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Day 90: Alness to Tain (12.8 miles)

I started at 10:35 having stopped at a bakery in Inverness for coffee. Very civilised - I wouldn’t mind doing that again! It was a hot day today - I was wearing a tee shirt and 3/4 trousers from the start and debating on a sun hat - that appeared within 15 minutes.

Today’s walk was mostly on minor roads, but the use of forest tracks and paths for some third of it was a relief. This kind of walk is not my favourite but on the other hand it was getting me closer to the ultimate destination efficiently. As a trail the JOGT had been well signposted so far and would be largely on the coast in another day’s time.

The first part of the minor road went through farmland and there were a number of yellowhammers with their classic song “ little bit of butter and ……. cheese’ perched high on the hedgerows.

Most of the houses as on previous days continued to be like crofts - single storey stone built, with some having rooms within the roof. Having spent many of our holidays in France this made me feel very much the similarity between the two, and some pastoral views felt quite alpine.

As I progressed, house martins and then sand martins by a drainage ditch were very active. The sand martins have a quite different and harsher chattering sound to the house martins and appear brown rather than the black of house martins.

There was a lot of hay cutting in the fields, and the sweet smell of fresh cut hay as well as the heat confirmed that summer was well on its way now. Buzzards were soaring over the woodlands, mewing. It had been some time since I had seen them.

A cottage with a mix of coloured stone made me want to check later whether I had moved out of the old red sandstone conglomerate area.

By 11:30 the temperature was already 22 degrees - it had been a while since I’d had those temperatures, and it made a pleasant change but I would have to mind keeping hydrated.

I was anticipating coming off the road and onto a forest track when a cyclist stopped to ask if I was on the JOGT and would like to stop at her house en route for a cup of tea. She stayed with me for a good half mile, and sure enough her house was just off the Trail. At 12:20 I stopped for a very welcome break and cup of tea with apple pie, chatting to Alison and her husband Ken, a retired dentist. Alison was a physiotherapist also moving to retirement. We had a lot in common - Alison acts as a mountain guide in her spare time as I believe does Ken, and we talked through the challenges of the Cape Wrath Trail and the wisdom of postponing it for a separate trip. We also talked about chickens - and their loss through buzzards, pine martens/stoats and foxes. I left at 13:00.

The forest track was quite boggy but I worked my way through without incident and arriving back on the road was entertained by pied wagtails who always make me think of clowns. The path turned again into forest by Scotsburn Farm, climbing for about 250 metres before levelling off. I paused for lunch at 14:20.

There were views across to Invergordon where oil rigs are maintained or laid up when oil prices are too low to justify their maintenance out at sea. Alison informed me that it wasn’t unusual to have a dozen or so out in the Firth. Currently there were 3.

 Just past 15:00, I spied the North Sea through the trees - the sense that the nature of the path would soon change intensified. Shortly after a red squirrel scurried across the track - a welcome sight.

I emerged out of what had turned out to be a lovely forest of Scot’s pine, larches, heather and bilberries into largely cultivated land with lots of kites (of the tethered kind!) hovering over crops of potatoes. I was amused to see a farmer cutting his hay with sheep still grazing in the field. I hoped for their sake they had the sense to move out of his way in time as he showed no sign of slowing down as he approached them.

I had my first sight of the coast line at 16:20 as I was walking into the suburbs of Tain and arrived at the meeting point at 16:40. Martin was running behind schedule so wouldn’t be here until 17:30 but a convenient bench in the sun meant I could write up my notes and sort out photos before getting in the car to go back to the cottage. 

90 days complete - gulp. Only 11 days of walking left……








Location: Tain IV19, UK

Comments

  1. AnonymousJune 17, 2025 at 7:22 AM

    If it’s 11 days to go .. that means only 1O more sleeps !!!

    ReplyDelete

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