June 13

June 13th (raining, blowing and cold in morning – sunny in afternoon)
For the first time, I slept in longer than Georg. At 5 a.m., George emptied our pee pot, (red bucket that we use when we don’t want to walk to the bathroom in the middle of the night), and I stayed in bed because it was so cold and miserable out (6 degrees C). Our canvas on the pop top even leaked a little at the zipper. Made a quick cup of coffee and we were packed up and on the road before 7:30 a.m.
As we began heading down the east coast of Scotland, the weather changed to sun and the bluest sky we had ever seen and because we had not had breakfast, we pulled over and had porridge. Outside of Wick, we stopped and stocked up at a very large grocery store chain. The prices and selection were similar to home. We also bought two comfortable lounge-type chairs, a tarp and some other items that will make everything even more comfortable. We will definitely be asking more for the van when it is resold. Who knows, we may keep it in storage for next year. The only problem is that we are running out of space, so if anyone is planning on visiting us, they will have to bring along a small tent.
We pulled in to a place called John-o-Groats, which is the most northern town in mainland Great Britain. From outside our window we looked at the Orkney Islands. The weather is very brisk to say the least, but we still go walking a lot. We are so far north that it stays light almost all night. Beautiful spot.