The forecast today was to be mostly overcast and dry, the good news was that it turned out to be sunny and dry all day!
I drove the short distance from my Airbnb to Tain, where I parked at the railway station. I caught the 08:19 heading north towards Wick, which was bang on time. I baulked when the conductor asked me for £9.85 (with a senior railcard) for a single journey to Golspie. I quickly realised that this train journey involves travelling inland along the Dornoch Firth and Kyle of Sutherland, before reaching Lairg and then turning back eastwards down Strath Fleet back towards the coast, quite some distance! The journey time took an hour and offered some amazing views particularly north of Invershin passing through the gorge of the River Shin looking down at the Falls of Shin.
I set off from Golspie railway station heading for the shoreline and began walking south along the beach on firm sand. I was heading for the small hamlet of Littleferry which sits on the northern shore of the opening to the sea at Loch Fleet, a large tidal inlet and a large nature reserve. After LittleFerry I would be walking around this loch and would now need to start walking north for a mile along a minor road. I crossed a small burn via some stepping stones and headed alongside Balblair Wood and the loch shore. I joined up with a long straight track which took me across the railway line and onto the A9. This would be the first of two occasion where I needed to use the A9 to cross a water obstacle. The A9 was very busy, but had a reasonable verge. I headed towards The Mound, built by Thomas Telford, a causeway and bridge carrying the A9 across Loch Fleet. After some 4km on the A9 I turned off down a minor on the southern shore of Loch Fleet, following the route of the dismantled Dornoch Light Railway.
I was now more or less on the opposite side of the loch to Littleferry, where I had been almost two hours before. As I looked out onto Loch Fleet by the ruins of Skelbo Castle I could pick out large groups of Harbour seals basking on sandbanks in the middle of the loch. I followed the route of the old railway towards Embo, a small village. I decided to make a slight detour and visit the small town of Dornoch a small seaside resort on the northern shore of the Dornoch Firth. Dornoch, infamous for being the site of the last legal execution of a witch in Britain, saw a local woman Janet Horne, burned alive at the stake in 1727. I headed out of the town towards a grass airstrip and heading for Dornoch Sands.
I reached Dornoch Sands and could now look across Dornoch Firth to the opposite bank some 3 miles away and see Tain and the Glenmorangie distillery. But I still had some 7 -8 miles of walking to do before I arrived back in Tain. I set off along the northern shore of the Dornoch Firth, the tide was well in by now, but I still had a reasonable amount firm sand to walk along. The Dornoch Firth Bridge came into view, I knew I had to get onto a minor road from the shoreline about a kilometre away from the bridge, as I had noticed there were large swathes of gorse which may have blocked me getting directly onto the bridge from the shore.
I picked up the minor road which lead through a couple of hidden gates, through the gorse to the A9. It was just as busy as I had left it some hours before. I was able to walk on the other side of the Armco barrier, which gave a reassuring feel. The late afternoon sunshine was a real treat and I was rewarded with great views down the Dornoch Firth. At the far end of the bridge I passed from Sutherland back into Ross and Cromarty, which I had left back in April. The last 3 miles along the A9, past the Glenmorangie distillery and into Tain was a bit of a struggle, especially in the late afternoon heat. A very rewarding day and great to visit areas that I had only previously read about.
NB: I also publish all my Scottish Blog entries on the excellent Scottish Hills website, I use the same narrative, but larger photos and a few extra ones. They can be found here:
http://www.scottishhills.com/html/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=24711
Distance today = 27 miles
Total distance = 5,269 miles
Walking the Coast of Great Britain 
I was rather silly on this walk as I was keen to avoid the A9. I was walking in the other direction but decided to head across the sands (and mud) of Loch Fleet (rather than the minor road and A9) from near Skelbo to the Mount, as the tide was well out and not due to come in for a while. However I realised at The Mount that there was a sort of weir behind it with lock gates and if those lock gates opened the bay would very rapidly fill with water. I then had to climb up the concrete slope under the bridge to reach the A9. I made it safely, but probably not my best decision!
It was in your previous post but on my most recent trip to Scotland the Saturday I was there was gale force winds and heavy rain all day so I abandoned plans to walk that day and headed to the east coast (which was dry) and visited Dunrobin Castle. It was very enjoyable and they also had a falconry display which was included in the admission cost which was nice. I had hoped to visit it when I walked past it a few years ago but it was after 5pm when I passed so it was closed.
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Hi Jon, I think “the weir” was the original Telford bridge with in-built sluice gates. I could have avoided abit of the A9 by cutting across a couple of fields, but it would have meant a bit of dry stone wall scaling. LOL.
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