A9 as soon as I could - my luck was in - the coast was clear!

I was amused to immediately see an oystercatcher - I could swear I’ve seen them everyday on LEJOG. But then my eye was caught by a large bird of prey, light coloured underneath, brown on top. It circled over the water and as I fumbled to get the monocle focused, it circled over to me - a stunning view which didn’t require a monocle or anything else. As it moved away it did the classic hover over the water of an osprey. I wanted to check its distribution to be sure this was right, but was excited nonetheless. On the far side of the bridge, I spied a shelduck and a red-breasted merganser - not a bad start to the day! 

As I navigated my way round the roundabout, to get onto the path, a couple of oystercatchers started bombarding me and getting very agitated - they seemed to be doing this to some of the cars and lorries too, even landing in the road. I guessed that their nest with young was in the centre of what was quite a large roundabout - this was confirmed on the drive back to the cottage later that day when I spotted one of the adults with a young chick on the edge of the roundabout centre. It made me cringe thinking about the chances of survival for them. Such a shame.

Shortly after the roundabout the route takes you up and over the railway but the guidebook warned that there was a discussion with ScotRail to withdraw this. I walked up following a Network Rail personnel van, and asked him on the status of discussions. He didn’t know but the gates were padlocked. There was a road bridge further down the A9, but in the end he agreed to let me across as he was there to supervise me. Phew - I wasn’t especially keen to continue walking along the busy A9. 

The walk continued through a mix of forest and farmland, and as I approached Evanton I reflected on how beautiful the hedgerows continued to be - elderflower was in blossom along with dog rose, broom and what I thought was cow parsley. But I have never got the hang of the umbilifer family of plants so couldn’t be sure.

I stopped at the Cornerstone cafe in Evanston and I am glad I did. It’s a cafe run by volunteers and I was given a warm welcome as well as coffee and fruit cake. One of the locals confirmed that the bird I saw off the Cromarty abridge would have been an Osprey. I was delighted.  

The lady who served me had a long chat with me. Her sister had died with dementia and wanted to tell me about it but she also shared some local stories - one that the local laird returned from India in the 18th Century when the area was poverty-stricken. He offered to pay each person who took a stone up onto the brow of the hill a year’s earnings to construct a statue representing the town entrance where he had lived in India. The Fyrish Monument remains prominent today and I was to get a clear view of it later that day.

The stop allowed me to make a decision - to carry on, on the official route largely along roads or to take a woodland alternative to see a gorge which would challenge my navigation skills.  After yesterday, should I go with the first and shorter route, or the more challenging longer route… I decided I needed to sharpen myself up a bit and went for the latter option. So coming out of the cafe I shortly turned off the road and headed up the hill into the Evanston community forest.

This turned into quite a revelation. Shortly after I turned off, a red deer doe crossed the track in front of me. I then came to an information board which told me that the existing forest had been largely destroyed by a storm in the 1850’s so over a long period of time the local community re-planted the area in what we would now term a re-winding scheme.

The result is amazing and recognised by the Forestry Commission as outstanding. The forest is made up of a mix of huge Scots Pine, Douglas Fir, and Sitka Spruce which I started to get more familiar with, as I neared something I had heard about but under-estimated: the Black Rock Gorge. I don’t suppose the photos do it justice but it is breath-taking - the info board says it's up to 40m deep and as little as 5m wide. The local stone is red sandstone conglomerate and is very evident in the buildings. Staggering and atmospheric with the curving walls moss covered, and mist rising from the tumbling water far below, which you rarely see apart from the footbridge. The gorge has been used for a scene in Harry Potter and the ago let of Fire. Seeing the gorge  completely justified the alternative route although I was yet to see how challenging that would become…

I dragged myself away, to be rewarded by the fluting song of blackcaps and shortly after a fawn stopping in front of me, followed by its mother, a fallow deer, both with dappled coats.

The guidebook told me to turn off onto a small disused track - so small and disused it disappeared into gorse and broom after 100 metres. I was forced to go off-piste through bracken and then marsh to find a way forward, before dropping back onto the track when it became a vehicle track rather than a path. There was no way I was going to be stopped, but it was an uncomfortable 15 minutes not knowing if I was going to find a way through. The way forward was clear now, providing I kept my wits about me with map-reading and this was something I enjoyed.

The view opened up onto the hill above and I spotted the Fyrish Monument, I had been told of earlier. Cuckoos were calling around me reminding me that they do indeed stay here for longer than I had thought!

I had a late lunch at 15:30 overlooking the oil rig construction in the distance at Invergordon, with a pastoral almost alpine scene in front of me. I seriously enjoyed the sun and a proper lunch stop - eating lunch on the hoof in the rain is all very well but this was a treat!

The next potential obstacle was forestry work on the track I needed to follow. Fortunately they had stopped work, but I did wonder what I would have done if they had told me I couldn’t pass through. Maybe these “alternative” routes were simply too unreliable if you were invested as I now was in getting to John O’Groats come what may!

Still I hoped all would be plain-sailing from now on…… oh dear, wrong again.

This time it was a field with sometimes shoulder height grass, gorse, brambles and nettles to navigate … and a barbed wire fence and stone wall to climb up to get onto a minor road, to finish. All manageable in the end, but I would have to check for ticks in the next few days.

From now on, the way forward really was straightforward, an unsurfaced track taking me to the suburbs of Alness and onto a minor road into the town centre. Spotting a sedge warbler which teased me with its singing as I walked along the track entertained me on the last stretch into town. I arrived bang on 17:00 which was when I had told Martin I would arrive. Very satisfying!  

Martin arrived 20 minutes later and after picking up some barbed wire fence protection for future stretches (explanation to come later!), we drove back through the attractive town of Beauly for provisions before heading back to the cottage to enjoy a sundowner over-looking Loch Ness and the Urquhart Castle. And to top off the day, an RAF Atlas (the replacement to the Hercules) flew up Loch Ness towards and over us. Magnificent.