What to do on a lazy friday!

Well what else but go for a walk in the sun! And of course stop for a pint amidst the wonderful spring flowers in the Tollermache arms at Harrington! Bliss!
And in blast back to the seventies chicken in a basket for lunch!

St Davids head

A view of the end of the walk .......care of a calendar at alderwoods!

Changes are afoot! (Boom boom)

My apologies for the Basil brush pun in the post header,  but it had to be done!
I'm finally updating the blog and inputting most importantly information about the next walk!.
If your reading this directly from the blog you know already ! this post is just a heads up for anyone who followed last years trail and who automatically gets emails from the blog.
To those who get the email if your interested please come over and look at the blog, its getting a fresh new look and lots of modifications!
The address is the same but the blog is now titled "Chasing the horizon!!" A description I have always given to my long distance walks!
Look forward to any comments
Andy and of course Alfie!

As one ends another starts!

OK mine ending is pushing the term a bit but I'll get away with it this time as I have finally handed in my lejog completion/ end to end club paper work at lands end!
Now onto one beginning........
The one mentioned is my good lady Ruth who as you can see from the pic is going to cycle to John O'Groats starting tomorrow the 29th of August, it goes without saying that she has my best wishes for her tour and all the luck in the world!
She's planning on taking about three weeks to complete where upon I will have the pleasure of re exploring my route north to pick her up from the end,only this time in the comfort of my truck!

Congratulations Alderwood!

Having been invited to Alderwoods award ceremony I was surprised to find that it its also their tenth anniversary how time fly's congratulations to the third A Alderwood!

Blog Maintenance

Now that the walk is done the blog is going through a lot of changes!
All of the days blogs will be tidied up! and a lot more photos will be added, so far I have just worked out the exact distance walked. by taking a day to replot my route with the excellent "Maps to GPX" website.
Our original distance was going to be about 968 miles but now even after taking a few shortcuts and allowing for     getting lost going astray whatever! our final distance walked is a whopping 1013.51 miles!!!!!!! very pleased to have broken the thousand mile mark!

all distances have also be put into a new spreadsheet and the route in google maps is also available via links in the right bar, interesting to see !

So keep an eye on us here and see what else happens!

oh i am considering a new challenge already but other than via word of mouth i'm keeping quiet about what it is!
All in good time.

Two of two or the end ! 15/6

Not sure what to say yet will update the end blog asap , but job done !

Ok about time this was done I think! (24/6!!!)

The day started with a quick walk into Wick where a great little Cafe allowed Alfie In!  John and I full fried breakfast later hit the road (A99) out of Wick to the road NE to Ackergillshore where as the tide was out we were able to clamber over the rocks below the pier , made a nice find here of a massive sea urchin. >

.A bit further along and Alfie nearly got an early supper of young Cormorant luckily he came away when called, and the bird just got a bit shocked!, John then put the bird into the sea where it swam out to a rock where its mother waited.

Just above the the bay is the Impressive Ackergill Tower, more of a castle really!

Here a path enables you to avoid the rocky coastline and we started to make better progress, the beach here is sublime! and next to no one else was here, for any one planning a similar route there is a river cutting through the beach into the sea but when we walked through it was only boot deep so no great problem.

Coming off of the beach at Keiss views along the coast show the impressive ruin of old Keiss castle, but as lunch called a drink was taken at the local hotel, before the A99 lead our feet for another 5 miles or so to Freswick, where the bay is fronted by the formidable Freswick house which dominates the bay.

The last hill totally obscures the view of end of the walk till the you get within the last mile or so, but i doubt anyone would be concerned as the views of the Orkneys (weather permitting) are astonishing!

John O'Groats itself is surprisingly large albeit well spread out, with the last kilometer taking you to the now boarded up Hotel where the official finish line is, Why has no one taken over this old Hotel? surely there's an investment here?, Meeting up with Ruth again here (after she had met us on the road near Freswick!) and with the end sign post photos taken, a celebratory beer was had at a hotel up the road where we met up with Chris (lejoger) who was staying at the hotel till he headed home tomorrow.

For me and Alfie a few nights in a large tent with all needs catered for Thanks Ruth!!! were bliss full tho it had to come to an end. so as promised we gave John a lift back to Stafford where he picked up his train and the M6 took us back to the midlands and home.

I suppose the question I've left unanswered is would i do it again? well the answer is certainly not no! but at the moment its not yes either!

 in time when my finances allow I may well reverse the route or find another (stirling looks good!(yes looking already!)) but for now i'm letting my knees recover they seem to be very stiff now that i'm relaxing more!, 

the feet? well i suppose i've been lucky as other than lots of silly little blisters they've been fine!.

At the start of the walk I weighed a whopping 14+ stone (ouch!) by the end I'm considerably more trim weighing in at 12.5 stone so its safe to say I lost two stone or one seventh of my body mass during this expedition, hope I can keep this weight!

Alfie has amazingly had no problems at all during the entire walk! the only thing to slow him down was hot days and a quick dunk in a river or trough soon sorted him out!.

Biggest challenge now for me is work, I dont have a lot ! so if anyone needs an Electrician................

Lybster to Wick 14/6

What can you say about a whole day spent walking on the A99 ?
Oh yeah BOOORRRIIINNNNNGGGG!!
I hate to say that but the most interesting part by midday was walking past some trees...... ok if I hadn't spent the last week looking at the sea that view would have been mildly interesting with its scattering of Oil rigs ,oh one inland oil well at Lybster was of passing interest tho .
The promised pub at Thrumster didn't open on mondays so I boiled some water for coffee while sitting on a rock in the pub carpark , just as it boiled J P arrived (good timing!) So both had coffee and wandererd the last miles into Wick for a soft drink then onto the wick campsite for tonights pitch.

Badbea to lybster 13/6

A long slog today along the A9 and the A99 in a steady drizzle, the long descent into Berriedale and back out was no where near as bad as some blogs/ websites report so a better start than expected.
But as with most road walking you just spend time avoiding traffic not looking at the scenery, the coast here is all high level cliffs and expansive views of the sea (thru the rain!) To the oil fields.
Walking into Latheron Wheel the mist noticeable landmark was an arch formed by whale ribs.
Reaching Lybster we call it a day dizzy of road walking !
Can't believe its just two days walking now. already getting emotional !

Brora to Badbea 12/6

This morning saw a parting of the ways, John is very much an early morning man often walking by 6am so he started early and me and Alfie headed off at our usual 7.30.
Initially we walk thru Brora golf course where Signs warn of nesting Arctic Turns ! And so many too! Pic to follow if it came out! Also nesting were the gulls , sadly underfoot on the path ! Got past without damaging any thankfully just a wake of annoyed gulls, the north sea to our right is pancake flat with the sun sparkling on its surface , think of the north sea you think grey . Right? Wrong its just like the Mediterranean in the shallows with the brightest blue hue. Lovely day !
Passing the rocky shore south of lothbeg point we again share the coast with seals , hundreds of them ! Also the now common oyster catchers defending there nests.
Over lothbeg point and thru a campsite set in the remains of britains second world war defences, just concrete bunkers now but once the front line in our defence.
A further 4 miles of idyllic coast line we hop onto the A9 in mellow mood to stop at Helmsdales Bridge Inn , wow! So many pubs have not allowed Alfie therefore us in and now this Inn turns the tables and welcomes us with open arms ! All seating was studded leather armchairs hunting scenes and tartan tastefully displayed and just lovely staff to welcome this smelly traveller in. Go to this place its perfect.
After the great first half of the day the last stretch along the A9 for 10 km was ok made better by the fact the road was quiet weekend traffic !
Off trail to badbea the abandoned village , now just stone walls but a  good wind break for the tent !

Dornoch to Brora 11/6th

From our Dornoch wild camp on the north sea coastline our way led along a path then an abandoned railway to Embo ,passing quickly thru we keep to the railway and pass on our way the skeletal remains of Skelbo castle.
The trail goes around the sea loch Fleet where we see distant views of seals and the dread A9 !
All to soon we meet the road and spend 6 miles dodging juganaut and boy racers................. (leaving this bit blank to censor any comment about boy racers!)..........!
Entering Golspie we escape the havoc for the day, finding a nice cafe and an all day breakfast with  tea to calm the nerves, then following the coast thru tranquil pasture we find Dunrobin castle (pic) staggering architecture ! The coast to to Brora actually beats the castles beauty as we pass at least 50 seals! Got within 15 mtrs of two (pic to follow) and that was with Alfie in tow!
Dinner in a local hotels bar at Brora, then off to find a wild campsite.

Alness wild camp to Dornoch 10/6

After a mostly comfy night camping in the woods (damn that stick!) We carry on down the road to Tain nice place but not the most dog friendly.
Taking the A9 out of town we pass the Glen Morangie distillery ( yes I made it passed without a visit! May visit on drive home ;) ) 
The A9 follows the Dornoch Firth to the river crossing (just happens to be a pub here, not open but still served us!) As you cross the bridge the very first road sign for John O'Groats tells you 85 miles to go !
On the other side with the sun breaking through to give us the first sunny day since Aviemore, we head along a B road to Dornoch, a grand town with turrets on lots of buildings , here we meet Chris Torrington another lejog nutter! Before stocking up with food and heading out to the dunes for our first seaside wild camp!