Quick catch up: yesterday was a remote cycle from Tongue over the headland to, and then around, Loch Eriboll (or, as the café owner from Pontefract preferred to call it, Loch ‘Oribal which was strange as it wasn’t and it had made him stay there for the last 40 years of his life) to Durness. Having been impressed by the hostel in Tongue, it was hardly surprising that as soon as I passed the sign for the youth hostel in Durness, I did a quick u-turn and signed in. They had space… But only for one night. Pity as my intention was to spend the day – today – in Durness and make the trip to Cape Wrath. Could I put my tent on their lawn for Friday night? That wouldn’t be a problem. Setting off for the ferry to Cape Wrath this morning, that was still my intention but when I walked past the campsite at Oasis Sands I was beginning in got regret not having continued cycling last night and stayed there for two nights instead. Could there be a more beautiful location to pitch your tent? More of that in a second.
I suspected that the ferry would be quite small – it was – and I suspected that the number of people who wanted to make the crossing might be quite large – my suspicions were well placed – so my decision to walk the two miles to the pier at the crack of dawn was a good one. I was there first and my place was guaranteed! At 9:30am along with ten other early birds and a couple of drivers, we crossed the estuary – the Kyle of Durness – and set off in a mini-bus for the Cape itself. An hour later after a rather rickety ride along a road that hadn’t been resurfaced since the 1950s (according to the driver who was trying to entertain everyone with his facts/witticisms, many of which were half truths to say the least) we arrived at the lighthouse to explore – see the pictures. The return journey was what I have just described in reverse (with a smattering of different jokes from the driver).
I returned to the youth hostel, picked up my affairs and of course my bike, cycled to Oasis Sands campsite which is where I now am. How could the charms of a youth hostel lawn, even one as pretty as the one here in Durness (see the pictures posted yesterday) compete? They couldn’t, so I moved. Tonight I cook for myself and eat al fresco!