Day 5 - Muir Of Ord to Westhill

Today was a day that I didn’t know what to expect when we started, that ended up being a very welcome surprise in the end. Our route was from Muir of Ord to Westhill, which is a community on the east side of Inverness. We are pitched in a campground neatly hidden inside the community, with a beautiful view over the Beauly Firth. The astroturf pitches are perfectly level, and we have our own picnic table for seated dinner and breakfast!!!  Deluxe!

The walking was so enjoyable! We were on a variety of isolated tracks and paths, through beautiful forests and estate woodlands.

Day 5 Selfie

Bridge Over Abandoned Railway

Woodland Single Track

We stopped at one spot on the grounds beside Redcastle itself, a castle built in 1179 by the Earl of Huntingdon, brother of William the Lion. Mary Queen of Scots visited the castle in 1562. There was an irresistible bench overlooking the Beauly Firth that we felt obligated to stop for a short rest. We had a very nice video chat with Joyce while we hydrated and enjoyed the view.

Redcastle

Perfect Spot For A Rest Stop

Beauty Firth On Right

We stopped once more when we arrived at North Kessock. We saw a public washroom and the village Spar across the street from each other, and it seemed like the perfect spot to stop. After our break we started the climb up to the west side of the Kessock Bridge. We did not really enjoy this part of the walk. The bridge carries the A9, one of the major traffic arteries in this part of Scotland. The highest point of the bridge deck allows for a 30 m clearance, which doesn’t sound like much, but when you are walking over it against the outside rail it sees like a LOT!! 😱 On top of that, after four peaceful days of not even seeing cars, it is a real shock to the system to be walking about an arms length from cars and lorries screaming by at 50 mph (~80 km/h)!! Needless to say it wasn’t our favourite bit of the trip.

Once we finished crossing the bridge and got off the A9 we stopped in at a Tesco Extra to get supplies for the next couple of days.

We Might Be On To Something…

Post-Shopping Rest Stop 🤣 

First order of business once we arrived at the campsite was to have showers and get a load of laundry in. While we waited for our drying to finish, we relaxed in the tent tending to sore feet and sorting through our packs. One of the nice things with so many supply opportunities on our route this year, is better meal options. Tonight Mandy made fresh spinach and ricotta tortellini, mixed in roast chicken breast slices, and fashioned a sauce from two milk packets, a slice of mature cheddar and a squeeze of chive and herb biscuit topper. Wow!!!

Gourmet Backpacker’s Dinner à la Mandy!!

We are now in the tent at 7:30, dishes clean, and everything put away. Mandy is catching up with the kitties at home (via FaceTime with Benny 😊). We are supposed to get some rain tonight, but the forecast for tomorrow is overcast but dry. The temperature is dropping again, so it’s probably time to get tucked in. Thanks again for reading, everybody. Goodnight!!


After a few requests here are the lyrics to the Naked In The Garden Song:

Round 1 - In the morning, I’ll be dancing naked in the garden (X2)
Round 2 - In the morning, in the garden, I’ll be dancing, naked in the garden
Round 3 - Same as round 2 but octave higher

Check out this instructional video to learn the song and see how fun it is to sing. If any of you do learn it please let me know because our friend Duncan is going to be thrilled!! WARNING: The song is definitely an ear-worm song!

Day 5 Route - 23.0 km, 257 m ascent