I set off from Chester late on the evening of Monday 18th July 2016. The plan was to catch the train up overnight to Inverness, then onto Thurso – which has the most northerly railway station in the UK. From there I planned to walk to Dunnet Head – the most northerly point of the British mainland.
For each day of my journey I will publish my journal entry – precisely one year later, so for example today is 19th July 2017 and I am publishing the journal entry for 19th July 2016. These journal entries were written either on the day shortly afterwards when the events were still fresh in my memory. I will mostly be transcribing the entries as I wrote them at the time – this will include bad grammar, but I will correct bad spelling and may add a few words where really necessary for clarification. Any other thoughts or recollections will be published below the journal entry. My first entry follows:
Tuesday 19th July 2016
I took sleeper [train] up from Crewe to Inverness: 23:56 – 8:38. I was in seated carriage – saving £90 over bunk.
I didn’t get much sleep – partly because there was a baby in the carriage who seemed to prefer crying over sleeping. However the reclining seats were fairly comfortable, an eye mask and earplugs were provided, and the atmosphere was relaxed when the baby wasn’t crying. The night didn’t seem to last long – in fact it was never truly dark. In fact the whole of the UK never experiences true night-time in mid-summer: the sun is always making its presence known, so we are really in twilight. But this becomes far more obvious further north, particularly on a clear night. Once we were in Scotland the sleeper train seemed to turn into a normal early morning service for local people, with regular stops at remote rural stations, so there was more activity in the seated carriage.
Pack is very heavy – almost 3 stone (18kg?). Should get much lighter as provisions are used. Breakfast in “So Coco” – delicious mocha and cream cheese crepe. A last taste of civilisation?
Train to Thurso: 10:38 – 14:30
Found a Veggie cafe in Thurso for a late lunch – unexpected!
Walked along shore – first cliffs until path disappeared. Then onto beach. Later had to go back onto cliffs as no beach. Finally stopped at Murkle Bay after 6 miles.
Spending: £75 travel + £25 (food)
Distance: 6 miles [view on map]
Mood: 🙂
I didn’t make it to Dunnet Head as planned! My pack was really heavy and I was still recovering from my bike accident. It was already becoming clear that I would not be able to walk 25 miles a day as I had in training. It was also sunny and hot, which made walking tougher but kept my spirits up.
