Tuesday - two days to go after this

Helmsdale was ahead of where I stopped walking yesterday, so the first 5.11 miles today found me back at the doorstep of the YH. By which time guess what? Yes, it was fekking raining again. I had read in a book that today was probably the hilliest day on this stretch, if not altogether, and the climb out of Helmsdale was long, long but not terribly steep. I just kept going and managed to average 3.7 mph for the morning's 11.7.

The rendezvous for lunch was a layby and I thought we were going to picnic there but Mike suggested that we go up the road to a tea place (so I could go to the toilet indoors and not behind a bush). It was a good idea but happened to be in Dunbeath just past the caravan site where he'd booked us in to stay (in the house not a tent or metal box). So he then drove us back to said layby and left me to walk while he had a bath and a snooze. I refused to know how far it was, I didn't think that was good psychology, especially if it were further than I thought it should be.

The afternoon was dry, thank goodness. Highlight was beating a cyclist up a hill! It was funny, I didn't realise I was competitive until this cyclist went past me on a downhill but the accompanying 'up' was just over there. I thought "I'll have him". Didn't know where that came from at all! Anyway, he stopped to push very quickly, there was a little bit of him leading, me overtaking and so on and then I left him behind. It was a long time (a mile?) before he caught up again. I heckled and said "At last, where have you been?". The reply? "Catching up" :-) After that I didn't care! It turned out that Dunbeath wasn't so far away, so after 8pointsomething I reached the caravan site and turned in. 19.92 for the day.

"Trevor does good food" apparently, so we went a few yards down the road for dinner. Lovely sea view and the food wasn't too bad. They got brownie points for cooking me something not on the menu. The sea had been clad in a very low fog all morning and had only cleared in the late afternoon. The views were magical, not being able to tell where the colours of the water turned into the variations in the sky. I had been experiencing zero network coverage all day, which was a tad annoying, especially today. After we had eaten, we retired to the adjacent bar and I had forced my phone to turn off and turn on again (I don't actually know how to turn on/off my phone - Mike shook his head), Miniwomble managed to get through on a call from Detroit. Apparently, downtown is possibly the most boring place she's ever been to. But. She's seeing Green Day there this evening, so it can't be all bad. It was great to hear from her. A couple of texts from Megawomble sneaked through too. I'd had to use Mike's phone earlier in the day as it was the first time that Orange beat O2 in the availability stakes.

So, two days to go and about 47 miles. I'd seen a sign post not long before the stopover and I read it and thought "I can walk that far in one day if necessary"!! Tomorrow night should find us in Wick.

This post brought to you courtesy of wi-fi at £2.50 a day.