The East Coast…
After a short break next to our lighthouse, in the far north of Scotland, the time has come to head south again, along the east coast this time… After some salmon-spotting and a stop at the legendary Loch Ness, we continued our journey east, towards the eastern tip of Scotland…
General statistics of the adventure so far…
Total Distance (km)
Gasoil (L)
Countries Visited
7.213 km
1.158 L
3
On the road (again)…
12/06/2025 – Dunnet Head -> Rumster Forest
After a short two-day break among the puffins, next to our lighthouse at the end of the world, we hit the road again for the few remaining kilometers to reach the hamlet of John O’Groat (one of the key stops on the NC500 since this is where we officially change coasts) and Duncansby Lighthouse (which happens to be the most northeastern tip of the United Kingdom), on the peninsula of the same name, with its beautiful stacks (two imposing sea pinnacles about 60 meters high and with vertical walls). After a few more puffins, razorbills and guillemots, we began our descent down the East Coast, stopping by the “Grey Cairns of Camster”, three large stone cairns dating from the Neolithic period (5.000 years ago), each with an internal chamber connected to the outside by a narrow corridor of varying length. We needed nothing more to let out the Indiana Jones in us, crawling to reach the cairns chambers (used at the time as a burial site and for celebrating the dead). And given that the wind was blowing rather strongly today, we decided to stay in the Rumster forest, just behind the cairns, just to be protected by the trees while waiting to return to the coast tomorrow…
Going back…
13/06/2025 – Rumster Forest -> Old Wick Castle
Une fois n’est pas coutume, aujourd’hui, on est repartis vers le nord… C’est pas qu’on ait oublié un “puffin” en route, mais il nous manquait un petit bout de côte à voir, qu’on avait sauté hier pour aller voir les cairns… Retour donc vers la ville de Wick (et son excellente patisserie “The Home Bakery”), puis visite du chateau de Sinclair Girnigoe, un peu plus au nord. Il ne reste pas grand chose du chateau, mais on imagine facilement l’impressionnant qu’il devait être, à l’époque, posé sur son rocher, entre deux falaises… Et le plus intéressant par ici, c’est précisément les falaises, dans lesquelles l’érosion semble avoir creusé des “couloirs” parallèles, comme autant de “parkings pour sous-marins géants”… Elles sont aussi truffées de tunnels, d’arches et autres formations que l’érosion s’emploie à terminer, marée après marée… On trouve des tas de petits îlots aussi (des “stacks”), comme autant de vestiges d’une ligne de cote d’il y a bien longtemps… La roche, elle, semble formée de centaines de fines couches, et les effondrements font des parois soit presque lisses, comme taillées au couteau, soit des assemblages de blocs superposés, comme un paysage tout droit sorti de “Minecraft”…
By invitation only…
14/06/2025 – Old Wick Castle -> Midgey Beach
A day without too many sightseeing stops today, just to get a little closer to Inverness and reach Midgey Beach, where we settled for the night. Don’t expect a large white sandy beach; Midgey Beach is actually just a tiny gravel beach at the end of a loch, lost between hills and heather moors. The spot is apparently known to fishermen, and also to… ospreys. We were starting to despair, but we finally managed to spot one fishing peacefully above the loch, right in front of us. Well, obviously, it’s more complicated to photograph with an iPhone than guillemots or puffins, but… even without a photo, we’ll surely remember this moment…
Today, we also discovered a Scottish peculiarity: parking lots where you’re only “invited to pay”… Basically, if you want to contribute to the town hall’s budget so that it can maintain the parking lot, you can do so by paying the indicated hourly rate, but there’s no obligation, and you can also park there without paying… A rather original system that nevertheless seems to work, just like the “honesty boxes” everywhere (like in Switzerland) where you leave money for parking, a box of fresh eggs, or anything else, without any control from anyone… It’s good to see that there’s still a little honesty left in this world… 😉
Fresh fish…
15/06/2025 – Midgey Beach -> Abriachan Forest
With the morning sun back and after one last photo of Loch Midgey, we set off again towards the Falls of the River Shin, whose waters are known to be home to a substantial population of salmon. Let’s put things into perspective right away: a “waterfall” in Scotland is actually more of a rapids area for the rest of the world. It’s a far cry from Niagara or Iguaçu! But it turns out that some of Scotland’s famous salmon leave the ocean in early summer to spawn in the lochs of the Highlands. In this case, they first swim up the Dornoch Firth (an estuary), then the Kyle of Sutherland (the part, after the estuary, where the water becomes brackish, but still subject to the tides), and finally the River Shin and its rapids (one of the tributaries of the Kyle of Sutherland). And who says salmon and rapids says… salmon jumping to go up the river. Like in Alaska, but without the bears waiting for them along the way… Well, to tell the truth, we didn’t really have much hope of having the chance to see a salmon jumping, and yet… with a little patience, we saw three, one of which we managed to photograph!… (editor’s note: the last photo isn’t ours… but the others are!…). We learned that a salmon can jump up to 3,50m high (which happens to be the height of the Falls of Shin). And where do the salmon going up the Shin River go? Quite simply to Loch Shin, a little higher, where they can reproduce peacefully (unless they are caught by a local or an osprey…). That’s something to get the conversation going the next time we eat smoked salmon… 😜 Meanwhile, we continued our journey towards Inverness to settle in the pretty Abriachan Forest, a stone’s throw from Inverness and Loch Ness, but that’s for tomorrow…
We saw her!…
16/06/2025 – Abriachan Forest -> Portgordon
Early in the morning, while a few mists were still hunging over the Loch, we left our forest to head for the Ness Valley. As we were driving quietly towards the interpretation center, just around a bend, it appeared there, on the side of the road, its long neck stretching towards us. It was Nessie, Scotland’s most famous mystery: the Loch Ness Monster!… Well, okay, okay… it was Nessie, but… in her life-size, papier-mâché version… 😉 So we continued our journey to the Drumnadrochit Hotel, the legendary place where the “Loch Ness Project” had its headquarters, welcoming scientists, scholars, and passionate amateurs to try, in vain, for decades, to prove the existence of Nessie… The interpretation center that now occupies the old hotel is frankly very well done, explaining the different theories and, above all, scientifically demonstrating why none of them really hold water…
Loch Ness nonetheless remains a place full of mystery (and also, somewhat, a perfect example of the power of good marketing…). The lake is over 30km long and reaches a depth of 227m. In fact, it contains more water than all the lakes in England and Wales combined. Enough to shelter quite a few monsters…
After our adventure with Nessie, we headed to Inverness and crossed again the Caledonian Canal (towards the south, this time) over the River Ness. So, technically, we left the Highlands, and after a short visit of Inverness (not exactly a memorable city, but the food is pretty good! 😜), we continued our journey east along the coast to the village of Portgordon…
Awesome!…
16/06/2025 – Portgordon -> Rosehearty
Our little beach yesterday wasn’t the most “Caribbean” of this adventure, but wildlife-wise, it was pretty good. Without even moving from our seats, just looking out Marvin’s window, we spent over an hour watching a group of eider ducks with their ducklings amidst seagulls and jackdaws, but also, and most importantly, an osprey that we saw dive twice and catch two large fish (sea bream?) before the seagulls swooped down and tried to steal it. And a few meters away, laying on rocks or on a sandbar, a whole group of seals were waiting for the tide to come in so they could go hunting again. Needless to say, we couldn’t believe our eyes! So much wildlife to see in a seemingly “common” place!…
Our route today took us to the easternmost tip of Scotland (or almost), to the small fishing village of Rosehearty, where we settled in for the night. Along the way, we stopped by to see the “Bow Fiddle Rock” and its unique shape. The cliffs get smaller and smaller as we head east, but there are still a few surprises like this one, which make for some lovely photos…
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Spotted you in Blairgowrie. Happy adventures!