In the beginning the walking was easy. Crossing the golf course I regained the route, following it north on the dunes by the beach. After the golf course there was a short stretch through a field, and then I became confined between the railway line or fenced fields, and the sea. The path above the beach, if it existed, was often rough, grass covering some hidden rocks. Where possible I walked along the beach, although the sand was soft taking energy from my steps. At times there was a strip of harder wet sand by the sea, although the tide was high so the strip was narrow. Elsewhere the beach was of slippery rocks, rounded pebbles and boulders or thick accumulations of black seaweed that squiged underfoot. Walking on the pebbles was arduous as they slid away as I stepped on them, stressing my damaged knee ad threatening my ankles.
In time the amount of land between the railway line and the beach widened and I arrived at the first serious fording of a river. Already I had crossed a few small burns on this trip where there were no footbridges either by jumping over them or on stepping stones, Loth burn was too wide for jumping, too deep for wading without getting water in my boots, and any possible rocks were too slippery to be used as stepping stones. My guidebook suggested crossing by the railway bridge but a point nearer the beach looked shallower to me. I did the full fording routine, removing my trousers, boots and socks and putting on my lightweight "hotel and river crossing" shoes. With my trekking poles to assist I waded to the other bank without difficulty. As I was drying my legs, another walker appeared, fording the river after me (twice as he left his phone behind). Like me he was walking the trail as part of a greater trip from Land's End to John o'Groats. Also like me he had initially walked north from Fort William following the route in the "End to End" guide and also like me he had to suspend his walk for several weeks due to an injury while walking the pathless expanses. His injury was to his ankle, mine to my knee. Like me he was now following the Great Glen Way and John o'Groats Trail.
After Loth Burn there was an easy section through some caravan sites by a few concrete structures apparently from the Second World War. It was not to last, soon I was stumbling over pebbles again, or following intermittent paths on narrow strips of marram grass. With much relief I crossed the railway line at a "private" crossing and climbed up to the row or so of terraced cottages that are Portgower, and beyond that the A9. The large volumes of traffic on the A9 just after Inverness had now dissipated, and the traffic relatively light.
Although close to my destination of Helmsdale the Trail had one final obstacle to throw at me, a small road which went steeply uphill before curving around and dropping down into Helmsdale. On reaching the town I bought a crab salad for a late lunch from a stall at the harbour, although the wind increased in force as I sat down at a bench to eat it, trying to blow my salad leaves away.
At the hotel, the man who showed me to my room commented that although new, the John o'Groats Trail had become very popular in the last few years and they often had walkers on the Trail staying with them.
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