{"id":3075,"date":"2022-05-07T11:05:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-07T10:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.stonekicking.co.uk\/?p=3075"},"modified":"2023-02-07T13:19:50","modified_gmt":"2023-02-07T13:19:50","slug":"day-1-john-ogroats-to-sinclairs-bay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stonekicking.co.uk\/?p=3075","title":{"rendered":"Day 1. John o’Groats to Sinclair’s Bay"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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John o’ Groats Trail Day 1<\/strong>.<\/span>
Distance today: 20.7 miles<\/strong>.<\/span>
Total distance: 20.7 miles<\/strong>.<\/span>
Accommodation: wild camping<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

When planning the trip I’d had great aspirations about doing a daily video blog. I’d even bought a stand<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

And in other news: the sky was blue. My first day of a long trek, in Scotland, and the gods were with me.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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 caf\u00e9 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<\/em> had in my life. Context is everything.<\/p>\n\n\n