Grotty John o' Groats.

We have spent the last week on the Orkney Islands, a truly beautiful and extraordinarily exciting landscape.

Today, on our way home, after getting off the ferry at Gills Bay we thought that we would call in at the village of John o' Groats to see if it has improved any in the 40 years since we last visited. It hasn't, it is now much, much worse!

John o' Groats lies 874 miles from Land's and although Duncansby Head, to the east, is probably a mile or two more distant, John o' Groats is the place that people start or finish if they want claim that they have travelled the length of Mainland Britain. All I can say, is that most tourists arriving in John o' Groats must wonder why they had bothered to make the journey. In 2005 the popular tourist guide, Lonely Planet, correctly described the village as a "seedy tourist trap" and in 2010 John o' Groats received a Carbuncle Award for being "Scotland's most dismal town", a well deserved accolade.

This, the semi-derelict John o' Groats Hotel, above the harbour, pretty well sums up the ambience of the place.

Tomorrow I will start back-blipping our week in The Orkneys.