Inverness to Thurso

Getting out of bed this morning at 4.40 a.m. afraid to awaken 5 young women with whom I shared the bunk room. There was Priya a gorgeous girl from Mumbai, India who offered to show me the sights if ever I get there. Priya was on a month's reflection sent by her family to think about getting married, they have found her a suitable husband and at 27 they are getting concerned for her. She has to meet him when she goes home at the end of the month. Priya is a programme manager in a stock exchange in South Mumbai. Veronica from Munich, Marit from Rotterdam, Jenny from Bordeaux and one other whose name I don't recall may have been Marion. She happened to be the largest of the bunch who seized the bunk above me. I thought the mattress would come through squashing me as she threw herself up for the night...

Sounds of young people sleeping, I did my best to organise my things, but of course I tripped, peeling the duvet cover, sheet and pillowcases from their innards to place in the big linen basket for washing,

All was very quiet in the building as it slept, until I was clattering my way down the stairs with my suitcase, back pack, grocery bag and walking poles, phew, glad I had thrown my laundry bundle from the top down through the gap in the stairs to the bottom floor.

Leaving the hostel around 6.15 a.m. of course it began to rain, ☔ so I slipped on my poncho under the shelter of a large tree. A bracing walk up the hill then walk back down into the town centre and train station of Inverness for the train to Thurso, I passed a beautiful statue of a superb unicorn, mascot of Scotland and came across a sign for coffee outside the Royal Hotel.

The sign lied, there was no serving of anything until 7 a.m. but I couldn't resist a couple of photos of the inside of this beautiful Victorian structure built originally as a school in the 18th century.

The walk to the ferry ⛴️ at Scrabster took me longer than I anticipated, along the sea front the ferry port could be seen in the far distance and my knees cracked onLes mer