Surf’s Up! A Weekend of Northern Exposure
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It must be just a little deflating to walk/cycle/hop/whatever the 876 miles from Lands End and find out when you get to John O’Groats that it’s not, after all, the most northerly place in Britain. Certainly looks it, as you stare across the Pentland Firth to the Orkney Islands, which aren’t now quite so far away as they’ve been all your life. But the title goes to Dunnet Head, a spectacular promontory a few miles westward. It’s almost a better name too.
As in “I done it!”
OK. WE’RE HERE.
Caithness is as far as you can go on mainland Britain, it’s mostly flat heath or fields, so the wind hurtling in from the sea can be a tad bracing at times. Which is no bad thing. The late Queen Mother loved it so much her “favourite” castle is here at Mey (how many castles do you actually have to own to have a favourite?)
John O’Groats is where everyone heads for, and you should too, if only to send a postcard with a Scottish stamp franked accordingly and also to see the little craft and souvenir shops, which might be open, or might not, depending on the season (Easter to September). Lots of places close down outside the season but that’s no bad thing either – the place is even quieter, (although nothing ever gets busy up here) and since the overpowering grandeur of the landscape has been awaiting your arrival for several million years, it’s hardly going to shut when it’s winter.
How to get here?
Just head north. To Wick, the best means is a flight with Loganair from Edinburgh. The little twin prop planes may bounce around a bit but it’s an unusually picturesque hour above Scotland’s mountains and northern coastlines. Connections from the south are easy. From October 2008 Loganair’s codeshare partner changed from BA to Flybe but that doesn’t really affect who you travel to Scotland with. Unless you want to leave London at breakfast and have lunch in Wick.
Getting around is another matter.
There’s no bus at Wick Airport but a taxi into town’s only £3.50 and the bus up to Thurso is only £2.90 for a fresh half hour through the wide open farmland and crofts.
Integrated public transport timetables show clearly where the train, buses and postbuses go (you’re effectively hitching a lift with the postie!) but also that they mostly run Monday to Friday. Some routes operate on Saturdays but virtually nothing moves on Sundays.
Local Car Hire companies are not expensive.
STAY WHERE?
In Thurso, where at first glance one place looks very much like another, Stan Egan and his family at the Station Hotel will give you a cheery welcome and a nice clean room from probably £70 for a double, depending on the time of year. The hotel’s been there since the railway arrived in 1906 and has the photos to prove it. In those days, travel was a real adventure; but getting here today can still be pretty invigorating.
Everything is just as you would expect. Nice clean rooms, clean bathrooms and a warm, inviting hotel bar with good beers, good wines and an excellent array of malt whiskies. They have a second hotel around the corner, the St Clair, open during the summer. They’ve spruced The Station up a bit since 1906 too – with Wi-Fi, en-suite bathrooms, multi channel TV, a small library, and young enthusiastic staff. They’re even in Michelin 2008. The food’s good, modern and hearty. Everything from three course a la carte to substantial home made burgers. Chat’s good at the bar too, quiet rather than raucous.
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Flybe.com (Loganair partner)
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