JOGLE 5 Day 6 Mon 14 May 12

Started 0830. Finished  1530. 15 miles. Brora to Dornoch. Today the weather is a lot better , overcast with sunny spells and the wind has died down considerably.  We are getting used to the road walking now and dodging trucks and cars is almost becoming second nature.  It doesn’t mean to say we are enjoying it but it is the means to an end.  We passed Dunrobin Castle which looks to be very nice from a distance almost something out of  a Walt Disney movie. I managed to get a look at Dunrobin train station that is  a stop on request station and appears only to serve the Castle and the massive estate owned by Lord Sutherland.  I found an abandoned children’s scooter and thought I would try it out to see if it helped the walking at all. It didn’t work for me so I left it propped up against the side of the road in case someone else thought they could use it.  WStarted 0830 ell that someone else turned out to be Ian who came racing past me (I had a head start of about a mile!) as I was walking down hill (Photographic evidence was obtained).  All this occurred as some very serious cyclists going uphill  (really up themselves) shouted “surely you are not going all the way to London on that!”.  Sorry can’t quote the reply! On our way through Golspie we came across a really nice café called the Golspie Bothy.  I settled down to a nice Latte and got chatting to a couple from the Orkneys who just happened to be bikers as well, for some reason they thought we were mad as well, but there again he did ride a BMW, say no more. Suitable refreshed we made good progress along a nice coastal minor road that would lead us into the back way to Dornoch. We were lucky enough to see lots of “Spencers”  seals basking on the sand banks in the estuary, lucky them, at least they didn’t have to endure the A9.  The Bank B&B in Dornoch was very nice and comfortable with some interesting topiary by the front door.  The very friendly owners were quite proud of the fact that they bought the  “Bank”  which apparently the building was before they converted it into a B&B.  Ian and I had a double room each only because there was nothing else available, both rooms were very nice.Dornoch is a very “Royal” place with lots of golf courses and interesting shops and its own Cathedral. I  enjoyed a chicken stuffed with Haggis and Baileys Bread and Butter pudding at the Eagle Public House.  On their menu was a William Wallace Beef Burger , I asked very politely if William Wallace was the local butcher? It goes without saying that I got a very frosty response and to say the least I was surprised that I didn’t start another uprising. Ian came to my rescue and explained that William Wallace was in all probability not the local maker of the beef burgers but someone that was hung, drawn and quartered in London for leading an uprising against the English.