The long trek north - Day 2

After a delicious breakfast of scrambled egg and smoked salmon, we were back on the road. We'd decided to get north of Perth before we took our first break, and somewhat serendipitously found ourselves at the Pass of Killecrankie, a wooded gorge either side of the River Garry.

We walked down through the ancient woodland towards the river, finding large quantities of wood and bitter vetch along the way. At the top, while walking back to the car along a road verge, we came across a bee beetle Trichius fasciatus, a rare fluffy, black and yellow scarab beetle, which is most often found sitting on flowers. This is only the second time I've ever seen one!

Onwards over the huge bulk of the Cairngorms, and then across the Moray, Cromarty and Dornoch Firths, before our next stop at Brora, on the east coast of Sutherland. We'd been hoping for a tea-shop, but the village didn't have any such amenities, so fruit juice from the local Co-op had to suffice. However, there was a very interesting trail around the village, which has had a long industrial past, including coal mining, salt panning, tweed production, distilling and electricity generation. The early industries were established by the house of Sutherland and by the late nineteenth century Brora became known as the Industrial Capital of the North. Today's blip was taken close to the coast and shows that fishing is still an important occupation. I also liked the feisty little dog who was guarding its property.

The last stretch of our journey was across the Flow Country to Thurso, where we were staying the night before catching the morning ferry from Scrabster. The hotel didn't have quite the atmosphere of the Hightae Inn, but seemed adequate for our purposes....