Compass Buster #7: Kirkwall to Fort Augustus

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So the long journey to the Orkney Islands now had to be done in reverse and we were leaving, heading back to the main land and to Fort Augustus. I really enjoyed my time here, and would love to come back to further explore these islands and also head further north to the Shetland Isles. We drove back to the port at Burwick and caught the ferry. The journey was about an hour and uneventful. I enjoyed a sausage butty and a brew for breakfast.

Back on the mainland, we stopped at Badbea, in Caithness, which was a clearance village. There was a sign on the gate at the entrance to the clearance village warning us that helicopters would be spraying chemicals on the bracken. The sign had today's date on Tuesday 16th August and the rough estimate of P.M., which is roughly when we were there. I hoped that the helicopters wouldn't come and dump a load of chemical on us. From the entrance, it was about a ten minute walk to reach the site of the clearance village. To me, it felt like we had reached the end of the world. The countryside looked wild and the sea stretched for miles in front of us. The Highland Clearances took place in the 18th and 19th centuries. Tenant farmers were evicted from their homes by the aristocratic landowners as they wanted to use the land for sheep farming instead. Displaced families began to arrive in Badbea around the end of the 18th century and most were from Ousedale, which is nearby. The families were given small plots of land to tend for, but first they had to clear the land, hack out plots on the slope and then build houses from the stone that they found. I can't even imagine what a tough existence it must have been. Fishing was the main industry and the men were employed doing that, but it was a dangerous job. Not much is left of the village, there are a few ruins, drystone walls and building outlines. It was interesting to take a walk around there. I can't believe that the village was occupied until 1911. Just over 100 years later, so little of it remains. There is a memorial, Badbea's Monument built form the stones of John Sutherland's home in memory of the people of Badbea. John Sutherland was the village's leader and preacher.

We had two options on our drive back to Fort Augustus, we could either visit Dunrobin Castle or go for a small hike up Ben Bhraggie. I opted for the hike. Most people decided to go to the castle so we dropped them there and then headed back to Golspie, where we had briefly stopped on our way up. The path was easyish to get to and since our guide had done the hike before, he knew the right direction to go. If I were doing this alone, I think I would have needed to look up some directions. The first part of the hike wasn't too tough. It was a gentle climb through the forest. The weather was still glorious, we had definitely picked the best day to be outside. The path got a bit tougher the higher we climbed and we needed a few small breaks to catch our breathe. The views on the way up were a good incentive to reach the top. There was a nice viewing platform about halfway up. I don't think it was really a viewing platform, but for mountain bikers, however we used it as such. We even saw a fell runner, I wish I could be that fit!

The last bit to the top was a the steepest and most knackering part. I think it took us about an hour, maybe a bit longer to get up there. Ben Bhraggie is just shy of four hundred metres, standing at 397 metres above sea level. The views from the top were stunning. We could see the surrounding forests to the left, down to the village of Golspie, all along the Sutherland coastline and out to the North Sea. It was also really quiet at the top, we only came across one family, sitting up there having a picnic. If it were Korea, this place would have been rammed. At the top of Ben Bhraggie, there is a 100 foot high statue of George Leveson-Gower known as 'The Mannie'. George Leveson-Gower was the Marquess of Stafford and, more importantly for this region, the first Duke of Sutherland, having married the Earl of Sutherland's daughter. He isn't well liked in these parts due to his role in the Highland Clearances.

We headed back down the same way we had come up. I really enjoyed the walk through the forest and all the pretty coloured pants that were growing all over Ben Bhraggie. It didn't take us too long to reach the bottom. We had some free time so we headed down to the beach in Golspie. Since we hadn't had lunch we stopped off at the Co-op to buy somethings to eat and to reward ourselves with a cheeky little drink after the hike. An alcoholic beverage tastes so much nicer after you've had to work for it. Since the weather was beautiful, we decided that we should have some ice creams, too. While looking in the freezer section, we found the best thing ever, Irn Bru ice creams. Irn Bru is Scotland's national drink and I really like, so when I saw the pack of ice creams I knew I had to try them. Luckily some of the others wanted to split the pack as you couldn't buy them individually. We trooped down to the beach, which was quite pretty, chilling there eating a late lunch of sandwiches and ice cream with a nice fruity cider. The ice creams were delish. I would definitely have them again.

Before heading to our accommodation we stopped off at Loch Ness. We didn't go to the one of the main points, but a smaller quieter part. We would only be overnighting here this time, but we would be spending a full day here later on our tour. The Loch was huge, really peaceful and beautiful. We chilled for a bit and some of the group skimmed some stones across the loch's surface. I was I had that talent. To my utter surprise, it looked like I and a couple of others had actually caught the sun today. My skin was looking a little red. Sunburnt in Scotland, who would have thought it!

Back to Morag's Lodge, we were staying here for two nights this time as we had a free day tomorrow. On the first part of the tour we had been given a leaflet with some options of different things to do in town or we could just do our own thing. I had booked and paid for a couple of activities to keep me occupied. On the bus today we had also pre-ordered dinners for both nights. Most of us were pretty excited to be having Chaggis again. I was staying in the same room as before, right above the bar, not much sleep for me then. Once again dinner was delicious and then we headed to the bar. Tonight the theme was 'Tartan Toga Party'. There had been a big box of material that we could fashion ourselves some togas from. There were also loads of games for us to play. Playing 'Cards Against Humanity' with non native speakers of English is always fun, not playing the game itself but explaining what the words and phrases on the cards mean. As we were playing we kept seeing people trooping through the bar with ice creams, wondering where they were coming from. We looked out of the window and saw an ice cream van. Well it would be rude not to partake in one, my 99 with monkey's blood was delish. I had a really fun night!

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