So today dawned bright and cheery - some little puffs of clouds in the sky but other than that, clear blue. We thought this would be the case so continued with our plan to go to the seaside. We went the scenic way which was very very scenic today with all the autumn tree colours glinting at us as we passed by. Still no Highland cows though!
We passed through Keith as we had found out that one of the most scenic distilleries - Strathisla was there and worth a visit. We got there 15 minutes too early. Matt decided that it really wasn't worth the wait and anyway he has bought 6 bottles so far this holiday so isn't lacking so we carried on. The landscape began to change, to rolling hills dotted with woodland. The woodland gives away the fact we are in Scotland as they are mainly pine woods - very different to woodland you get in England. Also there are a lot more cows in the scenery here than you get back at home - mainly Aberdeen Anguses - but way more of these than sheep.
 |
| Macduff Harbour |
 |
| Me and Tom by the sea |
Finally we got to the coast, we passed through Banff and ended up at Macduff where there is a little aquarium. We got there too early! It didn't open until 11am so we decided to go for a walk. We thought tea and a bun would be a good idea but all the tea rooms we saw were closed! We then saw a sign saying there were tea and cakes being served at a church hall - so we thought we would do that instead (we must have been desperate as this is an activity we would normally never do!) We got there and were charged £7.50 before we even sat down - ouch!!! Turned out that it was a fundrasier for the RNLI - you sat down and then were served tea, coffee and squash and could help yourselves to pancakes and some strange croissant like scone thingy. We don't mind supporting the RNLI but we were the youngest people there and Tom started reading out all the God messages on the posters around the hall - hummmm. Oh well it served a purpose.
 |
| War memorial |
We then found a hill to climb with a tower on top serving as a war memorial for the town, a good view could be had from the top. We then headed back to the aquarium which was now open. It was only a very small aquarium, but it was really very good. We spent a good half hour at the rock pool bit playing with various creatures: starfish, sea urchins, sea anemones, crabs etc whilst learning all about them from a French member of staff (no Scottish personnel here at all as far as we could tell). Tom unfortunately had retreated into his shell again and had to be really persuaded to touch the starfish and urchins - not sure why he is so scared of these, we showed him they had no teeth etc but he was certain they would hurt him!
 |
| Lurking |
 |
| Sea Anemone |
Anyway, it was a good place, I really enjoyed it and am now an expert cod spotter! We said goodbye mainly because our stomachs were rumbling and headed to Boyndie Centre just outside of Banff for lunch - this was recommended to us by our next door neighbours who have just moved to Ingleton from Banff. It was a good, busy place, everything homemade. I had some fish (well we are by the sea) as did Tom (if you count a prawn sandwich as fish). We then set off exploring along the coast road. The communities here are much bigger than in Speyside, I guess that is a historic result of the highland clearances. They are pretty, buzzing communities. We saw plenty evidence of positive activity - a busy ship yard, plenty of fisheries and associated industries and, of course, the odd distillery.
 |
| Pretty Girl MacDoris |
We stopped where we found a point of interest - hurrah - we found a field with 3 Highland cattle in it - one of whom was by the fence and looking straight at us. We got our cameras out and took the much anticipated photos. We then found a lovely sandy beach in Sand End where we played silly racing games. Next stop was Port Knockie where we clambered on the headland. All the time we were looking out for castles that were marked on our map - but with no luck they had either all fallen down or we were blind! We ended up in Buckie, where we headed back inland along the Spey to Fochabers - the Head Office of Baxters. We did think about going in to buy some soup - but weren't motivated enough!
 |
| Moo on the beach |
We got home around 4.30 - just about in the light. We then did a quick internet search to find somewhere for dinner. The choice seemed to be a pub that sold just pie and chips or pubs with very posh nosh. We went for pie and chips. The pies were very good - very tasty but suspiciously like Pie Minister pies. Matt did a quick search and found that Pie Minister pies have exactly the same names and ingredients - we rumbled them (although to be fair, they didn't actually say anywhere that they made them themselves, just marketed them as Connoisseur Pies).
We came home with full bellies. Did some half hearted packing and then vegged out for our last evening here. This house really does feel like home, feels an age since we left Ingleton.
No comments:
Post a Comment