Day 110 of the End to End was another train day. This meant Bob was able to walk with me for the whole day. We began at Helmsdale station and took the morning train to Kildonan Station where we started walking. The weather was a lot brighter than we expected.
The walk was straightforward enough along a single track road and apart from a few timber lorries, not that busy. The valley is quiet and has a few farms and some sheep who cross back and forth at will.
The foliage has changed: the foxgloves are almost finished. There’s an occasional small heath orchid still flowering and we even saw a dozen or so Painted Ladies this far in land.
There’s plenty of evidence of earlier human occupation in the valley from the Stone Age onwards. Heaps of stones of various sorts from hut circles to burial mounds to Brochs. Some of the streams featured in the gold rush of the 1860s. There were other signs of the highland clearances as well.
We made good time to Kinbrace Station and even had time for a look around and a picnic before our return train arrived. It is a very small village. Not far from the station the tin chapel of the former United Free Church, erected in 1925, is now used as the village hall. One of the local residents lent me the key and I was able to look inside the simple woodlined building.
The train journey back to Helmsdale was soon completed and we took a few moments to look around the local museum and have some local ice-cream.
Back at the excellent Helmsdale Hostel the evening was spent exchanging End to Enders tales with one hiker going North and two Australian cyclists going South. It’s now one week to John O’Groats.
From Psalm 91
Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Holy One.
Here at Helmsdale Hostel we are well sheltered. Each of us has our own stories to tell of the adventured involved. Rest is important in order to undertake the next stage of the route, whatever that might be.
God grant us a quiet night and a peaceful end.
JAL 05.08.2019
Day 110 of the End to End from Kildonan Station to Kinbrace Station.