Day 241: Freisgill to Tongue
Distance: 14.21 miles
Ascent: 2394 feet
Weather: Sunny Spells With Some Light Rain
Accommodation: Camping Outside Kyle of Tongue Hostel
It had actually been a really nice evening yesterday and I had dragged the bench over towards the fireplace and set my mattress and sleeping bag on it in front of the fire. I could see straight out of the window over the moonlit sea, and the fire gently crackling as it slowly died down put me to sleep.
I had saved 2 of the pieces of wood I had sawed for this morning and when I got up I lit the fire and boiled a kettle to make tea as well as breakfast. Similar to yesterday the weather forecast for today was quite good, though there was meant to be quite heavy rain early finishing somewhen between 7 & 8 so no point rushing off. In fact the rain was quite heavy but about 7:45 the skies cleared to an extent so I left. It was actually quite cold outside, so I set of in my fleece.
The first half of today would be off piste following the cliffs around Whiten Head. I didn’t think the ground would be too bad (no bracken, low heather and not too boggy) though I knew there was going to be a fair amount of up and down. I joined several sheep tracks that took me down and along the cliff edge passing a stone arch before climbing up to the incredible Mol Mhor, this is just an incredible amphitheatre of shear rock. The walk along these cliffs was absolutely beautiful and bar a little bit of rain the weather was good.
I reached the most northerly point of the headland, Whiten Head, and then there was what felt like the world’s longest fence, it must have been at least 3 miles along this edge and much longer around its whole perimeter. I walked in the gap between the fence and the cliff which had a generous amount of space never less than 10m. The ground had been good up till this point, but began to become harder work and there were two rivers down steep sided ravines which involved a fair bit of thinking to find the best way across.
As per my map, at the end of another fence line there was a gravel farmers track and I was very pleased to see it as the last bit of ground had been quite tough. The weather had been a little bit drizzly at times but the sun was properly out now, and though still a bit cold I had to remember to put suncream on. The track took me down to the public road which I joined.
There is an incredible almost double beach (one further out to sea) near East Strathan, and from there the road continues to Talmine where there is a shop and I grabbed stuff to eat now for lunch as well as for tonight and tomorrow morning.
I took the road out of Talmine and fairly soon I caught sight of the incredible embankment/bridge that takes the road across Tongue Bay it was stunning and wonderfully conceived and built. In fact not much later I crossed it in lovely sunshine and on the other side I soon reached Kyle of Tongue Hostel, who had kindly given me a reduced price for pitching outside and using the facilities.
A short day, which was good for my calve/shin, which was not too bad today, but also to get some admin done.
