Week 45 - 18th to 24th August

Monday 18th - day 296

This is our last day in Caithness, and it is definitely a place that has grown on us. We spent the morning doing the usual domestic catch ups, but by mid afternoon we were caught up and set off on our planned walk up to Duncansby Head to see the stacks, but we saw a lot more than we were expecting!
The weather was once again glorious as it has been all week – misty and grey in the morning but quickly improving to be sunny and bright for the rest of the day.

The walk was idyllic, as the sun warmed our backs we foraged for shells on the most fruitful shell beach we have played on yet.
With pockets bulging we moved on towards the lighthouse, but we were in for another thrill. Bobbing about in the water were a load of black blobs. We have got used to grabbing the binoculars to search for seals to find they were ducks or birds… but this time they were seals, dozens of them head out of the water, noses pointing out just enjoying the sun.
It was hard to leave them, having looked so long for them, but we wanted to get to the stacks. The cliff lines were very dramatic along the way; the rock was layers of red and brown, and very tall, with long narrow and deep inlets caused as deep fissures pulled the rocks apart. The Fulmars and Kittiwakes were happy though, as the ledges made lovely nesting places!
Last stop was to view the stacks, which would probably have looked more stunning with the morning sunlight on them, but they were still imposing enough to be a happy finale to a lovely afternoon – though to be accurate we did not make it back until gone eight, we were mooching about so much!

Tuesday 19th - day 297

On the move again, and heading back down south again. I am feeling sad that our Scottish tour is nearing its end, but hopefully there is a still lot to see, even if not so dramatic as the gorgeous west coast!
After an easy and relatively short journey we arrive at Brora, still in the highlands and about 50 miles north of Inverness (which may be where the nearest supermarket is to be found, if Yell.com is to be believed!)
After the usual moving and resettling jobs, we settle down to an early dinner and a walk along the beach – not bad eh!

Wednesday 20th - day 298

Again it seems that most of the country is under a rain cloud except us, it’s not hot enough to worry about sun burn, but it is bright enough to need sun glasses – pity I have just lost my third pair!!
We need to replenish the food cupboard, and after an extensive internet search, the best we can find is a Co-op in Tain, just beyond Dornoch, down on the Moray Firth. We decide to visit this lovely little city (small town with its own cathedral) then go in search of the Co-op.
What a lovely time we had there, it was a very busy little place, with a colourful High Street, street market, fancy shops and a cathedral with very impressive stained glass windows.
We wandered down through the market, and could not resist the Italian stall selling little Salamis, and the Dutch stall selling hard goats cheese – yum; but although the Baklava was tempting from the distance, on closer inspection there were too many wasps crawling over all the little pastries for them to remain tempting, so we passed!
The cathedral held our attention for a while. The windows were very intriguing, as most of the styles of stained glass was quite different in each window, ranging from a design by the “Morris and Co” team at the turn of the century to a very modern stylised etched glass window that had only been in place for a couple of years. There were a couple of plain spaces left, but at least one had been reserved by the family of a wealthy old lady, to commemorate her following her demise – best be prepared I think! These window dressings have all been paid for privately, (canny Scots) and as any frippery was condemned in the Kirk until 1900, they have had a busy century!
We could have stayed longer strolling through the streets, but we needed to move on to buy our dinner (plus seven more!) so it was off to the Co-op for us.

Thursday 21st - day 299

Today, I think, is one of the rare times during our trip where we have been deluged by rain all day. So initially we took a relaxed attitude and rested, but as you can imagine this could not last, as it became obvious this was a most opportune moment to wash the caravan and remove the build up of road debris from the leading surface. Recently we had driven over some newly resurfaced road and had many tar splashes to contend with. Not just the usual wash here, but luckily we had some solvent left over from an earlier encounter with grease! Helen set to work with a will (I joined in a little later) and soon all the tar was removed and the clean, white and blemish free surface was restored. We ended up seriously soaked, but after a change of clothes and a cup of the old Earl Grey we are returned to our usual happy camper state.
By evening the rain had stopped enough for us to brave the great out doors. We took the back roads to Golspie, making a big loop through delightful countryside. We are apparently in the most isolated part of Scotland (Europe even, I read) with on average a population of six persons per mile! We must have been in that part, because over 30 odd miles our only company was a few cows, (or sheep) walking down the road, but the hills were purple with the heather in full flower, the burns were a torrential gush of frothy brackish water tumbling down the hills after all the rain, the air was crystal clear and we were once again revived.

Friday 22nd - day 300

The weather is looking a bit iffy again, but undaunted we set off, stomachs full of egg and bacon and picnic box bursting, to visit the Strathpeffer area.
Our first stop though is just down the road, to a Brora Emporium, selling local crafts, and we find some locally made “Bothy blankets”, a traditional blanket worn by shepherds out on the hills, and slept in during their nights rest in the hillside bothies. They are stunning, using local wool dyed in colours reminiscent of all the colours of Scotland, heather, moss, brackish water and clear sky, and they were made by a Brora man – so at £40 we bought two!! (A tartan blanket in Dornoch had cost £100).
Our next stop was to Dingwall, but it lacked enough charm to hold us so we moved on through the Victorian Spa town of Strathpeffer. We wanted to get to our picnic spot by now, so drove through, stopping at a Forestry Commission site on the shores of Loch Achilty. It was lovely and we were once again its only visitors – until the midges arrived (who said they were only a problem on the west coast!!!) There was nothing for it but to create heat - so we gathered enough bracken and twigs to light a bonfire. Unfortunately it had rained recently and although the gatherings were all dead, they were a bit soggy. Undaunted we continued, and with a little help from three sheets of newspaper to get things going (and a box of matches!) we lit ourselves a fire. I think that we probably smoked the beggars out rather than fried them initially but finally and rather smelly we sat down to our picnic – feeling very pleased with ourselves it has to be said And we had enough heat from the fire to sit there until 7.30, enjoying our peaceful surroundings. We had time for one last visit before returning back to the van, so we went to check out Rogie Falls. What a joy, we were so glad that we had taken the walk down to the suspension bridge to view these wild waters. We stood and watched as salmon tried to make the leap up river, but I could not imagine quite how they would fight their way up one of the six foot torrential water falls, where the pressure of the water flow would surely force them back down, but obviously they do!
We walked on a bit further but the light was now fading fast so after a bit of a discussion about whether or not we had crossed over the river twice, we retraced our steps while we could still see in front of us!

Saturday 23rd - day 301

Today was not our most successful of touring days, having so much enjoyed our surroundings yesterday; we tried a repeat pattern visiting Loch Shin the Falls there of. If we had not been so thrilled with seeing the leaping salmon at the Rogie Falls, we may have been more impressed by our visit to the Falls of Shin, but we had arrived at a family visitor centre, complete with crazy golf, playground and “gift shop” so were off to a poor start, but when we had to share the viewing point to watch the salmon along with 20 families shouting “did ya see um!” we had soon had enough! We drove on then to the loch hoping for a walk and a picnic spot but the scenery was a little dreary and there not being any place to stop on either side of the loch so we returned to little Loch Fleet at the mouth of the Dornoch Firth. We had got it right this time! We found our lovely spot by the water and very quickly had acquired enough dead wood to start a fire using only the minimal number of matches!! We then spent a very happy couple of hours poking the camp fire, turning the meat on the barbeque and watching the wading birds settle down to their tea as the tide ebbed away, I don’t think we have seen so many Curlews in one place, foraging along side the usual Oyster Catchers and Sandpipers. We sat until there was little left of the fire, then drove to the pier to see if we could drop a line as we had seen done earlier. Chris was chief fisherman tonight as I was on the phone. He worked stoically to master the poor quality equipment, but finally the reel broke and the mackerel were safe for yet another night!

Sunday 24th - day 302

We learned yesterday (when I phoned the camp site to check!) that it would cost an exorbitant amount for H&T to stay with us in Newtonmore, so we have spent most of the day booking another site. I think that we have done better though, as we will be right by Loch Morlich, and closer to the cycle routes!!!!
After a rather dull day spent pouring over books and web sites while the sun shone, we had completed most of the tasks so while the chicken legs were cooking, we went for a lovely long walk along the beach. Our only companions for most of the way were a Grey Seal, several Oyster Catchers, and hundreds of little Ringed Plovers and their young! However the best find of the evening was a fully intact 4 inch shell that we think had travelled far!