Single Track Road.

Monday May 25, 2026

Durness, Scotland

Distance traveled:  132 km. Cumlative distance: 2853 km

Weather: Raining and 12 degrees in Orkney, though it let up as we were leaving our B&B in Dounby. 14 - 18 degrees, windy and cloudy with occasional sun poking through the clouds. 

On the North Coast 500

We checked out of our cute B&B, the Smithfield Hotel. I finally asked, as we were checking out, about some of the history of the place. The mother and daughter team have ran it as a hotel until two years ago  but because her mom is 74, they decided they were ready to give it up so converted it to a B&B to lessen the work and maybe make it easier to sell. There are 10 rooms though I suspect it had more in the past plus, there used to be a restaurant and a pub. Seems like a lot of work for two people. The building is from the mid 1800s and said it required a lot of work.

Happy to not be doing these stairs again, especially with luggage! We had a set of stairs like this in our old house. We called them "The Sobriety Test". It was our first renovation after we moved in.

We were ready early today, though it was a bit grim pulling together all our stuff, anticipating riding in some pretty heavy rain. Our panniers were a lot lighter because we were wearing pretty much all our clothing in hopes of staying dryer than the last time we rode in heavy rain. As it turned out, by the time we saddled up, the rain had stopped but we still wore all of our extra jackets, liners and rain coverings expecting to change stuff over once we got the ferry. 

We checked in at the ferry and, as before, instructed to proceed to the front of the line. The harbour looked interesting and since we had an hour till departure, I said to Nan that I was going to jump off and take some pictures. I pulled my rain covers off my gloves and stuffed them in the handle bars of the bike, jumped off, took a few pictures then went back to the bike. A guy on a big BMer 1600 rode up and parked behind us and we visited with him. He was coming from Hoy Island, adjacent to Orkney and he was riding to Spain with a view to arrive by Saturday. As we were visiting a gust of wind hit us, Nan yelled my name and we watched the wind blow one of my glove covers across the road. Towards the harbour. We both ran after it as fast as we could and I thought I was going to get there just in enough time to stamp my foot on and save it from a fate worse than death but I hesitated a Nono second because I was crossing traffic as it exited the ferry and one, final gust sent my glove cover off the pier to Davey Jones' locker. 

I looked around at the boats hoping somebody down there could retrieve it but nobody was there. Even if there had been, it was a good 20 feet from the rest of the world and it would have been pretty hard to fish it out with a pole or fishing line. There wasn't time to call the Coast Gaurd because we would be boarding in about five minutes. 

I despaired at my loss. The Hoy guy told me there is a place in Inverness that sells motorcycle gear and I could probably get something there. Yeah, I'll stop in after I return the bike to the hire place.  I got our bike back, the GPS tracker and glove cover... well, two out of three ain't bad. 

Once on board the ferry, we settled into our usual spot. The ferry was much busier than when we went over on Saturday. There had been a four day folk fest on the island and it had wrapped on Sunday and a lot of people were returning home, including the musicians. This made for an entertaining ride for us!

Packed cabin on the ferry.

Packed with MUSICIANS as it turned out!

This was our treat.

On the way over to Thurso, we saw a two masted schooner under power but out where it was choppy and making me prone to be sea sick just watching.  We were seated next to a group of musicians who had just spent a week on that boat as paid entertainment. The gal in the group showed me pictures of them on the sail boat when they were playing for the guests, 12 in all, on seas that were tranquil and serene. She was texting the captain telling him she could see them. It looked like it would have been fun. Unless you were out there today.

We arrived back in Thurso. We had been gone only two days but if felt like a week. We had been riding the "North Coast 500" ever since we left Inverness but prior to today, it has just felt like any other road. However, away from centres of population, out on single track road (one lane highway, for BOTH directions) we felt like we were really getting away from it all. It is barren, remote and wild. But specutacular. I have a ton o' pictures for you here. 

First fruit stand of the season.

These are available in both the men's AND the women's
washroom on the ferry.  They must be for the midnight sailing.

We arrived at our Durness B&B a little early, so we sat on a picnic table to wait for 4:00 pm, when the owners were prepared to receive new guests for the evening. There was actually quite a few people like us who were waiting around, though most were inside. I was surpised that this many people would be respectful of the hosts' time to wait until the "designated hours for new meat". Anyway, we were all checked in and when rested, we went for dinner in the B&B's little restaurant, run by the B&B owners. I was stunned by the selection of dinner items and wine, considering they were largely catering to their own guests. They have eight rooms in the B&B. Since we left home April 30th, I think tonight's dinner was the best I have eaten since we home. I had haggis to start, Nan had beet and goat cheese salad to start, we both had Hake (fish from the cod family) served on minty mushy peas with boiled buttered potatoes and for dessert, I had Irish Cream Creme Brule, which was outstanding. Tomorrow night, I am going to photograph all the food and post the pictures here. This food was a labour of love!

During and after dinner, we were enterained by eight little lambs, playing in the paddkock behind the B&B.

Nan said her mission is to get in a bunch of them and cuddle them all!