Northward Bound

Day 3: 135 miles

We took the scenic route from Cannich through Beauly and Dingwall to join the A9 northbound. First stop was at the Clynelish and Brora distillery where many years ago I discovered the first whisky I really liked. They’ve since added a lovely new shop and cafe to the distillery building but along with that a pretty huge hike in prices. We decided over £100 for a bottle was a bit too much so we moved on. The next stop was the small museum at Helmsdale where there was a really interesting exhibition about the local area which included the boom in the herring industry as well as the short-lived gold rush.

Stopping at random sites along the route is part of the fun of a road trip. Today we discovered the remnants of the Badbea clearance settlement which was a really interesting site on the side of a steep hill where people from the inland glens had been displaced to take up sheep farming which was considered to be more profitable. There was also the Hill O’ Many Stanes which was a field with over 200 ancient stones placed in long rows …. who knows why?

At Wick we discovered the Old Pulteney distillery along from the harbour in a rather dodgy looking part of town. After a quick tour and a bit of tasting (well I wasn’t driving !) we bought a bottle of the 12yr old. Lovely mellow whisky with a slightly salty taste which I guess comes from the seaside location.

Eventually we arrived at John O’Groats. We had heard it was a tourist trap but you can’t come this far north and not have a look. We took the usual tourist photos and enjoyed a cuppa in the new distillery cafe which was a beautiful building. We also visited the local brewery shop in the cute little pub where we were very excited to find an unusual sounding cider matured in an Islay whisky barrel.

Our home for the night was at Dunnet Bay campsite which overlooked a gorgeous beach. The clouds got in the way of the sunset but added atmosphere to the photos. And eventually we opened that cider …. but you know when you really look forward to something …. and it really doesn’t meet expectations …. It needed some sweetness to offset the peat I think. Ah well.