Day 10

Even though I didn't have far to go, I woke early and set off at 7am after a chilly night. It soon warmed up when I got out of the shadow of Ben Hope. The hills on the other side of the  valley caught the sun earlier.
 
The track headed up a hill, small compared to some I've been up.
 
There was a view of Loch Hope on the way up the hill.
 
And various mountain views.
But more exciting was to finally see the sea which I hadn't seen since I left home.
 
The track descended to the sea at Loch Eriboll.
 
It was then to be 15 miles on the north coast road to Durness which I was not looking forward to with all the motorhomes and other traffic. Initially the smell of the sea kept me going but then it was a delight to stop and chat with a cyclist with a solar powered E-bike. I can't quite see how to do it for a mountain bike!
 
I then met a mountain biker who had passed me two days earlier while I was eating pot noodles for lunch. He was on his way back from Cape Wrath having been going twice my speed, but he is somewhat less than half my age. He had lots of useful info on the ferry and a bunkhouse I somehow hadn't heard about. I was expecting to camp as the youth hostel was full.
After a while, I reached a beautiful sandy beach with a zip wire. You might just see the person if you zoom in on the picture.
 
Finally I reached Durness, though the sign is a long way out of the village.
 
I checked in at the bunkhouse and started to sort my stuff out. I was hungry while sorting stuff out so my last pot of noodles was the easy option! I had a much needed shower and removed a tick from my right ankle.
 
After stocking up at the Spar across the road, I wandered down to Balnakiel craft village which I had visited 51 years ago. I chatted to some of the people, the woman making glasswork had moved there in 1975, just after I visited. She said the leather worker would have been there when I visited though she wasn't around today.
 
I called in at the village museum on the way back to the bunkhouse.
 
Dinner was scampi and chips at the local pub which seemed very busy and noisy after 10 days in the wilds.
 
I have now booked the final stage and return home. The ferry in the morning across the loch so I can cycle to Cape Wrath lighthouse and stay in the nearby bothy. The ferry back Monday lunchtime so I can catch the bus to Inverness Tuesday morning. Then it's a train to Edinburgh for the night. On Wednesday three trains to get home. It makes the  cycling seem easy!
The route for today.



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