We woke up to a glorious morning, and decided to have breakfast at one of the cafés in JOG. Most were actually closed 🤦🏼♀ but that seems to be the case on Monday’s when the season is beginning to wind down. Mark enjoyed a fry-up, complete with tattie scones and haggis!
Dunnet head Our first stop today was another lighthouse. But not any old lighthouse! It’s the lighthouse at the most northerly point of mainland Britain. A lighthouse fact – it has a range of 23 miles and flashes white 4 times every 30 seconds. In previous times it was run by a series of lighthouse keepers, whose job after dusk was to keep watch in the lightroom and ensure that the light flashed correctly and to character. How many times can you say lighthouse in one paragraph… It’s also an RSPB site as it’s home to many seabirds. But again.. we had another very poor seabird show. Another exciting thing about Dunnet head is it has a trig point. So that’s another one bagged in our trig bagging quest. We were really lucky with the weather, and because it was so clear, we could easily see the Orkney Islands.
Whilst doing my research I’d found a bright pink cake cupboard which is situated on the side of the road at Bettyhill. Everyone raved about it, saying it was the best cakes and treats they’ve ever eaten. Today however.. it was closed.. obvs. A bit further up the road we found a cute little cafe and treated ourselves to a haggis sausage roll. We found a scenic P along the route and stopped to make a coffee and to enjoy the sausage roll with the views.
Coldbackie beach A lot of the places we have marked on our map are a bit of a faf to find.. and this was no different. Once we found somewhere to park Ruby, we then had to find out how to actually climb down to the beach. We eventually found a gap in fence and headed down the hillside to the hidden shores below. Golden sands and clear blue water, with little signs of life.. it was absolute heaven. We had the whole beach to ourselves. If we didn’t need to reach our next campsite by a certain time then we would definitely have stayed there a lot longer. It was just so peaceful! And the photos really don’t do it justice.
Castle Varrich Because we missed out on Castle Sinclair, we really wanted to make sure we got to a ruin. Castle Varrich is perfect because it has a superb prominent position overlooking the Kyle of Tongue. We parked up in Tongue in the small parking area outside a hotel, and began the climb up to the castle. It’s such a beautiful walk, with views over the dramatic rocky peaks of Ben Loyal. After zig zagging our way through the trees, and a final ascent we made it to the castle ruins. The views were incredible, and you are now able to climb a metal staircase to the top for an even better lookout. The precise origins and age are unknown, but it is thought to be associated with the Bishops of Caithness, the Mackay clan or the Norse.
The rest of our day was taken up driving, but with each turn came something more breathtaking. There are so many places to pull over and take in the views and get some incredible photos. It is a game of dodge the sheep however! We arrived at our campsite for the night – Sango Sands Oasis. We were really keen to stay here because we had heard good things. And they were right! It’s situated on a cliff top with views over the award winning beach below. We had originally parked Ruby on the edge overlooking the sea, however it was on a bit of a slope and the wind was getting up, so me being a massive wuss, we moved further back so we didn’t roll off during the night. The rain then came and decided to stay for the rest of the night, which meant cooking in the van. I made a bloody good chicken curry which enjoyed with a glass of wine. We also decided that sleeping in the pop roof probably wasn’t a good idea due to the weather, so spent our first night on the ground level bed, which was actually very comfortable!
The Travelling Ginger 