Day 112 Dornoch to Golspie

We arranged to meet this morning at The Dornoch Hotel where Tim was staying. It had been built in Victorian times and must have been splendid (110 rooms) but is now less splendid although it still sits in a splendid position looking out over the golf course towards the sea.

Today’s route took us along an old railway trackbed around and then across Loch Fleet and through the woods to Golspie where we are both staying at the Golspie Inn. We walked along the edge of the golf course where there were already a lot of people out even though it wasn’t yet 9 am

We walked on past a (closed on Mondays) cafe until we reached Loch Fleet, a sea Loch and National Nature Reserve. Unfortunately, neither Tim nor I know much about birds, nor do we have binoculars so it was rather wasted on us although there was a bench where we sat to rest.

Our next task was to follow the toad round to the A9 to cross the bridge over Loch Fleet. This took a while and we were glad to escape off the road onto a small forest track.

The forest was pleasant to walk through but all too soon we were out of it and into fields which provided rough walking. And the gates were locked so we had to climb over them. At last, after skirting a field of oats, we reached the level crossing and a trudge down a long straight road with nowhere to sit. We had done nearly ten miles by this stage and were looking forward to lunch. The road turned into a forest track. We saw a sign to a bird hide which meant only one thing to us -there would be a bench inside.

We met a chap from Scottish Nature coming out of the hide and he tried (but failed) to interest us in the birds we might see. We had seen a bench outside the hide and all we were interested in was lunch.

After our Co-op sandwiches the path wound through a slightly misty forest. I thought my glasses were dirty but Tim confirmed it was mist. It was soft going on the feet which are a bit sore after several days of road-walking but all too soon we hit the road again and followed it all the way into Golspie.

We turned along the seafront which was a street of old one-storey cottages facing the sea. There was a church and a small pier

The road joined the Main Street which is the A9 and we followed it past all the shops, cafes, and another church, admiring the floral displays (I think Alness having won Britain in Bloom is spurring on the neighbouring towns). Our hotel The Golspie Inn- was pretty much the last building in town.

I am now, once again, lying on a comfy bed, resting my feet before dinner. Fourteen miles done. Tomorrow is a very short day -6.5 miles from the middle of Golspie, possibly less than 6 from our hotel.