A farewell to the geologists paradise and our slightly unusual vibe accommodation and we headed off towards our next port of call near John O'Groats. Again the morning scenery was varied and interesting, passing some great sandy beaches at first before winding our way along a large inlet towards the small village of Tongue. As the road ascended out of the village there was a information sign that asked if we had noticed that the rocks on either side of the water were different. The sign said that we were on a tectonic plate boundary and the rocks on the other side of the water were once part of north america of all places (Rachel had told us about that when we were on Skye last week) and that this was where the two plates joined, with the rest of Scotland, England and Wales being of different plate and rock material. Quite cool as I thought the only plate boundary we'd have was on Iceland or maybe in Los Angeles at the San Andreas fault.

As we got further across towards the eastern side of north Scotland, we realised that the dramatic mountains etc had given way to much more of a rural outlook. Still plenty of sheep but less of the heather sort of vegetation. On the last stretch of road to Thurso, we noted that some of the dry stone walls were replaced by slabs of what looked like slate. When we popped in to the visitor centre we learned that these were actually made of a naturally occuring rock and one of the area's great exports, flagstone. An easy to split, tile like material that is in high demand as a street stone and or building stone as it is easy to split. It is all still split by hand.

Also, on the road to Thurso, we stopped at the viewing area of the unmistakable shape of a nuclear reactor at Dounreay. We learned that it was an experimental reactor that was initially attempting to develop "fast nuclear" technology as it was thought to be more efficient in use of uranium and seen as a solution to the likely shortage of uranium as predicted during the 1950s. In the end, the shortage of uranium didn't materialise, and the cost efficiency of the reactor was nothing like what was predicted. So the reactor was decommissioned in the 1990s but they are still in the process of working out what to do with waste...hmm... Its most significant contribution was in the preparation of medical isotopes which have saved many thousands of lives and 10 million cancer diagnoses across Europe.

The history of the area centres around the Picts who have lived there since the last ice age. They had extensive interaction with Vikings too who named them the painted cat people. There are lots of Viking references but the overwhelming feeling is of a slightly depressed economy and vibe. It's still on the NP500 tourist route but it is hardly a thumping place. We grabbed some supplies and headed off to our accommodation near Latheron and were delighted as we arrived to find our place looking directly at the North Sea and with our own castle ruins. The district of Caithness where the Picts were well established pre-Viking is also home to extensive peat bogs, with Shagnum moss. The peat is still cut and dried as fuel each year. This flow country is super squishy underfoot and quite a novelty.

I couldn't resist the opportunity to walk down to the castle and also down onto the beach for some great sunset photos before a pretty quiet night in and an early night.