We had planned a nice quiet route today – well away from the A9 and all the traffic that comes with it.
It was a nice sunny morning as we left Tain – whose name derives from the nearby River Tain, the name of which comes from an Indo-European root meaning ‘flow’. The Gaelic name, Baile Dubhthaich, means ‘Duthac’s town’, after a local saint also known as Duthus. On our route out we passed Mansfield Castle Hotel on the way out of town – a sign of the type and size of buildings we would see throughout the day.
Our route took us past swathes of arable land before taking us through Morangie Forest, very peaceful and enjoyable as the trees afforded a break against any wind and toned down the sunshine (hot sunny days are not a walker’s friend).
Wild Scottish Raspberries taste fantastic – a pity today’s find was so small – hoping for larger ones as we keep moving inland. So many fields full of sheep just enjoying being sheep in the sunshine and quite a few bridges over small rivers – wonderful sound of running water on a quiet day. Then we had our first view of Cromarty Firth and all the oil rigs stored there. Due to Covid and the decline in oil consumption many oil rigs were closed down. To disassemble the machines is not just costly, it also might prove to be a mistake should the market rise again, so the massive rigs, weighing around a thousand tons each, are towed into the bay of Cromarty Firth from the North Sea. This is not popular with the local residents!
The first castle of the day came into view – Newmore Castle. It was once a three storey building with the remains of a stair turret which once led to the top floors being visible from the road. The castle is mentioned in records from as early as 1560 and belonged to Andrew Munro, 5th of Milntown and remained in various branches of the Munro family until falling into disrepair during the 19th Century. The combine harvester in the picture was so loud that we couldn’t hear any traffic noise and were very surprised when a skip lorry “materialised’ about 5 yards behind us. Then a momentous milestone as we approached Alness – we passed the 100 Mile mark of our journey – at that stage only 774 to go!
More nice river views as we meandered on – at this stage it was sunny and hot and we were starting to feel it – day 4 being the first time of 4 consecutive days walking – added to the tiredness. We walked past the entrance to Novar House. This is an 18th Century building built on the site of an earlier castle. As befits the area this was also, and still is, owned by a branch of the Munro family. The current house is the creation of Sir Hector Munro, 8th of Novar. Early maps call it ‘Tenuer’ (Gaelic Tigh ‘n fhuamhair – house of the giant). Then on the way to Dingwall we passed the Evanton War Memorial to the residents of Evanton who died in the First (32) and Second (8) World Wars.
Getting every closer to our destination, we passed by Foulis Castle – a white washed mansion that incorporates an old tower house with gun loops. The castle is mentioned briefly on records that date back to the 14th Century although the original Tower of Foulis was believed to have been built in 1154. and, yes, it was and still is, owned by a branch of the Munro family, starting with Robert de Munro of Foulis. As we passed Mountgerald the views of Cromarty Firth were quite stunning – handily there was also a cafe here and ice creams were very welcome in the heat.
Finally we reached Dingwall and our residence for the night – Birches Bed & Breakfast.
Today was a tough day, as mentioned before, even though it was “only” 37k, and little niggles, aches and pains are starting to appear. Hopefully a good nights rest will see us raring to go again tomorrow. The scenery and overall tranquility of today was really enjoyable and we really enjoyed the change of scenery and the lack of traffic.
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