Leaving Alness high street behind with its Victorian stone buildings, I took a road inland. This went by fields, some with golden stubble and bales of hay, others with cows and sheep. The single track road was quiet. I moved onto the grass between tarmac and walls as the occasional car past, receiving a raised hand or finger from the driver in acknowledgment. A few local cyclists went by, it is on National Cycle Route number one, so I might have expected more.
Turning off onto another lane I missed a turning into woods, waymarking seems less frequent today. Seeing me looking around a kind man let me walk through his garden to regain the John o'Groats Trail. There was a long stretch of track through forestry, in places the trail was flooded, a few stones had been placed to help the ramblers avoid getting wet boots. Beneath the coniferous trees there was plenty of vegetation today: moss, lichen, heather and blueberry bushes (not in fruit), sometimes ferns now starting to die back as we enter autumn. No birdsong today.
I joined another single track road. The cottages were of a type called "but and ben", single storey (although often with rooms in the roof), stone walls, slate roofs (or something designed to look like slate) and chimneys at each end of the roof ridge. Nostalgic thoughts filled my mind as I recalled a cottage of this type that we once owned.
Climbing up a hill on a path into another area of forestry, I was followed by a Jack Russell dog. Thankfully he lost interest in walking with me to John o'Groats after I said "shoo" a few times and waved my arms in I hope a threatening manner. In Europe I found throwing things at dogs discouraged them from following me, but he seemed to think this was a game and searched for the pine cones I had thrown, maybe he thought they were treats.
There were a variety of trees in the forest, pines, larch, fir and spruce, and sometimes a few birch trees in a gap. After midday I noticed I was heading slightly downhill, then dog walkers started to appear, a sure sign I was approaching civilisation. There was a final stretch of road before I reached houses at the edge of the town of Tain. One of the buildings was once a workhouse where poor people were sent, others were more modern. Soon I was in my hotel planning where I would stay over the next few days.
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