Memories of an old friend on a ride to remember
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CYCLING ROUTE
Camster Cycle Trail
Distance – 10.5 miles, plus 1 mile return to Cairns of Camster
Terrain – boggy forest tracks, minor roads, short section on busy A road
Maps – OS Landranger 11, Thurso & Dunbeath
Start/finish – Camster Forest car park on Lybster-Watten road, off A99 in Caithness
Bringing back memories in an ancient land of bronze and stone
The minor road between Lybster and Watten holds happy memories for me from a previous bike trip from Aviemore up to John O’Groats.
After many miles on the A9 and A99, this was our first opportunity to get off the main roads for the rest of the route to the north-east corner of Scotland.
My childhood friend I had joined on that trip had cycled all the way from Land’s End with another friend of his. Sadly my mate has since passed away, so this part of Caithness always brings back fond recollections of a fantastic time spent with him doing what we both loved – being in the great outdoors.
It was with him in mind that I arrived at Camster, which you can reach by following the sign to the Grey Cairns of Camster just north of Lybster on the A99.
The car park is signed within the forestry a few miles up this straight road, shortly after Camster Lodge and about half-a-mile before the cairns themselves.
The first part of our great little route heads into the forest on what was a slushy surface on our visit, after a few days of snow and sub-zero temperatures followed by a thaw. It made for an interesting outing as we rode over the ice and snow and plunged into the odd deep puddle!
It looked like this would be a pretty boggy start to the ride, even in the summer.
From the parking area, continue along the forest track as it bends to the left then right, going over a low gate which you’ll need to carry the bikes over.
The ice made it interesting but we were still able to ride and, as the sun came out and the temperature rose, it was possible to avoid some patches of the slippery stuff. Where we did have to ride on the ice, it was thawing below and I’d end up with the front wheel riding on top of the ice and the back wheel cracking through into the muddy puddle below!
An old Forestry Commission leaflet I have describes this part of the route as “rising to a fine viewpoint” but this was presumably written before the trees matured. The climb itself isn’t much of an ascent – more of a gentle incline most of the way – and you only get tantalising views out to the Moray Firth and across to the Banffshire coastline until you emerge from the plantation.
The route through the forest is simple, sticking to the main forest track the whole way, staying left at a fork after a couple of miles then turning 90 degrees right where an obviously older track goes straight ahead at the top.
Now on our way down the hill, we focused on going slowly enough not to come a cropper but without using the brakes too much, which would have had us sliding right off the track! I went tentatively down until we reached a gate where the track goes through a quarry and farm, then meets the tarmac road ahead.
It’s an easy ride down to the coast from here, and it’s worth pausing (as we did) at the Hill O Many Stanes at Mid Clyth, thought by some to be a Bronze Age lunar observatory. I rather like this suggestion for its use, though it’s a disputed explanation for what the 22 parallel rows of small standing stones were really for.
Down the hill from this Historic Scotland site you reach the A99, where you turn right onto the busy road for a short distance. Take the next signposted road right, which points to Camster. This single-track road goes over the shoulder of a hill – the biggest of the ride – at Mid Clyth, crossing the line of the old Wick and Lybster Light Railway.
You can see remnants of the old line along this stretch of coast – what a superb cycle route this could make between the two communities if it were developed.
After dropping down the other side of the hill, turn right at the T-junction at Laid and follow the Camster road north towards the forest ahead.
We continued past the forest car park to the Cairns of Camster, which I remember pedalling past on that John O’Groats ride with my friend, the three of us in the group enjoying the freedom of this magnificent long road.
Today, we stopped and had a wander around the site of these Neolithic chambered cairns, which were found to contain human and animal bone when they were excavated. It’s a fascinating site, and well worth the short detour.
I wish my friend could have enjoyed it with us again.
