The weather improved today, as did the trail and my enjoyment of it! The path was clear and well marked, with fewer barbed wire fences to cross. There were however numerous Geos (creeks or gullies) to walk round, which almost doubled the distance which we would have taken if following the A99. There was a bitterly cold wind, and it certainly didn’t feel like summer, but we had enough layers and held onto our hats! Much of the route was over moorland at first and was pretty boggy(wet feet again!) but later there were farms and fences once more. We were glad to reach Wick, and the comfort of our hotel.

A Backward Glance

Good clear paths today introducing us to encounters of the precipitous kind, only adding more drama to the continuing dramatic skirting of the cliffs we were making. When proximity to the void got a bit too close for comfort we kept landward of the path wherever we could or hopped over the adjacent fence and took the alternative route for scaredy cats. Probably the most impressive views today and although a bit nippy, a very enjoyable walk with fewer hiking up and down ravines. We saw a small boat lifting lobster pots close to the base of cliffs below us. Old remains of buildings were in many of the coves we encountered, evidence of much more intensive fishing activities in the past. There is evidence of communities along the northern edges of Scotland engaged in subsistence fishing as far back as 7000 BC. A couple of hundred years ago most of the the hardy souls living here made a better living from farming the sea than the land, exporting herring all across Europe where it was considered a delicacy. Thousands of years of slowly evolving human tradition inextricably linked to these shores has suddenly changed over recent decades, replaced by mega trawlers operating remotely far out at sea. Negotiating recent human evolution is as dramatic and scary as the cliff edges around here and it’s no place for scaredy cats.