John o’ Groats Trail Day 1.
Distance today: 20.7 miles.
Total distance: 20.7 miles.
Accommodation: wild camping.
When planning the trip I’d had great aspirations about doing a daily video blog. I’d even bought a stand for my phone to allow me to go hands-free when doing my piece to camera. Within 5 minutes of starting the trip, I realized it was not going to happen. All those Youtubers made it look so easy. It wasn’t. Finger problems. Pointing the phone in the right direction problems. Coherent speech problems. I think I’ll stick with photos and the occasional written word.
And in other news: the sky was blue. My first day of a long trek, in Scotland, and the gods were with me.
Hopefully you can see from the photos that the some of the scenery was absolutely stunning – the Duncansby Stacks in particular. Not to mention the stretches of beautiful deserted beach.
I finally stopped for the day at a place called Akergill Shore. My first wild camp of the trip and nestled on a small plateau of grass just above the rocky shoreline, I couldn’t have asked for a better backdrop. Breathtaking. It’s fair to say I’m not a wild camping devotee (although I did once sleep under a BMX ramp in Monte Carlo – but that’s another story). I love the idea of being in the middle of nowhere with the feeling that there is just you and the landscape. The reality was that I wasn’t far from civilization and as if to prove my point, a man walked past, talking on his mobile phone. Great, now someone knows I am here and they are going to come and steal all my stuff in the middle of the night. Or worse. Ah, the joys of paranoia.
At the risk of angering the hiking purists again, my plan for food was definitely going to be ‘flexible’. If there was a pub or café in the area I had no problems giving them my custom. On the other hand, if amenities were a bit thin the ground, I was quite happy to make use of my stove and whatever dehydrated food I had with me. On tonight’s menu it was mushroom risotto. What can I say? After walking 20 miles, it was the most delicious meal I have ever had in my life. Context is everything.
