It was a foggy and bitterly cold start to the morning, but the sun managed to burn through and it quickly warmed up. Down to three layers today!

Cycling today was nothing short of perfect. We had sunshine, blue skies and first beautiful and then spectacular landscapes. The roads were quiet and often single track, with hardly any traffic. Who would be travelling in this remote part of northern Scotland? We did go through Lairg, which was a bustling village with a Spar shop. After that there was nothing for  the next 45 miles.

Nothing until the Crask Inn, in Crask. Which pretty much just has the Inn. An important point for cyclists and walkers, it is for sale. It is as remote as an Inn can be, and we were trying to imagine who would buy it and where the owners would go after living there for a long time. Husband just said “No”.

Our route guide describes the next part of the journey as providing some of northern Europe’s most sensational cycling, and not having been in other parts of northern Europe, I would wholeheartedly agree. We took our time, not having a long day ahead, took loads of photos and saw what we think were two golden eagles and two oyster catchers.

We cycled along Loch Taver and the River Taver, exquisite in the sunshine. I also learned something of Scottish history, as Strathnaver was part of the area where the Clearances took place. With the appearance of the Cheviot sheep from the south borders, a hardy type that could live year round off the hills, the wealthy landowners cleared out the small farmers in order to take over the land for large herds of Cheviots. We think that’s what we were seeing today still. The small farmers were evicted from their homes with no warning and often nowhere to go, so it was a dark time in Scottish history.

After lunch we stopped at this memorial to Donald Macleod, who wrote about the Clearances, as it wasn’t widely known how they had been enacted. People in general had thought the landowners were making “improvements” and that it was good for Scotland.

We are staying in Bettyhill, in a beautifully situated hotel above the River Taver as empties into the Atlantic Ocean. There is even a beach, but we can’t imagine it ever gets warm enough to swim.

We leave for John O’Groats tomorrow, and then have some complicated travel arrangements to get us to Inverness tomorrow evening, so we can catch an early train on Monday. Apparently someone didn’t want to get home too late on Monday. And John O’Groats is more miles from anywhere than Land’s End.

I have now had two dreams that we got to John O’Groats and forgot to take photos. So we definitely won’t forget tomorrow.