In July 2006 I sold my house (in Eskilstuna) and bought a caravan (a Cabby 440 DL from 1987 if you must know :-). At the end of August I drove down to Gothenburg to catch the ferry to Newcastle and then further north into Scotland.
This trip has been split into three parts: September, parts 1 and 2, and October.
In this second part, I travelled from Dornoch to the top of Scottish mainland, then down to Inverness and along the Northeastern coast towards Stonehaven, and finally down the East coast to Lundin Links.
Click link in text to view photo. To view next photo - click on photo (or right arrow on keyboard). To close photo - click outside photo (or press Esc on keyboard).
Friday (15/9) turned out to become a rather nice day and I had lunch in Tain, where I also picked up an OK curry. The day was otherwise used to catch up on some reading.
Saturday (16/9) started off very foggy but also turned out a nice day. Yet another day to catch up on things I have had on backburner for a while...
Will sunday (17/9) be the day I get to Thurso? Yes, it was! :-)
I started off by a visit to the broch south of Brora, which
was followed up by a visit to the previous clearance village of
Badbea. (The Clearances was when landowners evicted tenants from
their crofts to let, the more lucrative, sheep graze on the land.
The crofters had to move to the, most often less fertile, coast
and start again.) Georgemas Junction was a must (if boring)
before arriving in Thurso, which failed to impress me as well.
Nicer where the sand dunes east of
Thurso as well as Dunnet Head,
the northern tip of Scottish mainland. Moving on John o' Groats
was a commercial disappointment (for me), but the trip down to
Wick had it's points (mostly nice old houses). Wick is not either
a place I feel compelled to return to and yet again, the trip
south from there had it's points. Got a good photo of the sun
shining on a lighthouse. Unfortunally it started raining
so I decided to skip the cairns and standing stones. :-(
For monday (18/9) I had nothing planned... The afternoon was used to try and get connected to the Internet (and be allowed to connect my USB memory to upload this home page). I ended up picking up a chinese take-away in Golspie, which produced some photos while I was waiting for it. On the way back I got a glimpse of the old light railway between Dornoch and The Mound.
On tuesday (19/9) I moved south again to Bunchrew just
west of Inverness. The afternoon was spent browsing in
Dingwall and Strathpeffer. It started of with a futile visit to North
Kessock to try to see some dolphins (though a nice view of the
old ferry crossing and Inverness :-).
Next was Dingwall, with it's nice town
hall and typical British railway
station (where 134 864 men where supplied with tea during
WW1). In Strathpeffer yet another railway station was visited,
Strathpeffer Spa (closed, as is the 'main' Strathpeffer station,
2 miles outside the village). I took a walk along the old track
bed of the branch line ("spa line"), overlooked by two old bronze
age forts. Looked at another pictish stone, the Eagle
Stone, and some of the hotels.
I guess I saw the start of the autumn
as well.
I finally got connected to Internet! Too bad I failed to upload
the pictures, etc. for this home page...:-( (But by now that will
have been fixed! :-)
The Black Isle was toured on the wednesday (20/9). It started
of with a quick visit to Fortrose and it's cathedral, where I
picked up a lunch that was eaten (looking
at the waves) at Chanonry Point trying to
spot a dolphin (but alas not...). I continued on further out
on the penninsula (no, it's not actually an island :-) ending
up at Cromarty, with a view of the North Sea between
the Sutors. On the way back I stopped off at Beauly to
look at the priory. Unfortunately it was a bit after lunch,
i.e. not to many photos were taken...
(A quick visit to Inverness was managed,
where I got to complete my collection of books on Scottish
railways, snap some photos of railway station [quite boring] and
a first look at Caledonian Canal - more on that 'tomorrow'.)
Thursday (21/9) and it's time for Culloden!
(Culloden, 1746, was the last battle on British soil where the
troops of Bonnie Prince Charles fought the English... and lost. After this
the English came down on the Scots and forbade the wearing of
tartans, the use of bagpipes, and other things related to the
Scottish clan system. Yes, yes... There isn't much to see on the
moor, except perhaps the cairn and
stones with clan names raised by Scottish descendants.)
The moor was pretty windy but moving on to Clava
cairns, amoung other passage graves,
in the woods was a big change. Lunch was had in Nairn, a town
I could not find a reason to like before I went. And having been
there I still can't find a reason... at least none more than
Dornoch or Thurso (i.e. has a nice beach
and a summer holiday might be nice there).
I gave Cawdor Castle (but not there lovely
trees :-) a miss as did I Fort George (as they cost a bit
of money and I actually got a better view of the fort across
the firth yesterday). Having missed the opportunity to get a
good view of the railway viaduct at
Clava cairns (and as I had time to spare) I went back to get a
closer look. :-) I got a nice look
at a small burn, that had 'eaten'
itself in to the rock, and the 'small' bridge (compared to
Culloden Viaduct) over it.
Back in 'the world', i.e. Inverness, I took a closer look at
the Caledonian Canal and the railway swing bridge.
Friday (22/9) and 'moving day' again... I started off trying for Huntly, only to find the campsite full (a first for me! :-). I therefore pushed on to Cullen on the north coast. The afternoon was spent revisiting Elgin, a place I made a quick visited to a few years ago. Obviously I missed the cathedral last time, but my liking of Elgin has not improved. One good thing is that the square has become nicer as the traffic has been moved to a by-pass. In all fairness to Elgin (and Thurso, Wick, and Nairn) - I'm not a fan of towns. The evening sun was nice, just before it started to rain.
Saturday (23/9) and time to see Huntly, amoung other things, which I
'missed' staying at. The day started of a bit overcast but when the sun
hit the rocks, the view from the camp
site was really nice. I started of by touring Cullen
and documenting it's many railway bridges
(now unused), harbour, and beach. A
quick visit to Fochaber's square,
as it reminded me of Grantown-on-Spey's square (although a bit smaller
:-). Good old Lennox was nice enough to introduce electric light
to Fochaber. Moving on I went to Keith and toured railway station
(won't bore you with that :-), Milton Tower,
new town,
old
town (with 2 RR for wedding party), and got a glimpse of whisky
storage
and vats.
(Saw a limousine in Cullen, for another wedding party, and yet
another on the way to Keith, or was it the same one?)
Pushing on to Huntly I saw the square
(without the caravan this time! :-) and it's town
hall (and railways station of course, but won't bore you
with that either :-). Then headed 'home' to do some washing...
Sunday (24/9) was used to see more of the east: Banff, Macduff,
Gardenstown, Portsoy, Sandend, and Fordyce. Banff was seen in
the rain... so not to many photos. But I got to see the moat
of the old castle (which is no more) and yet more nice
houses. Had my lunch (from Banff) outside the Marine Museum
in Macduff (still in the rain). I think I saw the less interesting
side of Macduff because I was quick to push on to Gardenstown, where I had
coffee in a café/gallery with lots of good photos in many shapes
(pictures, coasters, table mats, and more). I myself got a pretty
good photo towards Crovie, I must
say. :-) (Gardenstown had to be visited as I saw the zig-zag
road in my road atlas, and it didn't disappoint me. The view
wasn't to bad either in the mist. :-)
Portsoy's 17th century harbour was
nice, as was it's old streets. Got a 'good
view' as well. :-) Sandend has
a nice beach and next to the old distillery (now only used to
store whisky) an old
windmill (called
The Cup and Saucer and strangely enough built on top of a bronze
age burial cairn). Lastly I took a walk around Fordyce, visiting
it's church,
lime
kilns, workshop (and the workshop's 'Internet café'),
castle,
and old
church (where forestry work was being done).
On monday (25/9) I moved again... Stonehaven was the destination and the early afternoon was used to tour the beach, the harbour, and old town and town hall. I now know where Mackie (icecream maker) 'lives', and he has to be a wee man. :-) Having seen photos of Dunottar Castle I just had to see it for myself! Result: 90 pictures! :-) A quick tour of railway station before supper was fitted in. After a wet afternoon the evening turned out quite nice. (The day also produced two videos of the waves at the beach - one to count the waves and one to get the noise of the shingle when the waves retract.)
Tuesday (26/9) was spent driving west from Stonehaven. I took
a slightly closer look at Montrose and Arbroath. The library
in Montrose, built by Andrew Carnegie, is very nice. The boring
station was visited, where I got a great view of the basin at
low
tide. On the way back I stopped
off to look at the basin at high tide
to compare. The cathedral in Arbroath
was massive in it's day - larger than St. Andrews. The promenade
was interesting, but must be nicer when the tide is in. Visited
the Signaling Tower and it's museum
(the tower was used to signal the lighthouse
11 miles out, i.e. the tiny, tiny thing far, far out in the
middle of photo, and to house the families of the lighthouse workers).
I remembered to stop on the way home and take a closer photo
of Stonehaven's war memorial, that
features in photos on the hill above Stonehaven, and a birds
eye view of harbour and town.
(This is where I started to feel the tourist fatigue syndrome,
i.e. got a bit bored of touring.)
On thursday I have to be in Fife, hopefully to meet my cousin Catherine and her 'Wee Iain'. I decided to move on the wednesday (27/9) and found my second camp site that was full (outside Dairsie). So I ended up 'on a hill' above St. Andrews (not above East Sands though and not Craigtoun :-). I stayed here for two nights before moving to Lundin Links (which was less than 2/3 of the St. A. price). Visiting my aunt and uncle has meant less tours (i.e. less photos). On saturday (30/9) Catherine, Robert, and 'Wee Iain' came to Cupar, where the 'Kilted Viking' (and his beard) was a bit frightening to start with... :-) ... and on sunday (1/10) Grant, Vicky, and Chloe came to Cupar. (If I stay a bit longer maybe the Kiwis will come as well. :-) The stay at Lundin Links lasted for almost two week and only a few short trips where taken.
Continued in October.
Language of site is indicated, by [en] for English and [se] for Swedish, after link. Links are opened in a new window, which can be closed to return to this page.
This page uses the Github project Lightbox by Ashley White to display photos, which in turn uses the CSS front-end framework Bootstrap.
