[This walk was completed on 21st May 2024]
It is another cloudless morning. I chain my bike up behind a notice board in Helmsdale Harbour. I’m nervous leaving it so close to a busy car park, but decide to leave it in full view of some nearby houses. Hopefully it will still be here when I finish my walk!
Make my way up to the A9, and follow the road over the bridge. It’s a pretty impressive bridge.
[This walk was completed on Monday the 20th May, 2024]
What a difference a day makes! Yesterday was misty and damp, but today is brilliant sunshine with blue skies and a clear horizon. How wonderful!
[This walk was completed on Sunday, 19th May 2024]
It’s a drizzly, mizzly, damply misty morning. I walk down into Berriedale and look across the valley to take a photograph of the road I will be climbing shortly. Sadly, it looks just as foggy on the other side.
[This walk was completed on Saturday 18th May, 2024]
Today, I will be mainly road-walking along the notorious A9. But, first, I follow a minor road under the overpass, and take a path up the hill. Great views. Dunbeath doesn’t seem very large from up here.
[This walk was completed on Friday, 17th May, 2024]
I cycle back to the cemetery in Latheron. The old chapel is now the Clan Gunn heritage centre – but it is closed. Chain my bike behind a public toilet (also closed) and set off for my road-walk to Dunbeath.
[This walk was completed on Thursday, 16th May, 2024]
I walk down to the harbour at Lybster. It is a pleasant stroll along a road, in watery sunshine.
[This walk was completed on Tuesday 14th May, 2024]
It is a beautiful place to have lunch. On flat rocks, with waterfalls cascading down the slope above, and a ruined building perched in the distance.
[This walk was completed on Tuesday, 14th May, 2024]
From the bus stop on the main road, I walk along the little lane that leads to the Whaligoe Steps. Past the row of little cottages, past a number of vehicles trying to get into the tiny car park (which is full), until I reach the end of the tarmac.
[This walk was completed on Monday, 13th May, 2024]
Leaving Sarclet Haven behind, I carry on along The John o’Groats Trail. I’m tired now – this walk seems longer than I anticipated – but I must be nearly there. Another geo to walk around, fringed with pink thrift flowers. Turrie Geo, I think
[This walk was completed on Monday, 13th May 2024]
I cycle the long, straight road into Wick, find the side road that leads past the Trinkie swimming pool, and reach the car park at the end of the lane. Then, I realise I forgot to bring my bicycle lock! (It’s been a year since I walked the coast, and I have forgotten my usual routine.) So, with some difficulty, I drag my Scooty bike down a grassy slope, and leave it hidden from the road, lying against some rocks.
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Incident number: 1229Response ID 329,262,000 Date: 16/4/26 Location: Preston Bagot, Warwickshire. Grid reference 176644 2 people, no dog Report: “Walking around the edge of a field the cows charged. I had to climb over a barbed wire fence while my husband ran around the corner of the field.It would be great to see special fencing […]
Incident number: 1228Response ID 329,163,280 Date: 8/4/26 Location ///farm.prepare.character, Between Unstone Green and Dronfield,Derbyshire 2 People, with 2 dogs on lead Incident Summary: “On 8th April 2026, while traversing the established public footpath southwest from Highgate Lane, our party (two adults and two canine companions on leads) encountered an aggressive bovine. The animal emerged from […]
We all have a right to walk safely along footpaths, and we can’t predict which cattle will be aggressive.
Ruth's Coastal Walk (UK) 