Important Info

Planned kilometres: 27 (cummulative 1721)

Kilometres walked: 27 (cummulative 1790)

% Completed: 98.5%

Weather: Sunny

Pubs visited: Old Smiddy Inn, The Alexander Bain

Pints: 3 (cummulative 212)

Kms per pint: 8.4

Blisters: 0 (cummulative 4)

Forse to Wick

As I left the B&B today, I could see that it was going to be a good day for walking as the sun was shining and it was so clear I could see some of the oil rigs in the distance.

 

The only problem was that my body didn’t get the message. I woke up this morning with most of my body aching. My leg muscles, right foot, left knee and both shoulders hurt. I put this down to a lack of carbs as I didn’t have any beers last night, so I made sure to remedy this as quickly as possible.

 

 

I stopped at the Whaligoe Steps cafe for lunch. I didn’t walk the steps as I didn’t think my knees would appreciate the 365 steps when I still had 15kms to go for the day. I was at the cafe at 11:30 and they didn’t start lunch until midday, so I waited, and it gave me a chance to do yesterday blog. It was worth the wait as I got a small loaf of fresh bread straight out of the oven as part of my lunch.

 

About 7kms from Wick, I came across the Old Smiddy Inn and stopped to get a pint of carbs to help my muscles.

 

I arrive at Wick in late afternoon and found it be a very unattractive town. On the way to my B&B I passed lots of boarded up buildings and most of the buildings are grey stone, so it was depressing looking.

 

The Riverside path in Wick

The B&B owner gave me a few choices for dinner but said most close early as it was Sunday. As I walked through the High street, the town didn’t get any more attractive. I stopped at my first Weatherspoon’s pub for a beer and dinner as none of the other options in town looked very inviting. The following pub (Mountain Dew Bar) was just down the road from my B&B but The Alexander Bain looked much better.

 

One of Wicks claims to fame is that it has the shortest street in the world. Ebenezer Place is credited by the Guinness Book of Records as being the world’s shortest street at 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in). Mackay’s hotel is No.1 Ebenezer place and its doorway pretty much takes up the whole street.

I saw the following tea towel in a shop window. It pretty much sums up the Scottish attitude to the English as when watching the World Cup football, just about all the Scots I have talked to just want to see England lose.