Independent overland travel through Africa in a Unimog called Moglet

Once again Jason faced the regular trial of convincing an inspection cover it really wanted to open up, before we could move on. Third time lucky, we found one which had had a bit of morning sun so had defrosted just enough to be used. Essentials taken care of, we left the Glenmore site, stopping off quickly in town to get a few supplies from the local butcher. We recently discovered the joys of clootie dumpling and are working on cultivating a full blown addiction as often as we can! Its basically a kind of fruit cake/pudding which can be served up as a dessert or, as one butcher suggested, stick it in the pan with your bacon and fry it up for breakfast - so thats what we do! Its not all that easy to find, and tends to be in the butchers when you do come across it, so we make a point of checking whenever we can - the cravings are getting bad though, so much so I had to buy a recipie book the other day with it in, so I can have a go at making my own! Imagine - endless supplies of clootie dumpling!!! You may think I sound mad, but try it before you judge me... I'll post up the recipe some time soon, so I can help pimp the clootie all over the world!! :-)

Anyway, digressing slightly from the trip diary, after Aviemore we carried on up the A9, heading for Inverness. We'd noticed from a flyer further south that there's a Costco hiding there somewhere, so we thought it was worth a look to stock up on a few bits. We arrived at Inverness after an uneventful drive, drove all around several industrial estates, plugged the address into the GPS, all to no avail - someone appears to have stolen Costco. After half an hour touring the streets in an aimless ramble, we popped out the other side of the city and crossed the Moray Firth. Visibility was great and the sun was out, so we stopped in a layby on the other side to see if we could spy any bottlenose dolphins - they're apparently supposed to be a pod of around 130 there on a regular basis, and quite easy to see because they're about 50% larger than a typical dolphin on account of them being much fatter! Probably something to do with too much clootie dumpling in the water...

After all the excitements of the morning, we turned on the gas and had a cup of tea and some munchies. And maybe a little snooze. Good job we were refreshed before we drove on though, otherwise we might have missed the signs on exiting the layby, reminding us to 'Drive on the Left'! How do you manage to get all the way to Inverness without noticing which side to drive on??!! Very random Tourist Information, I thought...

After snapping a few wildlife shots, we trucked back on up the A9. The plan for the day was just to keep going until we felt like stopping. Our overall goal was John O'Groats, but not necessarily that day, just as and when we got there. Jason being Jason though decided now was as good a time as any and we kept on driving and driving pretty much all the way to the north coast. There aren't any campsites open this time of year right by the coast itself so we got as close as we could, in a little campsite called The Croft near Bowermadden, about halfway between Castletown and John O'Groats. Its a Certified Location site, which means its very small and has hardstanding and utilities but not much else - in return, the prices are much lower. It was late when we arrived so we just called the owners rather than knock at their house, letting them know we were there and making sure it was ok to plug Moglet in (some sites turn off the electric if there's no-one there). They were fine with that, then popped out to see us the next day so we could settle up. I didnt speak to the lady of the house, but the chap was extremely friendly and very helpful - even offering us the use of his car for the day when he heard we needed to go to the nearest town to track down a launderette! It's also very useful to have a site thats not only open all year round, but one where the owners are developing the facilities on an ongoing basis - the diggers arrived on the day we left so he could start installing more drainage for a new shower block. If you're in the area, you could do worse than have a couple of nights peace and quiet at this site - it really is an isolated spot, and the view of the stars without all the usual light pollution really is incredible.

After the long trek of the day before, followed by yet another bad nights sleep (lots of wind plus I have a back that likes a regular grumble), we had a fairly huge lie in the next day. Refreshed and revitalised by a full fry up, we then unplugged Moglet and went in search of the most northerly point in the UK, Dunnet Head. If we thought the wind at the campsite was a little fresh, we were practically blown off the cliff by the howler that was blowing up near the lighthouse! We stayed outside literally long enough to take a couple of quick photo's then ran back into the warmth and safety of Moglet. The picture doesn't do the weather any justice, but there's a distinct lack of anything taller than 2inches growing within a 5 mile radius, so that probably tells you plenty about the wind.

For the sake of contrast we also went to the commercial trap that is John O'Groats, and it was everything we expected if to be. If you like your car parks and crappy shops full of tourist tat then by all means head there, but otherwise make a bee-line straight for the real most northerly point in the UK and go to Dunnet Head, about 5 miles further east.

Next morning we were up and about at our usual frightening early time (ie about 11am!), heading into Thurso to collect our washing from the launderette. We'd gone there the previous evening, arriving about 5.25pm, in plenty of time for their 6pm closing as per their website. Unfortunately it appeared their website was wrong and they shut much earlier... Thats the only problem with Moglet with these kinds of things really, we'd driven an extra 20 miles in the evening specifically to do something, only to find we couldn't, so we had to do it again the next day. Just a minor irritation in a car, but at about 50p a mile in Moglet, it becomes expensive too. Probably one of the most expensive loads of washing I've done yet!

Next on the To Do list for the day was a trip to the supermarket, and I do like it when we stumble across a Tesco. They're everywhere further south, but hardly anywhere this far north, so I like to have a little reminicing stroll around as and when we find one. Once we'd stocked up the fridge in preparation for a few days in the boonies, we were getting ready to go when - can you guess?! - someone knocked at the door! Not an offer to buy Moglet this time, but someone who'd seen her in the carpark and wanted to know whether the website address on her side showed all our trip stuff. He was very impressed with her and said he was looking forward to having a look at the site so, whatever your name is, if that was you in the Thurso car park and you're looking us up and reading this, hello to you! :-)

Chores completed, we hit the road again, on another one of our 'drive until we feel like stopping' days...