Inverness to Evanton
The recession and out-of-town supermarket have hit Inverness. A large proportion of central shops are To Let. Nevertheless the town was busy with Saturday shoppers and visitors, and most travellers to the far north of Scotland pass through.
I was unsure whether to stay overnight, but the longer I pondered the less I wanted to remain. Having learned a lesson from my walk out of St Andrews, I asked a taxi driver to take me to the Munlochy road. By the middle of Saturday afternoon I was marching past the crofts and woodlands of the Black Isle, heading towards Culbokie and the bridge across the Cromarty Firth. The Cairngorms were behind me, and the snow on Ben Wyvis confirmed I’d been right to give the bigger mountains a wide berth.
Although the weather was kind and the walking easy, I can’t say I enjoyed this day until I reached Evanton shortly before 7pm. I found the campsite and got a bed in the new and well appointed bunkhouse. There was one other inmate, and we had a room each. Relieved of the task of pitching my tent, I trotted back to the pub for a good meal, a pint of Guinness, and entertainment courtesy of the guys and girls enjoying a night out. I left them to it, collected food from the village shop, and then it was back to the bunkhouse.
View north from Culbokie across Cromarty Firth to snow-capped
Ben Wyvis