Just four to go.......

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Much cycling, extraordinary Scottish scenery and getting lost on mountain tops have been the themes of the last week. I headed north west from Inverness to Ullapool then north to Durness, Britain's most north-westerly mainland village. John Lennon went on holiday there and the villagers have built a little memorial garden for him.

The climb to Ben More Assynt, Sutherland's county top, was harrowing. The mist engulfed me and I wandered blindly around in the dark. It's easy to become disorrientated in these conditions, but when you are 1,000 metres up in the clouds, without a map and knowing that one clumsy foot step will result in falling off a cliff, it's quite daunting. A little fear is healthy, but I was on the wrong side of frightened, half of me just wanted to get off the ridge and down to safety, but the stronger more stupid half said I had to find the summit. I did and I can't tell you how relieved I was to escape the clutches of the mist.

The road along the west and north coast, in fact every metre of the 150-mile stretch from Thurso to Ullapool, is ruggedly beautiful. Lochs, waterfalls, mountains, white sandy beaches and the colours in the sky change by the second.

I took a ferry to Orkney across the Pentland Firth. Opposite the famous 450ft high sea stack the Old Man of Hoy the ferry stopped mid-ocean and a tiny rescue boat was winched down to the sea. We watched as two sea kayakkers were rescued from underneath cliffs. A woman next to me gave me a running commentary of the wildlife, puffins, skuas, seals. Walked up Ward Hill, Orkney's highest spot, the following day, and caught another ferry to Shetland.

I didn't appreciate how far away Shetland was - a six and a half hour crossing from Orkney, almost as close to Iceland as it is to London, and just a hop, skip and a jump away from Norway. I spent a miserable night on the hard cold floor, because the ferry operator Northlink let me on last so every reclining seat and any other comfortable perch was gone. We arrived at 7.30am and I had 10 hours to cycle 35 miles north, climb Ronas Hill, and ride 35 miles back in time for the return ferry. From the top of Ronas I could see the entire length of Shetland and the summit looked like a martian surface, with its huge boulders and red rock.

It was exhilarating to stand on the summit at a latitude of 60 degrees north, the North Sea on one shoulder and the Atlantic on the other. I'd cycled more than 4,000 miles and walked 450 just to reach this spot and I was sad to turn south.

Back in Lerwick, Shetland's capital, the bubble burst. I was offered a job. I suddenly realised that I'm so near the end, and while I'm happy to finish, I know I'll never feel this free again. The reality is that I have to return to 'normal life' and sit still in an office from nine to five. I want to write my journey up as a book. But I feel I should take the job. I'm not sure if I can do both. Any advice or thoughts would be gratefully received.

On a negative note I've lost my camera, somewhere on Orkney. Saying I'm devastated would be a little melodramatic but I'm very very disappointed. Every photo that I've taken since I was in Northern Ireland is gone. Some things bug you for a few minutes or 24 hours, but I know this will still nag away in my mind in a year's time. I went to two police stations, the ferry company and contacted the Orkney newspaper. No luck yet, but the pace of life is so slow and there are so many islands that it could take someone a week to hand it in. But how about this for service? I know I last had the camera on an island called Hoy, obviously a ferry ride from the mainland, but the police officer promised he would get another officer to visit the very spot I last had the camera to check the area. I know there's not much crime on Orkney but he went out of his way to help.

Right now I'm in a depressing place - Thurso. I have four to climb, Morvern, Carn Eighe, Bidean Nam Bian and Ben Nevis in five days. After that who knows?

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Comments

[Dan Hallam]

Thurso's well good
Don't be grumpy, go and get yourself a greasy burger at Sandra's and then enjoy a visit to the nearby Dounraeu nuclear powerstation.

[Tom]

job-tough choice
you really should write this book up, "aint no mountain higher!" first before diving back into a job...