John o’ Groats Trail Day 3.
Distance today: 18.1 miles.
Total distance: 58.2 miles.
Accommodation: campsite.
The good news was that there were no angry farmers to greet me when I got up. The bad news was that the sun had gone and it looked like I was in for a day of rain.
My next major landmark on the trail was Lybster. While it’s still early days, the section of trail from Whaligoe to Lybster wins the award of being the hardest so far. Wet and miserable with not much to distract me. In terms of footwear I had made the tactical decision (based on various thru-hiker forums) to use boots which didn’t have a waterproof lining. The theory being even Gore-Tex boots were going to get wet so you were better off using something that was more likely to dry quickly. Needless to say, my feet were soaking and I could feel a couple of blisters developing. All in all, I arrived at Lybster feeling a bit low.
I really needed a place to have a coffee and dry out. Speaking to the people in the post office, they weren’t hopeful but then one of them remembered the Lybster Day Care Centre and kindly rang them to check if they were open. Happily, they were. The centre was only a short walk round the corner and there to welcome me were two women who worked there. I shamefully don’t remember their names but I do remember their kindness. They were absolutely lovely. Firstly they brought me a cup of coffee with a selection of biscuits and then a filling bacon bap. As I slowly dried out, we happily chatted, mainly about my trip, the goings on at the day centre and where they both were from. The elder Scottish woman (I am guessing in her late sixties) had worked there a while whereas it was the first day for the younger English woman (late forties maybe). When it came time to leave I asked how much I owed them and they said no, you’re doing it for charity, that’s fine, you don’t have to pay anything. It might not sound like a grand gesture but it just really, really lifted my spirits. People can be so nice. I moved onto the second leg of the day’s journey a happier soul.
With the incentive of a campsite if and when I got that far, Dunbeath was my optimistic goal for the afternoon. Improved spirits, weather, and scenery definitely helped and it was only on the outskirts of Dunbeath where I hit a slight technical hitch. The trail appeared to want to take me through the middle of a field of cows and more significantly a scary looking bull. With no obvious exit out the other end I decided I would forgo my usual pedantic trail-following rules and make a beeline for the road. As luck would have it, the campsite was just a half mile further on.
Let me hereby recommend the lovely Inver Caravan Park. Firstly, as a thru-walker I was charged the princely sum of £7 for my pitch. Secondly, the hot showers were housed in their own private B&B style bathroom. And the cherry on the cake? A drying room where you could put all your damp clothes on a rack, raise it to the roof, and pretty much guarantee it was going to be dry in the morning. Perfect.
