Fairy Glen, Camster Cairns and Whaligoe Steps

After a night in Grantown-On-Spey campsite, we set out on our route for the day - through Inverness, onto the Black Isle then up to Camster Cairns and the Whaligoe Steps before spending the night in Wick Campsite. On the Black Isle we would be visiting Fairy Glen - a recommendation from my brother. Not entirely sure what he was hoping to see there, but we did reach a very pretty wee waterfall after a lovely walk through a forest.

You can see more of this Glen on my video, NC500 day 2 - Fairy Glen, near Inverness

This is slightly off the main NC500 driving route, but a detour worth taking, I reckon. A good chance to stretch the legs on a pretty walk - a couple of images below.

From here, we rejoined the main NC500 route and worked our way north - some lovely driving on this stretch. Not the dramatic scenery of the West Coast, but some beautiful, peaceful views that were helped by the calm weather. Our next destination was the Camster Cairns, or Grey Cairns of Camster. You can see more of them on this video, NC500 Day 2, Part 2 - Camster Cairns and the Whaligoe Steps

Please do have a look at these videos - aside from some top notch Fatman banter, usually at my brother’s expense, there is some stunning scenery and useful information to boot. Any subscriptions to the channel would really be hugely appreciated, thank you! :-)

I will make the disclaimers(to protect me from potential misadvertising lawsuits) that I am not a videographer, I have a face for radio and, to be honest, the banter isn’t that great. But still, have a look. Please…

If the NC500, or Scotland in general, interest you, I would suggest looking at the following;

Photographing Scotland: A photo-location and visitor guidebook

The Photographer's Guide to Scotland - Skye, Glen Coe & the Trossachs

The Rough Guide to the North Coast 500 (Compact Travel Guide) (Rough Guides)

Anyway, the Cairns. Wikipedia tells me “The Grey Cairns of Camster are two large Neolithic chambered cairns located about 5 miles north of Lybster in Caithness, in the Highland region of Scotland. They are among the oldest structures in Scotland, dating to about 5,000 years ago”. To reach the cairns, you take a narrow side road off the A99 just after Lybster, watch out for the sign directing you - again, well worth going to see them.

From the Cairns, we headed to the Whaligoe Steps. I first heard of these in a Billy Connolly program, “World Tour Of Scotland”, many years ago. They were one of the places high up on my “to do” list for this trip and they did not disappoint - admittedly, partly due to the award winning cafe at the top of the steps. Now, they were a bit tricky to find, no significant signage and we did miss them initially and had to do a u'-turn. So, pay attention. Also be warned that parking is limited and, at peaks times, reservations may be needed for the cafe - so bear that in mind when timing your visit - but please do go see them, they are wonderful.

After the Steps, we drove into Wick and camped up for the night. Not sure what to say about Wick - the campsite was in a great location by the river and a nice walk into town, but I’d probably stay elsewhere next time. Sadly, Wick seems to have seen better days.

Well, enough of the chat, let’s get on to some photos - thanks for reading!