First Full Day - And A Headwind

Day 1, 5th sept 2014

It rained heavily during the night (woke me up), but by the time we woke up it had stopped. Hooray! This time the Johns both slept well, but I didn't, (see afore mentioned rain). I don't think I've slept in a bed with such prominent springs before! Breakfast was free and we were packed and heading off at 8:15. First to the local Co-Op for the days food (which was very good!), then we were off. Initially south before heading west on a minor road. The scenery around Thurso is a little bleak, but is offset by some of the buildings and walls, many of which use the 'Caithness Flagstone' as part of the structure. Both John C and I noticed a barn yesterday that used giant (at least 1 m square) flags for slates. Today it is the field walls we notice are made of the same material. Normally abutting to give thin but very effective functional walls, also more decoratively overlapping.

This was our view of Ben Loyal on the left and Ben Hope on the right from
the Kyle of Tongue road crossing

Gradually the scenery became more and more spectacular as the first big mountains came in to view. The pattern of the day was periodic steep climbs out of the incised terrain. These gradually became bigger through the day. The weather was mostly sunny with a sharp wind, increasing in strength through the day, cold when the sun was hidden. Sadly the wind was in our faces for most of the day, so we were glad to finish, with the miles being harder won than usual. As we were so slow today, we'll have to factor that into tomorrow, and get an early start in case of headwinds, because we have to catch the ferry at Ullapool.

Today's stats
Distance 70 miles
Average speed 10.6 (max 39.5)
Total climb 1775m
Energy approx 4000cals.