This morning was calm and beautiful so knocking down our campsite and packing our boats was almost an enjoyable affair. We didn’t have to rush as flooding tide was about to start at around 10am. Having the opportunity to see the tide turning the day before did help, since it was happening more than one hour earlier than what’s written in Almanac.
Just as we were leaving the fog came, and soon the visibility was very poor. We set off and closely followed the coast hoping for the fog to clear, fortunately it did. With the fog lifting we not only saw Stroma and more of Orkney but four kayakers, too.

Soon we were passing John O’Groats were it was a must to stop and take The photo. John O’Groats is so commercial that   you have to pay to use the toilets, we climbed under the barrier, and they serve Costa coffee, not in the toilets, of course. That one was hard, but we gave it a miss, too. Here it proofs what a hardy kayakers we became. The thing is, Natalie can really only have soya milk in her cappuccino and that has been really hard to get in those various cafes we stopped at on the way. The last soya one was at Mowgan Port! (Cornwall), so missing Costa, which serves soya was a real sacrifice. All this to save time to explore Duncansby Head. It is an amazing place full of caves, tunnels and birds.

There we also met the same group of kayakers, they were local. We received  a recommendation from Bill to head straight for Staxigoe. Apparently a nice place where Joe camped, too, or so Bill said. With no good spot in Wick and the next one 20 km further down cliff coast we decided to see it.
He was right, slipway, picnic table, rubbish bins, flat grass, all that circumnavigators need. So late lunch became our final stop. We pitched tent, then met Bill again, he came to see us. Then we had one of the delicious cakes, thank you Andrew. Then we felt asleep, proofs how tired we were.
Yet we had to wake up from our nap and go to the house on top of the cliffs to get water. It all ended up in a nice chat with the man, we forgot to do formal introductions, but shared whisky, beer, tea and more cake. Later we met his wife, too. While we learnt about the history of the place. It used to be a first herring port in Britain. Here ships from Holland would come and bring red roof tiles (ballasting their ships) and take barrels of salted herrings back with them. We found out that not only did we have pickled herrings from jars, but that kippers are also herrings. Well, you have to learn something new every day.
In return we shared names of all the circumnavigators who may pass this place in the future, closer or distant. The people said they would be there, waiting.