DAY 118: Lunchtime Report

DAY 118: Lunchtime Report!
The Castle Arms Hotel, Mey
From your new lean, mean lightweight correspondent.

A lunchtime report! Gadzooks!

The watchful reader will have noticed that there is a dearth of public houses in the north of Scotland, or if there is one, it is likely to be closed.

Not so with the Castle Arms Hotel, Mey.

I walked this morning up to Dunnet Head. Dunnet Head is a good spot. Not unlike the Lizard in it's unspoilt and wild qualities, and you have to make an effort to get there as it is off the main road. Skuas soared over the cliffs and the light was pin sharp over the Pentland Firth. The Orkneys were the other side of a deep blue sea with white horses dancing on the surface.

Derek & Marian were there to meet me: What I would have done without them in the north of Scotland I do not know. They have driven hundreds of miles, supporting me with my food parcels and moral support when I was feeling low, and keeping in touch to give me severe weather warnings when I was in the Flow Country. They have arranged accommodation and been all round wonderful company.

So we are sitting here with a Guinness or three, looking forward to a trio of sausages with mash and lashings of onion gravy. We have earned it, Derek has walked like a good'un this morning.

Going back to last night (you don't want this in chronological order do you?) I was walking up to the hotel when a couple sprang from the bushes and asked if I was Alan Sloman.

They were Francis & Margy and had spotted Wanda at the campsite (but had not spotted me inside having a snooze.) Francis has completed a couple of TGO Challenges (I recognised him from one of Jean Turner's Challenge Accounts) and has been following the blog since Cornwall. Such loyalty should always be rewarded, so we had a few pints of Guinness (Margy was driving) and had a splendid evening.

Francis had spotted a very rare flower just behind my tent and so I resolved to find it in the morning, which I singularly failed to do.

Francis & Margy at Dunnet Hotel

Did I mention that I had visited the wildlife centre at Dunnet Campsite? Well - inside amongst the splendid exhibits - there was a weighing machine. I know not why.

I stood on it and was amazed to find that I weigh 140 lbs. That's ten stone in real money. At the start of this walk I weighed in at a hefty 12 stone eight pounds.

I am wasting away!