Garry and Marie walk South to North

                                                              Garry started today at Green Hill Broch, Mid Clyth, and straightaway headed northwards along the A99, passing a war memorial and a well wrapped up horse and an opportunity to trek with alpacas (not this time!)         Soon after, he passed an Old Bruan Free Kirk, which looked like there was some renovations going on or maybe just structural support.                                               Garry needed to continually cross the A99 to find the best side for safe passage from traffic, depending on the state of the grass verge and bends in the road.  About an hour after setting off, we all met at Whailgoe and spent some time...

  Storm Floris was quite wild last night and there were a number of tree branches on roads this morning. The Scottish Highways Authority seem to be very quick to clear them away.  I dropped Garry at Dunbeath Harbour whilst me and Alfie visited the beach again. It felt windier than yesterday, but there were less white horses to be seen. Alfie wasn't too keen so we headed onto our next stop along the A9 to meet Garry, followed by a visit Latheronwheel harbour. Garry soon reached the A9 and walked along it, passing little villages along the way. He had to be careful of which side of the road to be on due to bends in the road and a variety of grass verges. He stopped after about quarter of an hour at a roadside tea room for a cake to help him along his way. Unfortunately, he had to wait 10 minutes for the cafe owner to get his mixer out , make icing and ice the cake. Finally, it was ready and was apparently quite delicious so well worth the wait.         ...

  Today we said goodbye to our Helmsdale apartment, the Fisherman's Rest as we were heading to our final Airbnb in Wick.         We had been watching the weather forecasts very carefully since yesterday evening (thank you for all your concerned phone calls and texts). Storm Floris was predicted from early in the morning and into the evening, bringing amber warning winds.  After packing our belongings into the car, we drove to Berriedale to begin Day 81. We chose around 10am to start as the next 2 hours were predicted to be the driest with the least wind. Garry donned his orange waterproof rucksack cover and a chest torch. I followed on, pulling into parking bays and driveways when I could. We chose the A9 main road route as a safer option than walking along cliffs. There was fairly strong winds but very little rain and Garry walked quickly along the 6.5 mile stretch of the A9 to Dunbeath.     There wasn't too much traffic and the drivers were cour...