Slow Coast 500 part 1: from Dunnet Head to Helmsdale
Slow Coast 500 is a long-distance walk from Dunnet Head to Berwick-upon-Tweed along the entire coast of the North Sea in Scotland. The project borrows its name from the North Coast 500 route designed to attract tourists to drive around northern Scotland. Slow Cost 500 considers the role of tourism in making (or breaking) places. Often intended as a boost to local economies, tourism can contribute to problems for local communities and their environment.
Throughout the walk, I plan to use existing routes and explore new ones. Along the way, I am carrying an orange tablecloth the colour of an OS ‘Explorer’ map, using it as a picnic blanket to encourage conversation. Step by step and stitch by stitch, I embroider it along the long way to the Scottish-English border, questioning the role and impacts of tourism today. I am also sending a daily postcard home to Art Walk Projects in Portobello.
Commissioned as part of the Vessel series by Art Walk Projects: https://www.artwalkporty.co.uk/
Duncansby Head Stacks
Diary 1: Thurso to Helmsdale
Arrived in Thurso, no cards, antique shop, £3, mussel grower, in hostel, Alisdair, a kid, at the bus stop, his mum, Job Centre, in Wick, got 2 jobs already, he says, Violet, the taxi lady, retired, not really, 7 days a week, wow stunning, the landscape, campervans, campervans, they clog, the litter, she says, only petrol stations, they benefit, just them.
Thursday 6 July 2023; Day 1: Dunnet Head to Mey; 19840 steps
Dunnet Head, meeting point, North Sea, Atlantic, most northerly point, of Britain, Great Britain, is it great? My start, the t-shirt, people look, NC 500, you walk? No. slow coast, miss the path, back track, overgrown, the bracken, so high, to my tits, picnic, with the cloth, orange, a woman, today, driving into a school, in Wimbledon, the houses, weird names, KINRARA and the likes, the castle, Mey, Queen Mum, who owns?, who owns Caithness, Mey not May, like us.
Friday 7 July 2023; Day 2: Mey to John o’ Groats; 26172 steps
Grey, tarmac, private, castle, farmer, more private, drizzle, drizzle, path, overgrown, barley, so much, need pee, Danger sign, Aroad, foot hurt, bunion, why? I have one? Swap shoes, sigh, write on postcard, Instagram, wash clothes, the chores, farmer, Annie, Coxswains, scotty dog, baby bull, triplet sheep, on, on, stony beach, scramble, scramble, stones, like sculptures, John o’ Groats, after Dutch man, runners, from Landsend, 35 days, what a folly?
Sat 8 July 2023 - Day 3: John o’ Groats to Keiss; 30486 steps
Touri-bustle, fluffy coos, NC500 fridge magnets, the path, sheep, lots, Stacs of Duncansby, outerworldly, all alone, no one else, flowers, flowers, orchids, campions, hogweed, giant clover, hawkbit.. the geos, OSmap named, deep clefts, in cliff face, by erosion, a stoat, screams, felt scary, on, on, on, bunion, stings, thanks god, blister plaster, the sun, it has its hat on, today, tired, how long, paper maps, iphone screen, too much sun! the road, woman here 54 years, hates NC500, too busy, campervans, can’t reverse, too much traffic, Keiss, a murder and a suicide, the paper says.
Sunday 9 July 2023 - Day 4: Keiss to Wick; 27851 steps
Tarmac, Keiss village, Panzersperren, garden, pillars, for fence, idea of the day, beach, 5k long, all white, all alone, bar thoughts, a tour guide, in B+B, 267 cruise ships, heading for Kirkwall, capacity 3000, work out, almost a million, sand, so white, the bunion, it stings, on cliffs again, path overgrown, scary, tourist tax?, like Tyrol, to keep it safe, call Mutti, 36C today, in Munich, no fun, flooding in England, PRIVATE, the flowers, a feast, of colour, Sinclair Castle, Wick, shining grey, from far.
Monday 10 July - Day 5: Wick to Wallygoe; 28430 steps
Wicker’s World breakfast, postcard search, Ray, former social worker, mother, worked in cassette company, pool, in sea, so pretty, TRINKIE, trenches, path, unkempt, horseflies, Pat, Dunray worker, takes till 2060, decommission, bunion burns, Rachel, send Scarpas, Scorries Island, Norse, for Seagull, cut out, from rock, sausage roll, oh man, those views, offshore windfarm, on horizon, harbours, cut into the geos, Women pension age, disgrace, chess figure, sculptures, where, the bus?
Tuesday 11 July 2023 - Day 6: Wallygoe to Lybster; 19040 steps
Derek, path minder, saw the walk on FB, the Walligoe steps, how many? Why?, fisherwomen, the herring. Overcast today, less horseflies, got jungle thing, against the sting. How describe a walk? linear, archive instead?, many levels, photos, pebbles, texts, postcards, drawings, flowers, stitches …, more to think of, admin heavy, oh man, the foliage so high, bracken, above head, jungle, of Caithness, geo, after geo, up, and down, slow mileage, keep going, the nettles, keeps blood circulated, fit for a story, the B+B, farmer with 8 children, Tannock Tea cake, new discovery.
Wednsday 12 July 2023 - Day 7: Lybster to Dunbeath; 30190 steps
Misty outlook, Beatrice, the platform, the windfarm, past glass place, no one, harbour, pebble, postcard, upwards, bracken, bracken, bracken, anorak, moist, up down, up down, past the geos, BBC, mysterious presenter, nationwide quiz, fence wire, how many km, Caithness, bracken, bracken, larger than me, Kundera, the lightness, of being, the unbelievable one, dead, sadness, steep down, barbed fence, more, of it, the cliff, me inbetween, lobster boat, only human, today, up, bracken, up, bracken, all day, cows, calf, get out, SPAR shop, pasta.
Thursday 13 July 2023 - Day 8: Dunbeath to Berriedale; 19645 steps
Wee Hoosie, chickens, eggs, postbox, A9, noisy, old A9, quite, post office, no postcard, PRIVATE, very, for sale, 30 mio, no signs, bracken, again, foxglove, rain, onwards, slow, chocolate, keeps going, the BBC, mystery solved, atmosphere, still, no walker, down, up, round, bracken, sheep, wool, giant hogweed, unfolds, along, the way,growing daily, platform, windfarm, competing, on horizon, the pylons, the pipelines, ruined croft, green, greener, greenest, down, down, the harbour, Pimms.
Friday 14 July 2023 - Day 9: Berriedale to Helmsdale; 24845 steps
What a lough, last night, Patrizia, the others, the Pimms, the revolution, in the making, bye bye, steep, up, up, a path, great, cottages, ruined, 60 families, once upon, clearances, then, today? Syria, Iraq, Cabrach, Maldives, heat, floods, landowners, war, all over, Balbae, monument, mist, bracken, phone call, relief, long awaited, move on, onwards, upwards, observation tower, 1940?, still there, installation tower?, perfect, for it, the art, monument, artist, unknown one, Helmsdale, home, homecoming, SPAR shop, bottle.
Saturday 15 July 2023 - Day 10: Helmsdale, no steps
Sleep in, toast, tea, coffee, eggs, Instagram, web blog, postcard, flowerpress, bath, wash machine, view, Fechlin, Cottage, pylon, big one, phone call, Mutti, Rachel, walk down, Timespan, Jay Wilson, trail maker, genius, 200 landowners, 100 stiles, 50 bridges, amazing. 1000s of hours, of passion, of love, for the path.
