Caithness is the flat northeastern corner of mainland Scotland, a country of big skies, peat and flagstone, and Oliclett lies in it west of Wick, among scattered farms and low fields. The soil is thin and the wind is constant, and the trees that grow bend away from the sea. But beneath it, the county is thick with prehistory: chambered cairns, standing stones and broch ruins by the hundred. The Grey Cairns of Camster, near Lybster, are among the oldest, built over five thousand years ago, and you can crawl into one of them along a low passage.
The label on this stop belongs to a family of ancient sites that connect Caithness to Orkney, where the Ring of Brodgar stands, and to the far west of Sutherland. People travelled by sea in the Neolithic, and the same designs of tombs and circles appear across these northern lands. Standing in the flat fields here, you feel the long human presence in a landscape that seems empty.
Wick, about ten kilometres away, is the main town, with just over seven thousand people, fuel stations, supermarkets and pubs. In the nineteenth century it was the busiest herring port in Europe, and Thomas Telford designed the planned district of Pulteneytown for the fishermen. The Wick Heritage Museum tells the story. The town has what Guinness recognises as the world's shortest street, Ebenezer Place, only a couple of metres long. Old Pulteney, the distillery, has a long maritime link.
For riders, the A99 and A9 are the main roads, fast and open, with strong crosswinds, and there are quieter back roads between the farms. John o' Groats and Duncansby Head are an hour away, and Dunnet Head, the northernmost point of mainland Britain, is close by. In summer, the evenings are very long, and in June it hardly gets dark. Spring brings wildflowers on the cliffs, and autumn brings storms, so keep a close eye on forecasts.