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Blown over? Well, it was certainly windy enough! I expected the north coast to be somewhat breezy, but with gusts averaging 25+mph it was, according to locals, windier than normal for this time of year! Indeed, some ferry sailings to and from Orkney were cancelled.
Waking to light drizzle, it was still continuing when I left for the less than one mile drive to Strathnaver Museum. Set in an old church, the museum is particularly dedicated to how the Highland Clearances affected the area. The Clearances were the darkest period in Scottish history, where the majority of tenants were forcibly evicted from the land to enable the landowners to make more money from the land. In many cases, people were evicted violently and their homes and worldly goods burnt with no compensation. A lot of the evicted ended up emigrating to the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand etc, which is why these places have a heavy Scottish influence. A similar thing happened to the Irish.
Back on road, I headed to Crosskirk were I went on a short walk in a pretty coastal spot to the ruins of St. Mary's Church. The ruins are sandwiched between the cliffs and a windfarm, which was certainly benefitting from the blowy conditions!
I then made for the main town in the area, Thurso to pop into the Caithness Horizons Museum. Caithness is the name of the area, and the museum details its history. One of the biggest influences in the area was the building in the 1950s of the Dounreay Nuclear Development facility, which researched the development of nuclear power. It brought much needed employment to the area.
While in Thurso, I had a sausage roll and hot chocolate in a bakery, and refueled the Minx. By now, the sun was out so the roof came off, although it was still very windy, and I made for possibly the windiest part of the coast - Dunnet Head. This is the northerly most point on the UK mainland, with great views to the Orkneys.
Moving back inland to Dunnet, I visited Mary Ann's Cottage. She was a crofter (smallholder) who lived in the cottage all her life. When she died the day before her 99th birthday in 1996, the cottage was virtually unchanged since the 1930s, apart from having running water installed in the kitchen in the 1960s. As well as the cottage, there is the diary, a stable for two horses, a cow shed for two cows and a workshop. Therefore, it's a fascinating insight into a way of life that has all but disappeared.
Finally I made for John o' Groats - famous as the destination of country long challenges from Lands End in Cornwall. However, it's not quite in the north east corner of the country. So, after the obligatory photo of the signpost, I walked along the coast to Duncansby Head, and a little bit further to Duncansby Stacks - two impressive sea stacks whose jagged peaks rise spectacularly from the sea (see photo).
Then it was back to Dunnet to check into the Northern Sands Hotel. For dinner, I had gammon steak and chips, followed by a Chocolate brownie.
Today we drove just 76 miles.
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