Kirkwall; Saturday, 05 August, 2006

I briefly woke up and realised that I was in Edinburgh as the train jolted a couple of times and then promptly accelerated away in the opposite direction to the one it arrived in!

By 7am I was up and the train was north of Dalwhinnie, ahead of time, and not noticeably broken! After a filling and leisurely breakfast eaten in bed it was time to get up and disembark at Inverness.

My train North from Inverness left at 10:39, so after buying the ticket, I had a wander around Inverness for a while before coming back to the station for a leisurely cup of tea and then boarded the train.

It's just over 150 miles north from Inverness to Thurso, which is as far North as you can go on a train in the UK, but as the line winds its way around the highlands, up to and then away from the coast it takes just a couple of minute short of 4 hours to reach Thurso.

On exiting the station the free Taxi to the ferry at John O'Groats was waiting so I loaded my bags and continued heading North. At 3pm I reached the most northerly point on the Mainland. April 2004 to August 2006 is one of the slowest Lands End to John O'Groats journeys, but then I hadn't really been planning to do that 2 years ago!

After spending nearly an hour kicking my heals at the UK's most northerly tourist trap the ferry arrived to take me yet further north to the southern tip of the southern most Orkney island, South Ronaldsway. The crossing was uneventful if slightly choppy and consequently we were a couple of minutes late into harbour (the only delay so far on my journey!) But that didn't matter as there was plenty of time for the connection with the bus.

The bus sped me yet further North over the Churchill Barrages, designed to protect the natural harbour that is formed by the Orkney Islands and the navy that was based there from everyone else, to Kirkwall. Then it was the matter of a short walk through the city centre and, at a little after 6pm, 23 hours after leaving home, and almost constantly travelling north I collapsed onto my hotel bed.

After unpacking and recovering myself with a cup of tea I headed back out to the town centre to have a brief wander around before stopping for a bite to eat and then back to the hotel to sleep in a non-rocking bed!