Our last day in "the North" before hopping across to Orkney tomorrow, so we couldn't not go to the iconic John O'Groats.

First stop was Duncansby Lighthouse and the nearby sea stacks. We were sooooo fortunate to have had crazy good weather whilst up here and today was no different. The lighthouse was unremarkable, but the stacks were quite the opposite. A 20 minute walk or so and we were soon looking down from dizzying heights at quite the scene. The striking geology of plate like layers of sediments, thousands of nesting birds plus many circling above us, gulls mostly with the occasional pigeon will long be remembered. It is the wrong time of year to have seen the puffins though.

After a proper explore of as many camera angles as we felt capable of, we headed to the nearby tourist mecca of "the John O Groats sign". Living out a childhood dream of going as far north in the UK as possible was really fun! I remember not even thinking or realising that in fact Norway is way further north and that most of the first month of our trip was indeed at higher latitudes, it was still a good moment. To celebrate, a quick whisky tasting from the new distillery there, along with a coffee not overly memorable was consumed.

After this we were keen still to check out another of the nearby Neolithic burial cairns, Cairn of Get. This one was again somewhat inauspicious with only a series of black and white striped marker poles taking us through farmland from the small carpark. When we arrived at them, they are quite striking. So much of the surrounding area show evidence of rock placement and structure and we were entirely convinced that there was much more by way of archeological significance there than has been explored and/or excavated. The pressures of the cairn being on someone's farm might have something to do with this reluctance...the photos from there are especially cool, with one in particular having a cloud that bears a striking resemblance to a human face looking down at me. Oooooo.

Next stop, the vertigo (for me) and quad busting (for Bronnie) Whaligoe steps. Flagstone constructed steps, 360 of them, placed in a zig zag arrangement down the cliff to the harbour. Again, this provided a place for herring boats to stop during the halcyon herring days now long gone. By my count, I made it down about 115 of the steps before the lack of high enough wall to allow me to remain on my feet (replaced by hands, knees, butt...I really, really hate the irrational fear of falling and almost compulsion to wobble towards the edge of heights). Bronnie ventured much further (despite her cajoling, the irrational still prevailed and I stayed glued well up the steps) and it was only the prospect of the leg busting return journey that prevented a full experience of the steps for her.

As the daylight dwindled, we headed to the nearby Hill of many Stanes. Again, a Pictish artefact of standing stones (heaps of them), mostly arranged in North South aligned flat stones, placed in a U arrangement. Again, some of my photos have been fiddled with between taking and saving. Hmm.

Un daunted by the prospect of darkness, we raced back to our accommodation so Bronnie could have a chance to see Forse Castle up close. Very lovely end to an explorer's day again. We met our hosts and their feisty son as we walked back to our accommodation (they live in the house adjacent). A very nice couple who had spent Sunday splitting firewood for themselves and the lady's mum. It was a really happy salve given the less than impressive vibe of most of the locals who have been subdued and devoid of any real sense of pride in themselves or their area.

Tomorrow we head up to Gill's Bay and onto the ferry to Orkney (Kirkwall) for the rest of this week. Should be epic.