Now this is more interesting

Yesterday I caught an early train to Edinburgh, changed to a crowded Scotrail train to Inverness through the snowy Cairngorms, and sadly, as it was dark, had my first experience of the Far North line ending up in Helmsdale where Sharon kindly met me at the station.  634 miles north of London.  My return in 2 days time will be in daylight so I can see what I missed.

Helmsdale's main virtue is location.  It is 2 hours north of Inverness by train.  Thurso on the north coast is within reach.  The Helmsdale River drains a vast track of remote land before emptying into the North Sea at Helmsdale.  It is a salmon river.  The surrounding hills are scattered and are either Grahams or Marilyns meaning they have restricted appeal and are quiet. There is abundant wildlife in the area.

My target was Beinn Dhorain in Glen Loth and Sharon's other half, Tommy kindly drives me to the middle of the glen.  Signs at the start says the road is closed for the winter and it probably was a week or two ago due to snow and also due to apolyptic devastation to fir trees which workmen had to cut through to allow vehicles to pass.

Sharon and Tommy run an excellent B&B called Kindale House. Tommy also delivers post, goes fishing and is a keen ornithologist. Insterestingly they moved to Helmsdale 15 years ago from the Scilly Isles, which is quite some move.

Local advice from the estate stalker is not to go directly up the steep faces which are both steep and corniced. Instead I follow a well used deer track into the col to the south of Beinn Dhorain's summit.The going is fairly easy although I do not see a human footpath all day.The wind is strong and blows me to the top.

To the west are the snowfields of Ben klibrek and nearer at hand is the large and very ugly wind farm at Gordonbush.  North is Morven, the highest point in Caithness and a target since I first started pouring over maps as as a small boy.  The wind is calmer in the lee between Beinn Dhorain and the subsidiary top of Ben Uarie so I take a calmer picture of me and Morven which is the distant lump over my right shoulder.

There is plenty of snow up here but mainly in big patches and it is thawing today.  I am delighted to see 5 ptarmigan resplendent in their winter coats and filling thei crops with heather shoots.  This seems low level for these relatives of the grouse which I normally see on the higher tops.

Descending quickly I am soon at the glen road having traversed the hill.  It is a long but pleasant walk to Kildonan station.  Oh what a gem Kildonan is!   Such a contrast to Kings Cross or Waterloo.  62 people used the station in 2012-13 which is one every 6 days.  On the law of averages nobody else will be here until next Tuesday.

The station is well kept and the final gem is that is a request stop.  You cannot do that at Clapham Junction.  A 14 minute train ride alongside the Helmsdale River takes me back one stop to Helmsdale. A great day.