Day 9, Nuclear reactors and the bright lights of Thurso !!!

I had a nice quiet sleep in an empty dormitory in Tongue, ready for the next 50 miles of the trip.  I skimmed across the north coast of Scotland toward the my stop for the night in the town of Thurso.  I had my usual bowl of porridge for breakfast before setting off.  As per usual leaving Tongue offered the customary hill climb to get the heart started !!!!.

Leaving tongue

After about 5 miles on the main NC500 route I decided to take a bit of a detour along the coast through the village of Skerray.  It was a lovely cycle along the coast.  I stopped at the charming thatched village post office to send my postcards.

Skerray Harbour.

Skerray Harbour.

Skerray Post Office

Village main street.

Skerray greenhouse, (not many buses run here I guess !!)

After my wee detour around Skerray, the route went inland for a while, it was a lumpy ride and I was starting to flag a bit.  I made it to Bettyhill for my morning coffee.  I went to the tourist information centre and and cafe.  I just had a coffee as they were charging £5 for a bacon roll !!!!!

Do I go that way ?

I cycled on along the coast through Strathy getting hungrier and hungrier until I stopped for a well deserved pub lunch of sausage and chips at the Halladale Inn, Melvich.

The final stretch of coast road to Thurso, passed the Dounreay Nuclear reactor.  As I approached this massive site there was signs to the visitor centre.  I though this would be an interesting little excursion. so I pulled over to check it out.  However the "visitor" centre was a bit disappointing:

Dounreay visitor centre.

Yep the "visitor centre" consists of a picnic bench overlooking the site !!!!!.

Needless to say I didn't stop there too long before heading along to my final destination  Thurso !!!.

It was a bit strange arriving in a big town after a week in the wilds.  I soon found my accommodation for the night Sandra's backpackers.  Its a fairly bog standard "city" backpackers, however it was clean, compact, the owner was very friendly and they provided free tea/coffee/biscuits and you get breakfast thrown in also, which was great.

After settling in I went to the Caithness visitor centre which had lots of info and history of Thurso and thankfully lots of information about the Dounreay reactor !!!!!

Reactor control room in the Caithness visitor centre.

I then took a walk down to Scrabster to watch the Orkney ferry arrive and depart.  In the evening I headed over to the Y-Not bar and grill for dinner and a few beers before the big 100 miler tomorrow !!!!

The worlds most northerly palm tree in Scrabster.

The "Hamnavoe" in Scrabster harbour.

The "Hamnavoe" in Scrabster harbour.